u/whynotthebest

In about a month, my builder will be submitting the final payment request for around $125k to wrap up our build.

Throughout the construction process, I’ve received a lot of preliminary notices (Notices of Right to Lien) from various subcontractors and material suppliers. I understand these aren't actual liens, but legal notices giving them the right to file one if they aren't paid.

I want to ensure I am fully protected before hand over this final $125k check because, as I understand it, even if I pay my builder in full, a subcontractor or supplier can still place a lien on my home if the builder doesn't pay them.

What exact documentation should I request and verify from my builder before making this final payment? Are final unconditional lien waivers from every major sub/supplier the standard here, and how do I ensure no one was left off the list?

Thanks in advance for the advice!

My understanding is that a standard overhang (this is just for the front of the cabinet, not a seating area) should be 1.5" to 1.75," for pretty much all cabinet depths.

We have a variety of cabinet depths on our new build (18" 21" and 24") and, for example, I've got 2" overhang on a 24" cab and 2.75" on an 18" cab.

2" overhang on the 24" cab makes immediate sense to me, because the slabs they are fabricating (on site) from are 26" deep, but still seems too much. The other end of the spectrum, 2.75" on the 18" cabinet just seems totally off.

Am I correct that, unless we told them otherwise, they should be overhanging this 1.5" to 1.75" past the cabinet fronts?

Edit to add: 3cm countertops

Context: Custom home being built in Portland, Oregon by reputable builder. Approx $350/SF.

I'm looking at the tile in one of the showers and I don't understand why the ledge reveal is so large on the right side and on the back, while being totally flush on the left side.

The thing to note is that on the left the tile is flush with the basin wall, but on the right and the back the tile is recessed 1" back so that there's a 1" ledge.

Apart from just being aesthetically off, I am concerned that (1) the 1" ledge is going to be a place for water to pool and (2) I don't see how shower glass can sit flush with both the curb and the right wall, given how they did the installation.

Does this look correct, or is this a mistake?

Stock photo of Kohler Stoneridge

My shower pan

Left finish wall with no basin ledge

right finished wall with 1\" basin ledge

rear finished wall with 1\" basin ledge.

I am in the Portland, Oregon area gutting my house and will need to have full drywall done afterwards. I would like to sub this out, and want to know what info I need to make it easy to bid. I have rough design plans, but I did them myself and I'm not good at using the drafting tool (dimensions are right, but plans aren't good looking).

Can you review this list and tell me what else I'd need to pass on to a drywall team?

I know I am looking for a level 4 finish.

Project Scope

• Total Gross Drywall Area: ~7,258 sq. ft.
• Ceiling Height: 8 ft. throughout the entire house
• Finish Level: Level 4 (ready for paint)
• Windows/Doors: Standard wood casing/trim

Measurement Breakdown

Downstairs (Traditional Layout):

• Ceiling Area: 1,245 sq. ft.
• Exterior Wall Perimeter: 139 linear feet (drywall inside face only)
• Interior Walls: 159 linear feet (drywall both sides of framing)
• Downstairs Gross Total: ~4,901 sq. ft.

Upstairs (Open Concept):

• Ceiling Area: 1,245 sq. ft.
• Exterior Wall Perimeter: 139 linear feet (drywall inside face only)
• Interior Walls: 0 linear feet (open concept, no interior partitions)
• Upstairs Gross Total: ~2,357 sq. ft.

Year: 1978 Make: Ford Model: F-250 Engine: 460

I am experiencing a new grinding noise specifically when turning the ignition to start the truck. A few days ago, it started with a faint metallic sound, similar to a sharpening noise. I haven't started the truck for a few days, and upon trying again today, it produced a much more significant grinding sound while cranking. The engine still fires up and runs fine once started.

I'm not really all that savvy, but I know starters are a thing, and it's happening while I'm starting it. Is this my culprit?

For context: I am a very unsophisticated user, and I typically use antigravity to get leverage on my time. Basically, I tell it what to do in plain language and I'm lucky that most of the time the results are helpful.

I've always been able to ask it to do something like opening a browser, crawling through all apartment listings on Zillow in an area, and then giving me some data I need, and it just does it. However, installed an update and now every time it clicks on something, it asks me for permission to do it, like literally every click.

What happened? What changed? Do I now need to give it more sophisticated commands than I'm used to?

I am not a real sophisticated power user, but I do pay $19.99/mo for antigravity, so I was excited this morning to have it pay for itself for a few months.

Long and short of it is: I am overdue of new tires, and am taking a trip this weekend, so needed to pull the trigger. I called a local big chain dealership and got them to email me a quote on a few sets of tires. I then told antigravity "I want to negotiate a lower price on the [big chain] tires. I'll go in and buy them literally right now if they help me out."

Antigravity did a little thinking and told me that OTHER local big chain dealership offered OTHER comparable tire out the door for about $130 less and, and it gave me a little set of talking points to get the original place to give a discount.

I called back the original store and gave them a friendly rundown of what "I" had found and told them I'd be in in 30 minutes if they'd match the price of OTHER local big chain. They put me on hold for a minute and came back and countered with a not quite so low price, which was totally fine with me, because I actually really like this place anyways, and it's 25 minutes closer than the other place.

It was 8:30AM when I decided I needed tires, and I'm now back home at 10:20AM with new tires at $70 off of the original quote.

This isn't something I'd have done on my own without the real clean talking points given by antigravity.

Hey everyone. First time buyer here. I have about 2.5 acres of property in Oregon and I need something to haul stuff, spray weeds, and generally make property work easier. Not looking for anything recreational, just a workhorse.

Here's a handful of what's showing up on Facebook Marketplace locally right now that look interesting. Figured I'd ask the experts before I pull the trigger on anything.

1. 2005 Suzuki King Quad 700 $4,000 firm Seller says it's been stored indoors in a hunting trailer. Has full skid plates, new axles, new tires, hand warmers, a Warn winch, and full locking diffs front and rear. 2,789 miles on it. Says it needs a new battery. Dashboard also shows a "CHEC" code. I looked it up and it seems like it could be the battery or something worse. Seller is firm at $4k.

2. 2004 Yamaha Grizzly 660 $5,000 One owner. New battery. Photos show it has a Fimco 15-gallon sprayer already mounted on the rear rack, aftermarket mud tires, and what looks like a winch on the front. Dash shows 2,030 miles and 889 hours. Seems like it was used as a yard machine. Asking price feels high to me for a 2004 but maybe I'm wrong?

3. 1999 Polaris Sportsman 500 $3,200 One owner, bought new from a dealer in 1999. New battery. Comes with a Polaris snow plow (doesn't snow here). Downside: the speedometer quit "a long time ago" so mileage is unknown. Seller says they bypassed the speedo wiring to fix the 4WD. Not sure what to make of that.

4. 2006 Polaris Sportsman $3,999 Clean title, new tires, new axles. About 3,900 miles. Seller says it runs and drives well. Nothing else included.

5. 1998 Polaris Magnum 425 $2,500 Runs fine, new front tires. The problem: no title. Seller lost it and says it's being processed. Not really a big deal to me, as I won't go off property w it.

Is any of this priced fairly? Should I keep looking for something better, or is this a pretty normal selection?

Thanks in advance.

Note: I don't think this is a "what's it worth post" more a "are these good buys" but I'm sorry, Mods, if I'm incorrect here.

We are in the middle of a custom build and have run into a frustrating situation regarding our door hardware. We’re trying to figure out if we are being unreasonable or if this is entirely on the builder.

Here is the situation:

• Our builder pushed us to make our final hardware selections recently, even though we have not yet finalized our exterior paint colors or our door stains.
• We selected Kwikset products and sent the builder links to everything from a large, local hardware supply company. We specifically chose this company because they have a standard 30 to 90-day return policy.
• The builder took our selections, but instead of using the supplier we linked, they ordered the hardware through their own preferred supplier.

When the hardware arrived, we realized it was going to be a terrible fit for the paint and stain colors we are currently leaning towards. We told the builder we needed to return/exchange it. The builder informed us that their supplier has a strict "no-return" policy.

Our perspective:

1. We should have been explicitly informed that there would be zero option to return or exchange these items before the order was placed.
2. We shouldn't have been pushed to make hardware choices when massive interdependencies (like paint and stain) weren't locked in yet.
3. If the builder was going to deviate from the specific supplier we linked to (which offered returns) to use their own, they should have communicated the change in return policy.

The total cost of the hardware is approx. $1,200. When we expressed that we weren't happy, the builder offered to eat 50% of the cost "out of the goodness of their heart" to make us happy.

That doesn't make us happy. We feel this was entirely mismanaged on their end and that they should absorb the full $1,200 for ordering from a strict no-return vendor without our consent while pushing us to order out of sequence.

Are we being unreasonable by asking them to eat the full cost? How would you handle this?

Edit to add: Our builder’s entire marketing pitch is that they provide "hands-on guidance every step of the way." In reality, their "guidance" consists of sending us scattered Pinterest photos and asking us to pick things. As first-time builders, we trusted their timeline and assumed that if they were telling us to order hardware now, it was the right time to do it. To us, real guidance means not forcing clients to make choices out of sequence before interdependent decisions (like paint and stain) are locked in.

I'm an American born English speaker who knows very little language outside of my own.

That being said, I can HEAR when someone introduces themselves with a pronunciation that is different than what I could say in English (e.g. José, François, Khalid, Priya, Xiaoming).

Should I try to pronounce their name as close to the way they say it as possible, or should I say it in the way that's most natural to me?

Putting in a backyard wiffle ball field for my 8-year-old and his friends, and am looking for some feedback from people whose kids have played a lot in the back yard.

What outfield fence distance actually works so they can hit home runs, but it’s not too easy or too hard?

I think this is the key feature, and I want to build an actual (temp) fence, but not sure how deep to put it.

Appreciate the feedback.

We did our homework and hired a reputable builder for an addition and are paying $350+ per square foot. This wasn't the low bid, and we expected a high level of execution.

What’s been bothering me is that the work consistently feels like B+ when I expected A-level. It’s not bad work, but it’s not matching the price point, and it’s starting to wear on me.

A good example: an office that’s been built out of square. Based on the measurements shown in the photo, opposing walls differ by about 4–5 inches over ~14 feet, so the room is noticeably out of parallel. I only caught it once flooring started going in, the plank lines make it very obvious. At this point, the room reads more like a parallelogram than a square, which feels well outside normal framing tolerance.

My contract says the work should be completed in a “workmanlike manner” and in accordance with “applicable building code and standards of the trade,” and I’m struggling to reconcile that language with what I’m seeing.

There have been other issues too: to name a few, lack of protection leading to scratched shower pans, drywall mud on a fireplace insert, a back-graded ABS drain, etc. None of it individually is catastrophic, but it adds up.

So my questions are:

• Is something like this (being several inches out of square) considered within reasonable tolerance?
• Am I justified in expecting better at this price point?
• What recourse do I realistically have at this stage (~80% complete, ~$420k paid)?
• And practically speaking, how do I push for higher-quality execution now so I don’t spend the next few years frustrated by details I can’t unsee?

https://preview.redd.it/1vtla2bai5yg1.png?width=713&format=png&auto=webp&s=d1a0a3dc3e807d10008055e9b12d25000787ad89

I’m in the middle of a custom home addition and trying to sanity check something.

We’re about $420k into a $600k contract, and the project is probably around 80% complete (framing and rough-ins done, now into paint, doors, millwork). Overall things seem to be progressing fine—though not perfect—and I’ve been doing more due diligence as we get closer to the finish line.

One thing that prompted this: I came across a prior project with the same builder where the homeowner brought in an independent inspector on a ~$1.3M build and reportedly uncovered a fairly extensive list of issues that led to a formal dispute. That situation escalated to litigation and ultimately a financial settlement involving multiple parties, which suggests it wasn’t trivial.

Because of that, I’m considering hiring an independent third-party inspector to take a look at my build before we get too close to completion.

I’m not naturally confrontational. When I bring up concerns, I tend to back off pretty easily if there’s any pushback. There aren’t a ton of issues, but there are a few things I’ve noticed that make me wonder what I’m not seeing. And when I raise them, the response is rarely “we made a mistake” usually framed as acceptable or within tolerance, even when I’m not fully convinced (and sometimes I'm certain the mistake isn't within tolerance).

So, does it make sense to bring in an independent inspector at this stage?

Appreciate any real-world experiences or advice.