If they post your house pictures on Houzz without your permission, then you can add comments about it being your house, and your "bad experience with" and "would never recommend."

Payback is a b@#$%

I'm so sorry to hear this. IIRC you had a wonderful relationship w your builder.
Re the photos, is there anything in your contract regarding him having the right to take photos?
It may be "customary", but that does not obligate you to allow it unless its in the original contract. Unless your builder is financing the home and is selling it to you at completion, in which case he owns it. But if you're financing it, and photo rights aren't in the contract, I'd say he has no right to them.

I don't have anything to add, but mdln's comment made me LOL. Revenge is a dish best served cold . . . . .

Well, I don't mean to sound like Pollyanna here, but really Maggie, take the high road. If your builder has the right and does take pics, enjoy the fact that your beautiful house is on Houzz, and leave off any bad mouthing. It can't help you, and may down the road come back to bite you.

I'm under the impression that you and your bank are financing this build, if so, it's your house and you get more say, pending whats in your contract. If it's a subdivision build and the builder is carrying the financing burden, then it's his house until you close on it.

thanks for all the feedback.

our builder does not own the home, but technically, according to my realtor we don't either. we own the land it sits on, and we have the construction loan, but because the construction loan is interest only, she said we don't really own it yet until it converts. but we own it more than my builder does.

again, our contract makes NO reference to photos. i would like to think that if things are still sour at the very end, that by simply requesting that they not use photos of our house, they would comply. i wouldn't have that conversation (in writing) until the house is completely done. that said, it would go against every fiber of my builder's being to do a shoddy job finishing the house. i have ZERO complaints about the quality of the materials or the construction.

what has gone downhill is the relationship side with management of expectations, as well as them not keeping their word, and by word, i mean email documentation of things we've asked for and mutually agreed to. regardless of them emailing saying one thing and we're all in agreement, when it becomes an inconvenience to execute, or they've made a mistake and gone in a different direction, they refer back to the ORIGINAL contract that we signed with different instructions and disregard newer discussions as they weren't on a formal document with signatures. also after everything being fair and expected throughout the process, they're trying to price gouge us on a few items that they don't want to take on, such as paint colors other than "builder beige." I got my own paint estimate from a painter that comes highly recommended by two family members. the quote was $400. my builder quoted $1675 because he just doesn't want to do it, but he won't leave it off and credit us for that portion of work, and he won't let our guy get in until after occupancy. so it delays our move-in, and we're paying to paint twice.

just a couple examples - last week it was about 5 issues all at once, and not handled at all gracefully.

i'm still hoping things get back on a better track. my realtor has advised us to stop taking calls and in person meetings and to get everything from them in writing on company letterhead with their signatures.

i have no interest in making this uglier than it needs to be or to take on battle after battle for the duration of this project. i'm not looking to bad mouth anybody, but i also won't let them disregard our wishes if they have no contractual rights to the photos. i would think the possibility that i COULD leave a comment if they use the photos against our wishes would dissuade them and am hopeful this is all moot and things turn around before move-in.

You ae talking standard business practices here, nothing personal that would cause you to go online and disparage him. The written word rules, and if you haven't both signed a change order then the change that you want does not exist as a reality.

Painters have different price structures, and your bulder uses his painter because he shows up on time and does a good job. Comparing his price structure (with the change order fee plus upcharge plus builder %) with someone else's fees is specious.

Take a deep breath and step back. There should be zero reason that he can not take pictures of his work. That's also standard. If you'd prefer that your identity and address be private, that is certainly within your rights. But, it's a partnership. It's your house, but it's his work.

Hollysprings, your argument would be fine if it went both ways or if the process were not less formal for the first 6 months. There have been loads of changes done by email that were never formalized with signatures on official builder paperwork. Some of those changes we initiated, and an equal number by my builder. Are you suggesting I should ask him to tear out everything that doesn't match our formal documents even if he asked me if it was ok by email and I approved by email? Would that be right in your mind?

And specifically on the paint. .. his painters are already taping off and ppainting our ceiling. It's part of our contract and it's already contracted to be a different color than the walls. I want our ceiling painted blue instead of gray. They agreed to charge me $450 to change the color from gray to something else verbally and then confirmed by email. Now they want to charge me $1675 merely to choose a different color. My painter has to drive to the job, buy paint, tape it all off again and repaint and he can do all that for $400. My builders painter who he has never used before by the way is already there and is already contracted to paint the ceiling. There is no fee for change orders and our colors were not expected to be decided before now. This isn't a last minute change.