Good contractors are hard to come by

My wife Liz and I recently celebrated our second wedding anniversary. We spent the evening in our “barn,” a 1,200-square-foot single-room facility that we built in the back of our property. The barn has become our second home.

The idea for the barn came to us six months before our wedding in early 2006. Liz suggested having our wedding ceremony in the barn.

Where can you find a contractor who can develop plans, get permits and build this place on time for our wedding? There is only one thing you can count when working with contractors: delays and budget overruns.

Well, we got lucky. We met Sco...