Ending Relationships

This weekend we went to visit the house site with very low expectations. The builder had not been returning phone calls and had refused to provide an update on progress all week. It was not until Friday night after many requests did a minor update via email come through with a request for money. The builder said he had been working on electrical and plumbing during the week. Electrical and plumbing had indeed been started, a door hung, and about 100 sq ft of tile had been laid. The cabinets weren't complete, the dryer vent wasn't in, the bathroom was not trimmed out - all the things the builder kept talking about doing still weren't done. We knew going into the weekend, we were probably going to have to terminate the contract with the builder if we were ever going to get the house finished. After much deliberation, we came back Sunday and sent the builder a termination letter. We feel much better about the project knowing we can hire people who want to do the work and will complete the job and get paid. We gave the builder 17 months and 2 weeks to complete what started out on the contract as a 6 month job. We hope to finish the balance of the work in 4 weeks and be in by Thanksgiving.