"They said that they have two new clients that they signed up and moved us."

Yes, because they charged the newbies more. They will continue to postpone until you pay more or a recession hits and they need your lower-paying job. If you walk, they'll be delighted and fill your space with someone paying more.

" Yes, because they charged the newbies more...If you walk, they'll be delighted and fill your space with someone paying more."

I doubt it. She said all her things are sitting in their warehouse. If she "walks" as you put it, it is very costly to the company to have inventory sit in a warehouse, and be only half paid for. Unused inventory is terrible for the bottom line of any business. Perhaps they can sell back the appliances to where they got them from - but only maybe, because the appliance supplier doesn't want to take back appliances that have been sitting in an un-conditioned warehouse either. But the installation company won't be able to unload the cabinetry and the marble that is specific to her kitchen.

I also think they charged who you call "the newbies" whatever their jobs cost, just like they charged the OP whatever her job cost. More likely is the issue the OP brought up herself - that she took months to make decisions. That too is costly for the business. We don't know how many months nor the extent of her indecision - it is clear she could have used a good designer to help her. She mentioned a kitchen designer but did not explain why the KD wasn't helping her on choices. Maybe the KD was helping her, but the OP rejected her suggestions, which would be another frustration for the company. The company may also be concerned that the OP will continue to change her mind, causing delays and change orders, which will then cause more delays by perhaps balking over the additional costs of the change orders. And that will then put their other customers' jobs behind schedule. So for those several reasons, they put her later in their queue.

As to a solution, first, does your contract say anything about a timeline or completing the work in a timely manner? If not, I would speak with the company and promise them you will make no further changes nor be indecisive, and that you wish to proceed ASAP. I do not know what else you can do if your contract does not say anything about completing the work in a timely manner.

When we ordered our cabinets last year, we were told by the contractor that they were 9 months out. We gave them a deposit and were on the scedule. Our cabinets came in around 6 months later and the appliances a bit after that. I hadn't finalized fixtures, hardware or stone until the job started.

OP....were your cabinets ordered or was choosing them the hold up? If your cabinets weren't ordered yet, I can see your contractor's perspective but a year is a long, frustrating wait.

i don’t see how taking time to decide on fixtures, hardware and countertop would delay the installation of the cabinets and appliances. The materials cannot be installed if they are damaged from being in their storage and it would be on them to replace.

I would be concerned about the warranty of the appliances. If they were ‘delivered’ from the appliance store to their warehouse, wouldn’t the warranty clock start? i would call to verify this.

Regardless, a company shouldn’t treat their customers in a passive agressive manner because it took some time to make decisions. Every new decision has a ripple effect on the next one. If they have a reason they should state it. My boss changes his mind all the time, I don’t undermine him by sitting on a task and not do it out of spite.

First, cabinets should not be stored long-term in an unconditioned warehouse. If the company is storing your cabinet order in an unconditioned space, check with your cabinet manufacturer.

Next, we really need to have more details about the contract before we can comment on the reasonableness of their moving you to a later date. Generally, the approximate date of a project is a negotiated term of the contract and moving that date is a modification that must be agreed to. In other words, if you take $30,000 from me to start a project in June, then you can't move it back to January. However, the existence of finalizing selections can complicate things a bit and this is where we really need to see the contract.

Some contractors have a policy that all decisions must be made, things ordered and on site before they start. I get it.

I had a client once that took forever to decide things (talking months here!).....we started the demo/prep of the room which included venting for a downdraft cooktop which is what they wanted several months prior when cabinets were ordered. A cabinet without drawers was ordered. They changed their mind at some point along the way (to not do a downdraft) and no one was notified. They were angry that the cabinet I ordered didn't have drawers. A new cabinet had to be ordered and I paid for it. I paid for it because I never told them that we had to change it to a no drawer cabinet. Even though I sent renderings, I failed to mention it in the emails. I learned a big expensive lesson here. Don't order anything until they've decided on appliances.

Things go MUCH more smoothly if things are decided 100% and all materials on site. I am working on 25-50 jobs at any given time, in all phases of the projects (planning to install). Staying organized and decisive is key in a successful project.

Ps. Countertops, hardware shouldn't hold up a project's installation. But I can see why some contractors insist everything is decided upon. You never know how one thing can affect another thing. Another story: customer changed their mind on 3" mitre fold countertop edge instead of 3cm thickness weeks after the cabinet were ordered. Lucky for me I hadn't ordered the island yet. Their rangetop would not have fit if I had....and the sink they chose would not have worked well.

Delays are not just math. 2 months delaying decisions can easily turn into 5 months delaying start, with a single small contractor, doing jobs serially. Customers that made all their decisions, and have everything on hand get priority in line. With medium sized companies, handling multiple jobs, delays are algebraic when multiple customers are involved. That doesn't mean they shouldn't protect your investment in a climate controlled storage. Just that the delays created may have more affect than you think it "should". You have to move a pretty large company, with multiple project managers, for delays to be worked around more timely. They usually have employees, not subs.

I see red flags. You need to stiffen your backbone and find out what the heck is going on. If you were dragging your heels on making decisions then they should have fired you as a client or given you a final date for decisions. But postponing the job by a year would give me cause for concern.

Having said that - we're building new and windows right now are about 3-4 months out for orders to be completed and we were anxious to get them in. Window company told our contractor that they had a customer who kept changing their minds and if we were ready they would slot us into their scheduled time which was the following week. . We were ready and had our windows in 3 weeks. I have no idea when the other people will get their windows.

There is a bit more nuance here than people are allowing. If there is a selection deadline and it is missed, then your contractor can move the start date back a reasonable amount of time.

If there is no selection deadline but there was notice that selections need to be made your contractor may be able to move the start date back a reasonable amount of time.

If there is no selection deadline but the supplier can’t get materials to the contractor before the start date then the contractor may be able to move the start date back a reasonable amount of time.

However, the modified start date must be necessary and not punitive. All of the above changes are modifications of the contract and are actually the result of a breach, which doesn’t mean they are necessarily a material breach.

However, extending the start date by a year would only be reasonable if you essentially took an extra year to make decisions. I strongly suspect that the contractor is materially breaching the contract, but would really need all of the facts to know for sure.

ETA: I am discussing the right to force a modification of the original agreement. I realize a contractor can't install items that they don't have, but the question becomes at what point must the parties negotiate a new agreement vs. enforcement of the original agreement. I suspect moving the start date 1 year out is going to be a new agreement unless the contract is rock solid.