"Call-backs cost you money and challenge a builder's reputation. Prevention is always the most cost-effective cure.

Disgruntled customers sometimes call long after a job is complete. Complaints about misaligned wood moldings, roof leaks, floor squeaks and plaster cracks are common in wood frame construction. Customer dissatisfaction can threaten a builder's reputation and settling claims requires delicate negotiation. The outcome of a negotiation is not predictable, and you can count on one thing: the cure will cost the customer and builder money. Prevention is always the least expensive and strongest remedy.

It is easy for a builder to become defensive when his or her level of workmanship is called into question. When the builder leaves a job things may be in showroom condition. Materials were carefully selected. And the customer probably spoke volumes about the quality of the crew's workmanship during the walk-through. But the way materials and products perform can change over time.

Here is a selection of problems that I have seen over and over again. Most are predictable, but not obvious. Some are obvious, but not always predictable. All of the problems upset customer relations and cost time, money and good will.

• building: damage and failures : wood, new
• building: residential, house, home
• wood frame houses and walls, wood structure

1. Choosing between oriented strandboard and plywood
2. Decision making in the purchase of siding: a survey of architects, contractors, and homeowners in the U.S. Northeast
3. Decoding building codes
4. Details that keep walls watertight
5. Housewraps, felt paper and weather penetration barriers
6. The evolution of engineered wood I-joists