In a large project like ours, particularly a large project that involves tying into an existing structure -- there is a high likelihood that some things won't go exactly right and indeed, some things haven't gone exactly right.
Thankfully for us, the watchful eyes of the Mr. have caught some of these items but I just wanted to point them out for others who might not be fortunate enough to have such a watchful Mr. Nothing I mention here was intentional, these were just build mistakes that any crew could have made and we have every confidence that our contractor will work with us to get these items resolved.
(1) The Mr. noticed that the existing ceiling was sagging about an inch and a half from where it should have been. The fix for this is relatively simple. They just need to prop up the flat ceiling with a jack and re-mount the ceiling joist hangers higher.
(2) We have some special HVAC routing because the runs have to go around structural LVL beams (rather than through them). The crew built some special soffits to cover the HVAC runs, but they ended up looking pretty odd. We would rather just have the ceiling in the hallway be a few inches lower.
(3) We extended our smallest bedroom by about 4 feet. The floor of the extended bedroom should be level with the rest of the house, but due to a build error, it is not. We will likely need the OSB floor to be removed so the floor joists can be planed until the floor is level. Ironically, our carpenter told us leveling compounds are not the way to go because they break down over time.
(4) This one was our mistake and the Mr. already fixed it so the crew doesn't have to, but when the crew was here they highly recommended extending the wall that encloses our kitchen to be even with the wall of our bedroom across the hall. When we did that wall extension, we unintentionally made it difficult to open one of our fridge doors without the door banging into the wall. We changed the wall back and now we have unfettered use of the fridge doors again.
I'm not sure I have the best advise on these sorts of build errors or unintentional outcomes. Our approach has been to communicate with our contractor if something is not right and bring it forward sooner than later. The more the build progresses, the harder it is to correct in most cases.
I would also add to try and communicate tactfully and pleasantly with your contractor. In our case, it was never our contractor's fault when something went amiss. We want to be reasonable and work with him to bring everything to a mutually agreeable outcome. It can be an easy trap to get upset, particularly because these sorts of projects are expensive ("I paid a lot of money for this, I want it to be right!"), but I would urge you to stay calm. Your contractor is a person too, and you are much more likely to bring things to a favorable outcome if you stay on good terms. We are grateful that our contractor has an excellent disposition in the face of adversity, try to find a resilient contractor!
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