Why eleven months
Our workmanship warranty runs a year from the keys. We come back at eleven months, not twelve, so anything we find is fixed inside it without a conversation about dates. By then the house has been through a heating season and a humid August, the wood has moved as much as it is going to, and the owners have opened every door at least once.
What we bring
Dana or Luis, whoever ran the job, and Cole from the shop. A notebook, a step ladder, a box of shims, touch-up paint in every color on the schedule, and the punch list from the keys with every item crossed off and dated. We start outside at the same corner every time and walk the house clockwise, then room by room inside.
Almost all of it is the house adjusting to being lived in, and almost all of it is an afternoon.
What we usually find
Doors that have moved a sixteenth and now touch the head. A crack where drywall meets the stair stringer, which is wood settling, not the house. A window that sticks in August. Caulk joints at the tub that opened as the floor dried. A gutter that needs one more hanger. Almost all of it is the house adjusting to being lived in, and almost all of it is an afternoon.
| Where | What we found | What we did |
|---|---|---|
| Front door | Touching the head in August | Planed, re-hung, 40 minutes |
| Stair stringer | Hairline crack at the drywall | Caulked and painted |
| Primary bath | Tub caulk opened as the floor dried | Recaulked |
| Kitchen window | Sticks in humid weather | Sash eased, waxed |
| North gutter | Sags between hangers | One hanger added |
| Radiant floor | Owners asked about settings | Care notes updated |
| White oak | How often to oil it | Care notes updated |
| Bluestone | Salt in winter | Care notes updated |
| Screen porch | One screen loose | Re-splined |
What the owners find
We ask them to keep a list from the first month. Bluff House had nine items. Three were ours to fix, four were the owners getting to know a radiant floor and a set of window shades, and two were questions about care: how often to oil the white oak, what to do about salt on the bluestone. Those answers go into the care notes, so the next owners get them too.
After the year
The warranty ends; the phone number does not. We keep the drawings, the photo log, the selections and every change order for the house, and when someone calls in year six about adding a porch, we start from the as-built set instead of a tape measure. A house needs its instructions as well as its keys.
