We hit the brakes just before excavation. :(

I would be firm with this builder or he will walk all over you. I'd be thankful that some work is still being done but be patient on the things that we have no control over. I'm guessing he is worried about $. Regarding cabinets, the shutdown is not going to be permanent. What is wrong with waiting a little bit for them to open back up & buy them then (I'm assuming he has already placed his order, otherwise he's already behind a bunch of others in line)? &, surely the builder has a little more common sense than to think you can just pick random tiles & finishing choices from a computer screen only. The color variation from screen to in person will be significant. Much less all the little choices (example grout that you match to tile samples, etc).

We are building right now &, thankfully, not much has slowed down for us. Majority of flooring/tile was already picked before all of this, and the main company I have been working with for selections & install has stayed open. We've had a couple days of delay on paint due to the workers being unsure if they wanted to work (fear from it all) but they ultimately decided they wanted to keep working to pay their bills. I told them plainly that it was up to them, & I understood either way. Being construction, it is considered "essential" but I knew they may rather shut down if any of their crew had health concerns, etc. The main thing I'm sensing future delays on is my appliances. Some are here but my fridge/freezer I have ordered just bumped the delivery time to April 28 (was supposed to already be here). It wouldn't surprise me if they bump it even further into May. I joked with my husband that we might be moving our old frig with us and using it until the new one gets here, he wasn't impressed (totally different size and won't fit in the cabinets whatsoever, but we'll do what we have to do).

Our builder still owns the lot and house so he is the one most financially at risk and I presume he wants to move forward and sell the house to us ASAP. We are also financially at risk because we put a huge down payment on the house ( to cover architect’s and engineer’s fees and etc, — about 10% of the expected cost of the house (including lot and builder’s profit). The way our contract is written, we have dollar allowances that we thought reasonable at the time for cabinetry, electrical fixtures, appliances etc. The builder buys the cabinets etc and charges us his price plus a small percentage markup to cover his handling fees and installation etc. I’m concerned that if he’s now in a rush, and he gets gouged by cabinet companies etc on prices (blackmail prices to complete work), those exorbitant prices will get passed along to us. If we walk away, we lose our down payment and lose a customized house we very much want to move into. We like our builder very much and understand he’s in a very difficult place financially if he has to delay. However, I feel like we’re between a rock and a hard place, as the expression goes. We can’t buy the house without cabinets, sinks etc because the local government rules won’t allow that.

Good luck Junk S. on your build. Hope it goes smoothly. Keep me posted on your progress. What part of the U.S. are you in? I’m on the east coast. Maryland, Va, D.C., PA etc have shut down orders in place now but they do not force construction to shut down. However, all the local showrooms except the big box stores have shut down. My builder has not been dealing with the big box suppliers. Not yet, anyway.

Relax please. We aren't shutting down the economy, but we can afford a pause. That would have worse effects than the virus.

A slowdown now is to be expected, but be seriously happy you are under roof. Weather won't affect your build in essential ways.

You can still get samples shipped to you - color is totally inaccurate on a computer or phone screen. Your selections will be more limited, but you shouldn't have to end up with something awful. (I'm thinking of the on-monitor lovely countertop that when the sample arrived here looked like someone ate sweet potatoes and green peas, and promptly regurgitated). But yes, be glad your contractor is still working, and work with him!

Big box stores are fine. I don't trusts their faucets (usually plastic innards) but those are very easy to replace when life gets back to normal. (In any case, I did put them in the bathrooms, just not in the kitchen.)

Thanks Artemis.

I think Id focus on the selections you absolutely have to make and skip the other ones for now. Tiles for the backsplash and pulls for the cabinets can wait, after all. Maybe play around with computer images so you can build a short list for when something approaching normality returns. You can live with plywood countertops for a while while waiting for that to happen.

jmm1837, will the county pass inspection on the house and allow the builder to transfer title to me if it has plywood countertops? I’m not sure I’d want to take title without the countertops because then the real countertops wouldn’t be under the builder’s warranty. Given all the problems about countertops I’ve read about on this site, I think I’d want the builder to be responsible for making sure they are done right. However, good idea about letting some things go until after settlement.

I don't see anything wrong with plywood countertops in the interim. Get a credit for the countertop material and labor. Get as large a credit as you can get - builders are notorious for providing a very small percentage of the actual cost when it comes to credits but these are extraordinary times now.

The builder warranty may not be worth anything - I have seen the builder 2/10 warranties and they are only as good as the builder is at follow through.

We're building long distance and so I could only visit showrooms when I was in town visiting the house. In the interim, I ordered tons of samples from tile bar, wayfair, and home depot. All of my selections ended up being tile I saw online and ordered samples of. Delivery times may be delayed, but I wouldn't limit myself to showroom options unless I had to.

I'm quite sure that your bank will work with you, so there should be no rush. I just got an email from my bank offering to extend the construction period and I will take it, even though I don't think we will need it.

I would just wait with all of it. Since the build has a roof, it seems as though now is a good time to take a pause. Otherwise, you could get deep into a new phase and have one person on the construction crew get sick, throw everyone else off, and be a whole lot more disruptive than what you have right now.

I'm done with my build, but my builder has had to suddenly close shop entirely because one crew member got sick. That kind of disruption could happen to your build at any moment: finding alternative cabinets really isn't going to ameliorate this risk.

Call an attorney to protect your stake.

We are building right now as well. We found out that the company that we are getting all of our plumbing fixtures is closed, but we were lucky that they were able to ship us the rough-ins. I am emailing the tile person my Pinterest boards, and she is going to pull samples, and I can meet her by appointment. As of now, our kitchen cabinet manufacturer in Canada is still open. Our windows are supposed to go on Monday, but now it's going to rain again for four days, so we are praying they can get them in next week. You are so lucky to be so far along. I would look for other cabinet makers on your own and get bids.

You have a contract, you have a builder you like and trust, and you have a house under roof. He has more to lose than you do at this point, regardless of the amount of your deposit. If he isn't complying with the terms of the contract and isn't trying to work with you, then contact an attorney. If he is forthright with you, and is trying to make an accomodation to make this right, then don't contact an attorney. Concern is different than panic. Talk to your builder, tell him your concerns, listen to what he has to say and then follow your instinct.

Give your builder a lot of leeway right now. Materials and labor are sometimes difficult to get right now. Builders also have to be cognizant of how many people and different trades they allow on a site at one time. If one worker gets Covid19 or is even suspected of it then the site could be shut down completely for some time so what could be done by several trades in 3 days now may take 2 weeks in order to keep everyone spread out appropriately.

"Give your builder a lot of leeway right now." Excellent advice. We're in uncharted waters right now.