If you had a legal problem, you wouldn't play around with it and call the lawyer later. But people do it all the time with their homes. To save money, the client didn't consult a designer. To get into the shower, he had to crouch. A week later, he had the whole thing ripped out.
Many homeowners wear their self-inflicted wounds with pride, however.
Rashid Katib, president of Intram Investments Inc., Orlando, Fla., is a commercial builder. Mr. Katib spent endless hours re-figuring the the layout, width, height and depth of his bookcases. He traveled to Miami to pick out marble flooring. He changed the size of windows. He moved walls.