September 4, 2003: First encounter with the builder. We pay $500.00 deposit to begin the design of the house. From September 4, 2003 to September 30, 2003, we have multiple communications regarding the house specifications. September 30, 2003: Signed initial contract for $406,977.00. February 2, 2004: On the recommendation of the builder, a request was made of a local Land Trust to change the boundary of the abutting property line so that the house could be better positioned on the building lot. It took some time for the local Land Trust to issue their denial of the request, which was received on this date. After the denial by the by the local Land Trust, we were informed by the builder that because of Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) height limitations of ocean front property we would have to pay an additional $80,000.00 to blast away 8 feet of ledge in order for the house as originally designed to meet the DEP height limitation. The decision was made to redesign the house and decrease the height to avoid any blasting costs. June 4, 2004: The redesigned house was agreed upon, and a new contract (change order) was signed for $459,640.00. We were then informed that even with the redesign and decreased height of the house, it would still be necessary to blast 4 feet of ledge at a cost of approximately $34,000.00. We agreed to this added cost of blasting in order to avoid yet another redesign of the house and more delays. June 21, 2004: Blasting complete July 13, 2004: Foundation complete. September 20, 2004: The modular home company delivers the house. December 20, 2004: Change order for a retaining wall to stop soil erosion from water run off from the roof. We pay an additional unanticipated $4,500.00 January 14, 2005: After having paid for the blasting, we are given an unexpected invoice for $25,058.00.00 for additional groundwork, apparently in conjunction with the blasting. We had not been informed that the blasting would not include $25,000.00 worth of additional groundwork. Had we been told that, we would have redesigned the house and settled for a single story structure. Because of the unexpected $25,058.00 invoice, we realized at this point that we had lost control of this project. As it turns out, we never had control of this project. We therefore asked, "What other financial surprises are coming our way?" We were told, "There would be extra expenses owing to increases in plywood costs that resulted from the hurricanes in Florida and the Iraq war." This was the first clue that we were not going to be within 20% of the estimated contract price. We became desperate and decided that we had to take legal action in order to restrain these costs that were now spiraling out of control. February 3, 2005: We got a lawyer at this point to halt the project and asked for a summary of what the cost would be to finish the project. February 22, 2005: We received a "summary" of itemized labor and materials costs to complete the project. This amounts to $44,894.00 more than the contracted price. March 11, 2005: We met with our lawyer, the builder, and the builder's lawyer. During this meeting with our attorneys, we attempted to end the contract by offering to pay the builder for the work completed, but we were told that we would be breaching the contract and that the builder had a right to complete the project and realize the profit associated with its completion. We were informed that the cost of litigation to get us out of the contract would be more than the cost of completing the project. An "agreement" was reached and signed to cap the cost of completing the project at $50,000.00. This $50,000.00 cap was reached after much deliberating and "horse trading" during this meeting. First of all the builder agreed to not install the screen porch, decreasing the $44,894.00 by $2,750.00. The new total to complete the project was now $42,144.00. Here is why the builder agreed to the $50.000.00 cap. The builder took the $42,144.00 costs to complete the project and added 20% to it. This brought the total to $50,572.80, which is, in the end, the amount that he wanted to clear. The $50,000.00 cap [instead of insisting on the entire $50,572.80] was offered to us as a concession on the builder's part. We agreed to the $50,000.00 cap. April 12, 2005 to June 22, 2005: We receive four invoices for work completed according to the agreement signed March 11, 2005. Each invoice was exactly 20% more (to the penny) than the amount shown on the "summary of itemized labor and materials costs." This is, the maximum amount allowed by the March 11th agreement. Without any documentation of "actual" time and materials and because the invoices we received were exactly 20% more than the estimated costs, we question whether the estimates were based on real labor and material costs or what the builder planed to bill regardless of any actual cost to them. In the end, the contract was, in our opinion, the equivalent of a "blank check" made out to the builder. July 29, 2005: We received the last invoice for the project's completion. According to the agreement, the final payment totaled $8,327.00. The final invoice from the builder was for $8,849.23, which was $522.28 more than the agreement. We refused to pay the additional $522.28. In return the builder refuses to do any warranty work that might be necessary. The project's gross amount is approaching $636,000.00... 39% over budget. August 6, 2005: We purchase the appliances the builder refused to install in spite of the appliance allowance stipulated in the contract. October 8-9, 2005: We get a heavy rain. This is fortuitous because it points out the lack of proper grading around the house. The builder could not have directed the water at the house any better if he deliberately intended to do so. The foundation footings are undermined and the landscaping has to be redone in order to prevent the footings from heaving owing to frost during the winter. The entire grading of the property has to be redone in order to prevent a recurrence in the event of another heavy rain. See landscaping. October 24, 2005: We start the repairs necessary to correctly grade the property. The cost is $20,000.00