[mseepman]

Well, it comes down to this. Normally when a builder does a home for you...they have a good profit margin as well as an administrative fee built into the cost of the home. We had been waiting on my long time friend as a builder for years...but in the interim, we had 2 other builders quote on the job...When they give you per sq. foot costs...they are really really padding. When I wanted a breakdown from them...they had 25-40k in admin costs alone plus profit.
My builder and I worked out a cost plus program. I get every invoice for every single nail he uses...and I pay cost plus on that invoice. Labour hours are tracked at each guy's rate...and I pay cost plus on that as well. I have left him no room for any deviation and in this situation the city could be blamed for much of the problem. I just don't feel right in completely saying it's his cost to bear. I'm sure he will take much of it on, but I want to do the right thing. I've found that when someone is making nothing on a project...things don't go well...so part of my desire to assist is selfishly trying to make sure nothing else goes wrong or is poorly done.