Hi JohnB, I chanced upon your t-blog and enjoyed reading about your ideas. I have been through a full renovation recently myself and I can totally understand all the ups and downs that accompanies it - most of the time we can't even foresee the problem till it actually happens! Personally my own list of challenges included un-level flooring from topping up of kitchen with lightweight cement, poor laying of sliding door tracks, mis-drilling of cabinets, electrical installation errors, unequal lengths of sliding door pieces, etc.. the list goes on and on... But the saving grace would be at least a responsible contractor/ID who can help to solve the problems. I can say that although I met many challenges, at least my contractor did not even turn away any of my complaint calls or messages and we would eventually work something out together e.g. they installed my bedroom cabinet handles too low even though I marked the height so in the end I had to purchase another set of recessed handles to cover the wrongly drilled holes, otherwise it would have cost >S$800 to replace the full sized doors, which my contractor offered to split the cost with me but I did not want to go down that route in any case... In the end the recessed handles cost $40 for 4 pieces and it was re-installed by the carpenters at no additional charge - only thing is that I have to leave with some small circular stickers covering the inside holes that cannot be cut away. All the mis-installation works were also subsequently rectified after several visits... Anyway, long story short, just wanna give you some encouragement and my 2 cents advice: 1. Try to supervise all the major installation works so that you can rectify and prevent any errors on the spot - they have no excuses later on such as "already done what you want me to do" blar blar... 2. Communicate with contractor/ID closely and mark all your instructions on masking tape on the item to make sure they are reminded e.g. drilling positions/ electrical socket positions 3. If you discover any problems, do not be angry (you will naturally be but cool down because being angry doesn't help) - what I did was to take photos of all the defects and compile them into a word document and put down all the remarks e.g. identified error and proposed rectification works to be submitted to contractor/ID for rectification works 4. Last but not least, the responsibility to rectify all the problems should mostly be with your contractor/ID (they are paid professionals) and do not stress yourself out over these problems as they definitely can be rectified somehow or another (usually $$ solves all problems but you should not be topping up $$ if it's not your problem) 5. Insist that all reno works should be performed as agreed in your quotation/ contract, otherwise they can not expect full payment from you Hope my 2 cents' worth helps and all the best to your reno! I am sure everything will turn out fine!