Construction business is running a small company. All businesses need to have a line of credit to get them through the billing cycles. I think there are two issues: available line of credit and a deposit required before the beginning of the project. Construction companies (almost all companies doing custom work) ask for a deposit (earnest money, good faith money, whatever you call it) before the construction (or custom work) begins. This is my experience working with multiple companies in the past few years. It's typically 5 to 10% of the job in construction. Some ask for 25% or more before the work begins (ie custom cabinet companies, custom countertops etc.) Is your guy asking for a deposit? If I was running a business, I would not spend my money without a guarantee that the customer is invested in the project. Unless the customer puts down a deposit, the customer can walk away from the contract without any monetary penalty. This is not a good place for the business to be in before the business starts to spend its money. I would absolutely ask for a deposit from my customer. Maybe he gave you too much information regarding how he spends the deposit... That is entirely different territory of issues. Does the business have enough line of credit to get through the project? BTW, on larger projects we did, we paid every two to four weeks. The companies generally need to be paid often enough to make their cash flow happen. Again, you, the bank and the construction company all need to be on the same page about this.

Elizabeth, the floors have to go as they look better in photos. In person they scream cheap. It is cheap laminate. I will also have bare spots where the wall will be removed that I have to fix up. I was planning on putting some tile in the kitchen area but may just do hardwood throughout the whole house. I have also heard that the ikea cabinets hold up rather well but it seems that they use quite a bit of MDF with a foil over it. I personally would prefer a wood face as that sees quite a bit of abuse and potential liquid spills (I am just at the beginning with a 3 year old and 1.5 year old).

@Janie it's a funny disparity, but my husband drives home from work every day in his $3700 car, wearing a $7000 watch (company gift for length of service) and when our kitchen is finally finished, he will walk in and make himself a coffee on a machine that doesn't cost a car payment, it cost almost as much as the CAR. Our total expense, hopefully around $30k, will be a title less than 15% of the current value of our home. We're in the Houston burbs, so pretty low COL. Ours is mostly DIY, but wth lots of structural changes. We put about 1/3 of our budget in plumbing and electrical. We knew the espresso setup would be $3k. And I knew I wanted 2 ovens and Marmoleum for the floor. We worked everything else around that, including getting our cabinets from Craigslist and then 16' of counter from ikea clearance for under $100 We got married in our backyard, my youngest daughter was born upstairs, and we love the neighborhood and neighbors and schools and we're about 15 minutes from most of my family. Unless we have to relocate, we're not going anywhere. We used the 15% number as a guide to not overimorive for the neighborhood. I wouldn't have thought a minimum was really applicableto any kitchen though. Because there's so much variation in what needs to be done. Some kitchens might need new counters and a coat of paint. Ours required rebuilding 3 load bearing walls.

OK. How about something like this. The island seating would be on the DR side out of any work areas. I could also put a microwave in the island. Not sure yet about the wall support so for now there is nothing but I assume between the kitchen designer and architect (engineer?) they will tell me what I should do to make sure my house does not fall down. I guess I would prefer to NOT to have columns but I am guessing that would be a lot more expensive. Not sure what and how to layout cabs in the island. This is what I came up with so far. The micro could be in the cab facing the dishwasher wall. I could put fake fronts on the cab on the LR side on the left. On the cabinet side facing sink I would put long handle to hang towels as I hate having them on the stove handle now. Thank you.