Who owns the lot?

Is this a fixed price or cost plus contract?

Did the contract specify all/any/some finishes?

How/why did you pick this builder?

We did a custom build on our lot and pretty much got to pick every single detail.

When reading your list and looking at your photos, my first thought was that you will have water intrusion problems with this house and they won't take too long to show up.

Is this a custom build or a tract build?

A build where the builder owns the lot and you're buying a completed house at the end is much different than one where you own the lot, are financing the build, and hired the builder.

You can and should shop vac and cleanup as much as you want. As long as you're allowed on the site. Usually, the time to do that is early evening when everyone's gone.

It is most definitely NOT acceptable for anyone to be drinking while at work, no matter what type of work you do. But on a construction site, it's a recipe for disaster. Even if the work were competent (which in this case it clearly is not), the potential for accidents is very high. You need to notify the GC immediately about this behavior--he and his company would be liable should someone become seriously injured, or worse.

Drinking that much on the job is not ok. I can understand a couple beers at the end of the week after all work is done, though I still wouldn't like it.  You can definitely sweep out the debris from the walls.  A broom and dust pan works well for most of it.  You may need to use a blower to get some pieces out.  We used a vacuum for some areas that were harder to reach with a broom.  No one else will clean it out and it will never be seen again.  But we liked getting some of the junk out before drywall.  Wait for plumbers and electricians to be done cleaning, as their work will leave a lot of sawdust everywhere.  

The roofing paper doesn't seem right to me,  but I'm not a pro.  I would have thought it should extend to the edge of the sheathing, leaving no wood exposed on top.  Maybe they still need to add a bracket on the corner to cover up the exposed area.

from what I know, anything that isn't standard or code should be spec'd completely upfront and any changes from that should be via a change order. if the builder is not following what you spec'd and agreed to then they are in violation of the contract. similarly if you did not specify what color door you wanted I would not expect them to verify that with you down the road. (though perhaps it would be good practice for them to do so). No alcohol should be consumed on the job. Ever.

I've been around the building industry (commercial only) but don't directly work in it. I am certainly no expert so I'll let others correct me.

Is this a custom home or a developer/tract type home?

" When do hose bibs get installed? We went out with the superintendent "

Typically not the end of the work to pop them thru from the inside. Just because the mark was covered with does not mean they are not marked on the drawings the plumber has in his possession.

" Our Marvin casement windows have 6 that arrived (and were installed) opening the wrong direction than what we specified, one twin window that had grids that should not have, wrong handles on the sliding doors, and one window out of a triple that must have been shattered during install. "

Who ordered the windows? Were the windows checked before install? What does the GC say about this? Wrong swing and or broken should be replaced, however if ordered the wrong swing with the wrong hardware who pays depends on who placed the order.

" Does siding typically go before shingles? "

I have seen many homes done that way, although using a cheap housewrap to cover the roof is a first for me. Typically not an issue. AND normally done in developer type homes with vinyl windows. I would want the roof on before my Marvin wood interior windows are installed 100%. Again this is an issue for the GC if this is a custom build. As he would be the scheduler.

" Is it normal for subs to drink on the job? "

Should not be at all. Area dependent a beer or two at the end of a hot day or week may be warranted but not that many and the remnants needed to be cleaned up before they left for the day.

" We spec'd Rockwool for all exterior walls, "

Why Rockwool at all as that is typically commercial const. insulation when fire rated walls are a concern? A few pieces of fiberglass will not make a difference at all unless the Rockwool was done for a specific reason

TT:

The "roofing paper" is apparently the [correct material.](https://www.soprema.co.uk/en/article/sopravoice/what-are-the-benefits-of-sbs-modified-bitumen-waterproofing-systems#:~:text=Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene%20(SBS,cold%20flexibility%20and%20elastic%20properties.)

If the roofing paper like stated above is correct, they just did a really lousy job of installing it.

It looks like SBS underlayment, but for sure they did a sloppy job installing it.

I think the bigger issue here is that this entire job seems to be getting very sloppy and a talk with the GC is very much in order, right now. Get things fixed now, before they get covered up, because it's going to be a bear to get them addressed after.

Go after the big issues, windows, roof, drinking on the job. Don't worry about minor issues such as some fiberglass or minor housekeeping. Trust me, the contractor will focus on the minor issues to say you are being unreasonable instead of dealing with the larger issues if you don't limit your focus.

Thanks for all of your comments. To answer some of the questions, we own the lot and this is a custom one-off build for this builder. We drew up our own plans with an architect and chose this builder after talking to ~20 others. We've so far had a great working relationship.

@millworkman

" Who ordered the windows? Were the windows checked before install? What does the GC say about this? Wrong swing and or broken should be replaced, however if ordered the wrong swing with the wrong hardware who pays depends on who placed the order."

Builder ordered the windows after extensive back-and-forth from us with us doing most of the bidding around to various vendors. There was a very explicit window schedule that laid everything out that I still have. Specified dimensions, grids or not, hardware, swing direction, etc.

"Trust me, the contractor will focus on the minor issues to say you are being unreasonable instead of dealing with the larger issues if you don't limit your focus."

We've run into this in our build. It's absolutely true, but the struggle is the "little" things may also be important, but sadly there's always a bigger fire that must be prioritized. It's a sad day when you recognize the "little" things simply will be wrong because larger mistakes keep getting made, and you're just going to have to suck it up.

Could it be teens partying in the space after hours? They would be most likely to leave evidence behind. Unless you actually see the crew drinking, I would be careful how you accuse them. Obviously if it is the crew, that has to stop, but it might not be them.

Jason, that's kind of what we've realized as well. I've come to peace with it. We'll get the large things right, and if some small things aren't as we want come move-in - fine, we'll just fix them to our liking with subs of our choosing after move-in. I think so much of the challenge is that while a lot of GCs are good, it's too big of a project for many people to really excel in every category. Eventually after dealing with footings and foundation and framing and plumbing and electrical and roofing and insulation and mechanical and trimwork and the pool and the deck and flooring and lighting and on and on - there's certain areas that just don't have any brainpower left that get neglected or just haphazardly addressed. In our view - we'll move in, regroup, recharge the batteries, then find subs of our choosing to address any of those small items.

Hhireno has a good point - you do want to say that you found alcohol containers on the jobsite, and you suspect folks are drinking on the job - then let the GC deal with it. That said, what's most likely to happen is that they will just get better at cleaning up. Drinkers are going to drink - but you can set the expectation anyway.

I get what you are saying about not having bandwidth for too many details. A good GC will know his own strengths and when he needs to bring in subs. He will definitely bring in plumbers and electricians, drywallers, roofers, siding and painting. He may bring in finish carpenters and other trades or specialties such as decks and landscaping. Nonetheless, the GC is responsible for all of the trades. The GC should have called out the roofers on the underlayment not going to the edge and making sure they get the drip edge flashing detail right, for example.

The drinking on the job is the symptom, not the disease. Workers who don't drink/use drugs on the job are in the union working on commercial jobs. The low pay compete-against-the-Guatamalans are all the marketplace leaves for residential contractors to choose from. The marketplace is giving exactly what's been demanded. It doesn't care; it's simply a mirror.

As a grad assistant a lifetime ago, the Russian history prof I shared an office with would drop by between classes to down shots from a vodka mickey. He was known for his lively lectures! (I guess construction is different.)