Ours was written into our contract with the builder.

We wrote in into the contract before we started. The builder could finish all of his work whether or not the utility connection was complete.

We ended up with a touch-and-go situation with the gas company, nearly had to install a temporary propane tank when it took them more than 15 months to put the gas service in having promised six. The state AG, utilities commission, and consumer protection dept turned out to be useful allies when push came to shove.

Our builder gave us an updated date when the excavation and foundation was done.

However, it's basically meaningless. It was off by about 3 months. Since we were out of state we didn't know the extent of the delays until I went out there thinking the sheetrock had been completed and the house wasn't even dried out.

We were given our estimated completion date when we signed our contract.. But I will tell you that was FAR off.. We have now gone through about 3 estimated completion dates.. We signed contract in middle of October 2014 and told we would break ground right away and have completion date of end of April 2015.. Issues came up and we didn't break ground until March 2015.. At that point we were provided with estimated completion date of August 2015.. In August 2015 we were told end of October.. At the End of October we were told middle of December.. Well we are in the middle of December and in the painting stage.. We still need to have gas hooked up, hardwood floors need finishing, carpet needs to be installed, plumbing fixtures need to be installed, lighting fixtures need to be installed, outlets need to be installed, driveway still not poured, walkways not done, patio not done, deck needs stairs added w/ gate, etc... At this point we are hoping for end of January as there is inside work and outside work so hopefully they do both at same time.. The only issue that we see is that we have been keeping up with the builders social media and see they have a lot of projects going on that they are posting.. So its annoying when the builder's crew doesn't show up for an entire week yet you see the progress of projects that started later then yours..

Our wonderful builder uses BuilderTrend software. The whole project timeline was inputted, and then as changes are made, the program is updated. We have changed from an original completion date of Thanksgiving to mid January(excavation delays) and back to mid December. The program also shows exactly what is scheduled every day. I think we have had one or two days that nothing got done; otherwise, it's been a flurry of activity. Our builder may be the exception--we have heard from many clients and subs how fast this builder moves. We were onsite almost every day, and I watched the super stay on top of the subs. It also pressured us to make selections on time so we didn't hold up the process.

caprtist, at least you are going in with an open mind and an expectation of a longer schedule. Being an artist you realize that a "completion schedule" is an educated guess with a million different moving parts. Sometimes delays are no one's fault and sometimes they were completely avoidable but even tract home builders who build the exact same house with the exact same crew have this issue.

Personally, I'd rather they build it right than build it fast. Of course next year at this time, when I'm tired of living in a rental, I might be singing a different tune. :)

We got an estimated completion date once the framing was complete. Our utilities were brought in when they dug the foundation.

It was off by 2 weeks but I attribute that to the fact that we did a lot of millwork and I don't think the time for that level of finish was estimated appropriately. That took 5 days and was scheduled to take 2.