It was a lot of work trying to find the "where" to add a contact. But I found it (Hotmail / Outlook). Go the following link "after you have already logged into your hotmail account": https://people.live.com/ You can add your new contact here at any time, don't have to wait for an email to come in from your new contact, at the top of the page you just click on "New" and you will get the fields to add your new contact. It seems a dumb way of doing it, I couldn't find any other way. I hope this helps.

This kind of software is often limited to an operating system. Contractors often use Windows and architects often use Macs. What is yours? You should ask your contractor to provide a schedule because you will be constantly hounding him for information in order to update the schedule and you don't want to usurp his responsibility for that aspect of the project. For tracking project costs there are many Excel templates available that only cost $25 or so and allow a free trial. It might be difficult to find a good one simply because project management means different things to contractors, architects and owners and there are so many different kinds of projects and delivery methods; for instance, yours is not a common one for home building.

Well the more the employees are not able to provide the service needed, the more a one of the bigger arguments against a modified flat tax or simplified tax code (fewer employees needed so jobs would be lost) goes away. I had a problem where the IRS accepted the income, including an IRA distribution from my dad's estate, but didn't recognize the withholding on that same IRA distribution. As a result, they sent us a letter saying we owed additional tax payment. We checked the return -- all the amounts and forms were there and we were owed a refund. DH tried to call multiple times and I tried to call. DH wrote a letter and mailed it in to explain, line by line, where the error was and that we were owed a refund. No reply -- just more letters asking us to pay more and adding interest. Tried calling again (some of these resulted in disconnects also). Never got through to anyone. Sent a note to the attorney who helped me with my dad's estate to ask about it. She said it took time and to give it one more round. Contacted my siblings (who had the same attorney prepare the same type of returns) and verified that neither of them had a problem with their returns -- I was the only lucky one. Then heard from the IRS again -- another letter saying we owed the additional payment with more interest and a penalty. We had an appointment with the same attorney to sign new wills soon thereafter. When we met with her, she had us sign an amended return for the IRA to try to get the full amount of the withholding refunded there and then had us pay the additional taxes, interest and penalty (added about $35) on our personal return just to clear the whole thing before adding more interest or penalties. Well, we haven't gotten demands for more money, but they haven't sent the refund either. This on our 2014 returns and has been going on for months -- and there's no way to reach anyone to get our refund.

You DO want to pay for some connection between Design to Build, even if it’s not full project management. You don’t want them handing you a design and that’s it. “Design project management” is typically is not 20%. But it does consume some hours that need to be paid for. That is at least 5-6 site meetings with the Kitchen Designer with the GC and specific trades on site. That also means substantial project documentation, in a jobsite reference book, so that everyone is working from the right plan. An initial design meeting should involve walking the as built site with the design in hand, with the caBinet installer and GC, before ordering cabinets. Or else you take the chance that you’ll need to build in wiggle room for it not being built according to plans. It’s a game of inches. And do not forget the inches that casings occupy. That’s a typical “we forgot”. You’ll want a site visit to coordinate the rough electrical. Things get built in the way. That has to be somewhat fluid. I like sung retrofit boxes for some lighting, and just having coiled wire runs in the attic, to narrow down exact placement in the finish stages. Saves ceiling patching,. Gets pendants perfect. You’ll want a visit when the cabinets are scheduled to start, to go over the plan (again) with the cabinet installer and GC. It’s amazing what can be forgotten about in 8-10 weeks time. You'll want a site visit for the counter template. Communication with the templater is key to a good job. Having the homeowner there too, so there are no surprises, is the best course. You’ll want a site visit for the start of the backsplash. Sometimes the tiles are 1/16 smaller you have to decide about a corner wrap, or centering on the cooking zone. And you’ll want a “wild card” visit to help solve some problem that comes up. It could be the floor tiles are thicker than spec, and now fitting the cabinets under the soffit is an issue. It could be the installer doesn’t understand the locking system for the crown molding that forms its own mounting cleat. It could be that a lighting variation makes some of the cabinets look “off”. It could be concealed damage on the cabinets, and it’s a critical cabinet, like a corner cabinet, so creative solutions are needed. It could be a lot of things that come up, that you need design input to go with the build expertise. The whole point of design, is having that input at critical points.