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When we were getting bids on the house, the electrical bid seemed unusually high. We were told the plan had too many can lights and we needed to remove “some.”

Truth: we had too many cans and needed to remove some. We have this thing about living in homes that resemble caves and we crave light. But we had 150 drawn in and “some” weren't necessary.

We got a reasonable bid and moved on. Until this week. Without speaking to us further, the electrician says the bid he provided was for 50 cans. In other words, he claims his bid covers only 33% of the cans included on the plans. And he wants to charge us $55 per can that we install over his bid.

I'll have to check my dictionary, but generally speaking, I wouldn't use the term “some” to describe removing 66% of something. I'd call it “most” or “a huge portion” or “you'll need Obama to bail you out on this one.”

More reasons the construction industry stinks.

Anyone interested in an electrical install?

But wait! That's not all! If you look now you'll learn that the plumbing on both of the kids' bathrooms in the basement was installed 6 inches off and is now sitting in a bedroom! Read that: someone's going to chipping out some cement in the near future.

My building advice for today: read plans; follow plans.

Alison Moore Smith is a 61-year-old entrepreneur who graduated from BYU in 1987. She has been (very happily) married to Samuel M. Smith for 40 years. They are parents of six incredible children and grandparents to two astounding grandsons. She is the author of The 7 Success Habits of Homeschoolers.