We recently contracted a carpenter for a built in office project at $6500. After mocking up the plan using an existing desk as a reference, we signed on the plan but i didn’t notice the desk height was 34.5” (which is counter height). Not sure why he made that height as we measured the desk initially, which is why i didn’t think twice.

Well after initial installation, the desk came up to my wife’s chest and the cabinet bodies and doors had to be cut, which then placed the desk drawer on top of my thighs…so it had to be cut out as well. And an additional spacer had to be placed under the bookshelves to make sure they still meet the correct height at the ceiling.

After all this the contractor stain ended up being much darker than initially agreed with sloppy paint touch ups (see pictures). He then charged me extra $750 to cover additional material and time.

Has anyone else run into this much trouble? I’ll accept part of the blame as ultimately i did agree to the cad design figures, but I feel the carpenter should have known better.