I was my own architect...for the third time....

Fire (not my house but my client's). Burnt to the ground while the interior was being painted.

Can I count our first house? Finishing the basement...flammable glue...kaboom. Ha! Beat that ;-)

funny that I can smile so many years later.

My client called to let me know that his neighbour had been "testing" the excavation with his van and dropped it in.

Fire (not my house but my client's).

Meaning you get to build it again, double your fun, so to speak?

Two to date, no issues and renovation on a 3rd and no issues. Been planning the third and final house for two years including buying land. So far, so good. I expect there’s liable to be possible issues but it’s the way in which they’re remedied that matters and we’ve covered that in great detail with our builder up front. Learning an awful lot and it’s a LOT of work. It’s all in the details.

Delay in trusses -- someone at the supplier got fired over that mistake (along with other people's orders being messed up). Not the GC's fault (trusses ordered well ahead of time) so ended up costing us over $12,000 in snow removal because the roof didn't get on before the snow started in earnest.

Fighting with utilities company to get hooked up. Had to call the PUC on the gas company and I plopped myself with my 2 year old at the electric company office stating I was not leaving until I got a hook up date.

When building our home we found the builder built too small of a frame around the water heater and furnace which would have required removing the framing down the road when the water heater would require replacement.


Prior to this we were informed the builder started building the incorrect model selected and sent us a request to change the elevation and model selected...

No one worst thing. Just a series of things. I know you've followed along withmy saga.

Roofer took a large deposit for material, then tried to shake me down for more money after having a signed contract, then disappeared with the money. Lesson learned, If there is ever a need to have a contractor purchase material, purchase it for them and then you have possession. Always stay ahead of everyone on the money front. You should have enough money held back to have complete control.

Lady bug infestation. Only because I know they will be back every year. We have had some minor stuff that has been remedied but we have a ways to go. Im sure there will be things. If we dont get in by December 31st that will be the worst thing.

Cindy Lou who's ordeal was the worst I ever saw on the forum.

Being told last week by the siding contruction crew there are visible streaks of gold in several cut rocks in our temporary driveway, and not knowing where they came from. I'm not kidding, I'll post some pictures. We are in the PNW, next to the sea and areas that were glaciers or impacted by glaciers at some time in the past.

"Being told last week by the siding contruction crew there are visible streaks of gold in several cut rocks in our temporary driveway"

Why is that a bad thing?

PineBaron start sluicing.

Mike, he may be worried about all his neighbors dropping by to sluice....

I had a someone start a fire in the floor joist soldering something together. They got it out quickly but the charred wood gave that one away.

Dug a trench for the utilities from the road to the house. Drilled the hole in the foundation for the utility runs. Left for the night. About 2 seconds later, neighbor's irrigation line broke, and used the new trench as a delightful funnel upon which to pour water into my new cellar. Several inches of mud and water greeted everyone the next morning. Good thing nothing of value was stored on the ground in the basement. Ha ha.

The basement flooding was a sign of things to come....

Had just closed/moved into the house and noticed some weeping around the perimeter of the cellar. Was very concerned. Called the GC, who brushed me off. Kept noticing the wetness getting worse. Kept being fed line after line of bullspit from GC.

Cue a major Nor'easter. Overnight we got deluged with rain. Woke up the next morning to an indoor swimming pool instead of a cellar. Turns out some brilliant mind crushed the footer drain when they backfilled the foundation. So my newly-landscaped front lawn became a staging area for the backhoe, and they had to dig down ~6 feet to fix the crushed footer drain. Totally destroyed most of the front landscaping. Lost a ton of stuff that was in the basement in boxes, because we'd just moved in so hadn't unpacked everything. I cried over that one - it came at the end of a long build, and that one truly pushed me over the edge for awhile.

Home building - it's not for sissies. Again, ha ha.

Pyrite, most likely. I love natural stone that's glittery!!! I'm such a child.

My general contractor passed away when the home was 35% done and left me with several liens on the build from material suppliers. Even though all the materials were paid from our end, he never cared to pay his suppliers. He made a lost of mistakes which the new builder had to fix. Heck, I even had to pay a bonus(apart from OH+Profit) just for the new builder to come on board and take the risk.

Does this qualify as a "worst"?

Builder had the drawings turned the wrong way during construction...

Almost losing my husband to a funny farm would be my worst. Seriously - he was thisclose to a true nervous breakdown during our build and I honestly don't know how he held it together other than through sheer will (and meds). And it's only because of that sheer will and his incessant measuring, checking and rechecking every little thing ad nauseam (that drove me nuts at the time) we have the house we have today. Straight, level, true, solid, functional, beautiful. It cost us dearly along the way - we under budgeted emotionally, physically and financially. You can read everything people write here but I don't think anything can truly prepare you for the experience, especially if you are doing owner/builder. And even those who have built more than once seem to have birthing memories and don't remember the anguish until they're in it again!!

You are so right DLM...it really doesn't get any easier. This lake house is my dh's dream retirement home. But it's driving me batty. When you have rested enough please show us more pictures.

signed....Deranged.

Vinmarks...they like light colored houses and south exposures and winter in the walls of your house. We had them in our last house. I found that if I got the exterminator there to spray around the exterior in the fall when they were swarming that the "exodus" in the spring was cut down significantly. My house was well-built and yet they still somehow got into the walls and a few into the house. Nasty, nast, little pest. What state are you in? You may know all of this already :-)

http://web.extension.illinois.edu/cfiv/homeowners/001028.html

Thanks ILoveRed. I'm in NC. The outside of our house isn't light colored but the inside is so maybe they are attracted to that? The front faces west. The area they are in is in the great room at the peak close to the back of the house which faces east. Go figure. They are all clumped way up there in the corner. There were some outside around our front door and on the outside logs of the house. I had read something about them secreting some pheromone that other lady bugs can pick up from a 1/4 mile away. Being a log cabin is probably not the tightest home it's probably not too hard for them to get in. I read you can try and vacuum them up but being how high they are we'd need an extension ladder. I'll have to call in an exterminator to help deal with them at some point. All the black blobs in the photo are clumps of lady bugs.

@vinmarks, plant a big garden with a lot of roses and give those lady bugs a job!

Gardeners pay good money for lady bugs so they will eat aphids and other pests.

With our first newly-built home, the biggest problem was a scorpion infestation -- over 300 the first year we lived there. Yes, I kept count on a whiteboard in my laundry room, and just stopped counting when I reached 300. Never fully got rid of them in the 7 years we lived there, despite heavy, professional pest control measures, but we eventually got down to only 1 or 2 per week.

Luckily, only 3 stings... I was stung twice (one fell off the ceiling into my bed in the middle of the night; one was hiding among jeans in the closet), and my firstborn was stung once in bed (rushed to the ER because she was an infant; she was okay).

The rental we just moved out of had a ladybug infestation, and I'll take ladybugs any. day. of. the. week. :-D Sure beats buying them to eat aphids, lol.

One Devoted Dame. Yikes. I'll take ladybugs over scorpions. That is so scary. I would never sleep at night.

Geeze I complain about stink bugs, I will take them any day over scorpions. I'm glad I don't live in an area with them. It would freak me out. Of course we have a big problem in our state with ticks and Lyme disease. But at least they are not in the house.

Sorry to tell you vinmarks - those are likely Asian Lady Beetles not Lady Bugs. They can bite, they can leave stains on paint and wood or clothes and they are not as beneficial in the garden as Lady Bugs. Get that ladder and vacuum them up!

DLM..I agree. Imported here and now nothing but trouble. They stink when you crush them and they bite and hurt like he**

Still, I agree I would rather have these vile little boogers than scorpions!!

They can bite[...]

:-O

Gah!!!! I didn't know they bite. OK something will have to be done about them. UGH!!!

Should have had septic tank/leechfield design set before diving in.

Ha! I thought I was the only one who went ewwww!

I built my own house, and of course, had a variety of adventures. The one I'm thinking of wasn't specifically to do with the house, though. The house was up, but no doors or windows installed. I was living in the barn, and had just had my expensive Marvin windows delivered, and they were in the house. I walked into the house one morning to start work, and I was confronted by two stray pit bulls, who were NOT happy to see me! I backed out to regroup.

I couldn't figure out how to eject them. I went up a ladder in the back and yelled at them- no go. I wanted to shoot them with a BB gun, but they were laying in front of the most expensive window. I finally gave up and went to the lumber yard. When I got back, they were gone, and I boarded up the doorways.

This didn't happen to me(I have not even broken ground yet), but one of my co-workers who is in the process of building with Toll Brothers. One day while on the construction site she noticed a smell in the house, and found the source in one of the bathtubs. The delivery liner was still in the tub, and one of the subs had used it as their urinal.

Here is some good, free :), advice of exactly how to avoid many of the above items, and worse, from happening.

1. Get a really good area Real Estate Attorney (not your friend's friend who went to law school) to review your contract before you give one $ in deposit to any builder! I cannot overstate this enough. Many of the issues in these forums would have been avoided if the folks got proper representation and contract review!! Spend the $1000-$2000 its way worth it.

2. Make a list of all your "wants" and "needs" before designing a plan. Make sure you list them in order of importance as you will most likely need to sacrifice some to obtain the others. Nothing is perfect and you will not get 100% of everything you want. Be ready for that.

3. Find a good local architect to design your plans. Make sure you and the architect have some chemistry as this helps in understanding what you want and need (lifestyle, budget, lot constraints, etc.) and your plans will reflect that.

4. Make sure you have not only plans but specifications (at least as many as you can think of, otherwise assign allowances such as kitchen cabinets $10K or $60K, you get the idea).

5. Put the plans and specs. together and bid the project out. Make sure everyone is pricing from the same information or you will not be able to truly compare.

6. Do your due diligence on local builders (should generally not be more than 45 min to 1 hour away from their base of operation).

7. Your architect can help you with #s2-6 (obviously #3) above but it will cost you extra.

8. Unless you are very good at design, hire a good interior designer and make a furniture layout on your new plans. This is critical so that you know if your window and door placements work and you will be able to configure your lighting much better that way. Its worth the investment for sure.

The more you pre-plan and are prepared the better/smoother your project will go.

Good luck with your project.

Our worst was our foundation was poured 4 feet too far forward on our property so we violated the minimum front yard setback for our neighborhood. After the correct location was marked after a survey and the city inspected and passed it, the foundation guy decided it was better to move the house forward because he thought it looked better that way. He never consulted us and concrete was poured before we noticed. That resulted in an 8 week delay with the city while we had to seek a variance approval. Complete nightmare!

Our wall manufacturer didn't pay the crane company (despite collecting the money from us SPECIFICALLY to engage the crane) and then 6 months later having the crane company threaten to lien our house.

I can echo DLM2000's statement that we under budgeted time, money, stress, everything. It's really not easy to do all this yourself - and if you are building something "outside the box" - it's even harder. Add in the tightening labor market, and raw material pricing increases - and it's stupid hard.