Perhaps you should approach the construction of your house as a team effort consisting of the owner (you), the architect and the builder. Three humans that have the capability to make mistakes. When one of the members of the team appears to have made an error, the other team members are there help assist in the solution to the error. Things go wrong on construction project, and I could write a book on it and it would take at least three volumes. I would like to say that on my projects I have made the least errors, but I fear the reality is the builder and the owner have caught the errors, made the corrections, and failed to inform me of them.

Normally perceived errors have a good reason why they happened. Communication is key and team spirit is always helpful.

I would try and have a meeting with the head of the company, assuming it's not a national company. We had 3 or was it 4 different construction supervisors but that was more a problem with our builder.

Thank you very much @SashaDog

Thanks a lot @cpartist

That definitely sounds like a track builder.

What is a “track” builder?

I guess a "track" builder is one that's railroaded you....

At least every reply is not about union labor any longer. That only took 5 years, so there is hope.

Kinda like those old 8-track players that could get stuck on a single track for a long time.

There was also a period of blissful silence. I had hoped the track finally ran in the other direction.

I think $200 for changes is cheap and honestly we have no idea what the initial plans were so really there is no context. I agree mistake happen on everyone's side. I also agree if these are as you posted you need to speak to the boss . There is no way for us to help we really have no info .I would like to know where your architect is. If this is a true custom home they need to be onsite to check once in a while and you should be able to talk to them.

@Mark Bischak,

Your photo reminded me of a bed-time story I used to tell my daughter. It goes like this:

Once upon a time a wonderful, kind, helpful, friendly, and handsome land developer wanted to buy two adjacent tracts of land. The two tracts had been a single tract at some time, but they were divided by railroad tracks into two tracts in the name of progress. Well, that and eminent domain--which you'll learn about in high school.

The developer's ad agency came up with some neat promotional materials for tract-home developments on both sides of the tracks. To the nice, kind, and well-meaning developer's surprise, focus group testing indicated that no one would purchase a home in either development out of fear of buying on the "wrong" side of the tracks. So, he thought he would purchase the railroad easement (the track had been abandoned for some time) so he could remove the tracks. That way he could join the two smaller tracts into a single tract and realize economies of scale--which you'll learn about in high school, too.

The nice, kind developer intended to sell the newly combined tracts to a tract-home builder and make a bazillion dollars (which is a lot of money.) Unfortunately, removing the tracks and combining the two tracts required a re-zoning. The meany-head zoning official insisted on inclusionary zoning as a condition of re-zoning the properties. It sounded good in theory, but to the developer's surprise, focus groups suggested he wouldn't be able to sell any parcels to anyone--not even a tract builder.

So he took a different track. He purchased the tracts and the tracks. Then he applied for and got federal grant money to convert the abandoned railroad tracks into a rails-to-trails park. He turned the two separate tracts into wetlands, which is, basically, swamp land. Then he sold wetlands credits to other developers so they could develop their tracts with environmental resource protection areas into tract-home developments. Wetlands credits are kinda like a get-out-of-jail free card. The nice, kind developer made a bazillion dollars anyway. And he has a tax-deductible place to hunt ducks with his buddies every year.

The moral of the story is that sometimes you have to take a different track with any given tract.

The End.

Is that autobiographical?

Nope. And for the record, my wife never let me make up bedtime stories for our daughter after that. I was forced to stay on script until I proved I couldn't. Then I was fired for cause.

That's Florida for you, things move very slow up there. I have a place in Florida when I go there I would see the start of the construction on a new home. I would go next month would see small progress, the following month everything looks the same, the following month you would see something else. While being there 1- 2-3 weeks at the time and drive-by almost on daily basis I don't see anyone working.

As $200 fee for change, orders sounds like they milking that for lunch money, or you make too many changes so they figure every time they nail you for $200 that will make you stop making them because today $200 is typical lunch for 2-3 people with a bottle of wine or a few 2x4's

Good luck

You are right @GN Builders L.L.C. Things are moving very slow here. When we ask our supervisor the timeline he doesnt know. For ex- now all the electrical, HVAC and plumbing is done and he doesn't know when drywall will be installed. I agree with everyone that we should meet the boss and request change in supervisor and address the changes brought by them that are not per plan.

Thank you @Patricia Colwell Consulting. I totally agree about mistakes happening and I also don't have any problem with change order fees. Our biggest concern is lack of adequate supervision and basic knowledge. Yes, they have deviated from original plan several times. We were letting go till now as we understand mistakes happen. But when they are charging for every minor change (we haven't made many changes btw), we think its only fair to expect the same in return when they deviate from the plan.

The architect comes on site whenever we detect mistakes and he tries to find a solution and several times there has been deviation from the original plan.

All I wanted to know from experts here is that its possible to change supervisor in the midst of construction and to bring up our concerns with the boss and ask for some kind of upgrade etc OR if its asking for too much from our side.

Good luck with that, but I doubt they will make the change in supervision, you just have to go directly to the builder, and push him.

I have a distant relative there he is building a 12k SF home, it's going on for 3 years now and there is no end to it.

Sub-contractors they're hard-working guys and they have some good companies down there, but management lacks the drive and builders don't care as long as someone is there from time to time to keep an eye on things, so they don't have to be there.

On a general note, in Florida, everything is at a slow-moving pace, longer traffic lights, "Sunday" drivers, service, etc I guess the same goes for the construction industry, they love taking their time.

@GN Builders L.L.C, will meet with vice president of construction for the builder on site next week and will discuss the issues. Thanks.

I don't remember if you own the lot yourself?

I think you might have picked the wrong builder. There are plenty of real custom builder in FL, who do great work and finish on time, but it would probably have cost you more. Would you have gone for it if another builder followed the plan perfectly and finished on time, but it cost you 30 - 50% more? Too late now for these what ifs, you need to work with what you have, so meet with the owner, present your issues clearly and keep emotion out of it. Good luck!

Hello there. From best I can discern, and judging from your side alone, given the situation you described, you would certainly not be requesting anything that sounds irregular or unreasonable. In fact, if the company has personnel that is under-performing, the reality is that it would be in their best interest, not only obviously in yours, for them to replace one of their supervisors. Their lack of effective oversight will eventually cause them issues on several levels, some being potentially costly ones, and they likely will try and make you pay for their own errors prior to taking responsibility of them first. Your request for a new supervisor is reasonable, and speaking with the "Boss" of the company sounds like the tactful and honest thing to do as an unhappy customer, however, if I can be honest, that will likely be a solution with an overly optimistic chance of success. Given my company works regularly to provide project management services on the owner side (your side), I can tell you that in some ways you have already entered into a situation that could have been more strategic from the onset. Now given there is no turning back, your options are few. I agree with another professional who, to paraphrase, suggested to work to resolve your concerns through communication. I can tell you from experience, if that is feasible, it will almost 100% of the time be the better option since burning bridges with your architect, engineer, builder etc. mid project, can become inordinately stressful and more costly for you at the end of the day. I would suggest that you well document the errors that the supervisor has already made. Create a log of dates, descriptions of the errors, even take pictures of them onsite, and if you have the architects drawing set, you should find it simple to easily reference in order to prove that they have not been followed to specification. Once you have created an appropriately documented list, with supporting documentation (the architects drawings set), noted in red the deviations from specification, then that would be the time to approach the "boss". If you present yourself with a positive demeanor despite the situation, from the standpoint that you were being patient and accommodating although too many unavoidable issues were going unresolved prior to your own participation, and now your only interest is to resolve things so the project is ultimately successful, then I believe you will have the best chance to have your voice heard. Either way even if you are not, you will have documentation to support your side should things escalate.

If you would like to discuss your situation in more detail, I would be more then happy to speak with you. You may reach me at 647 297 7774 should you be interested.