I've no advice, just commiserations. There's a house just been built where I park my car to go hiking. Really great section and fairly nice big house, seven figure property. Saw the family, young. The front of the house has been clad shockingly, real amateur-hour stuff, and it's all finished. What a nightmare. There must be professionals out there who can clean up these disputes, I guess they charge a bit. A big part of the problem is the prevalent building style. The builder/carpenter seems to do as little as possible and sub-trades do so much and they all rely on each part of the process being right. Fibro everywhere needing rendering and painting.Tin fascia with fibro soffits. Combine this with brickwork. Plasterboard walls and ceilings usually lined, plastered and painted by three sets of tradesmen. And the builder doesn't co-ordinate the work because he considers it the subbies' responsibility. Not to mention the designers/architects who put these materials/systems together in difficult places without any attention to detailing how it should work. Why all this? It's an economical system? I dunno. But done properly it's okay. So OP, good luck, hope everyone does the right thing.

Thank you so much for your kind words, everyone. Houzz never ceases to delight, I am so glad I began this renovation even though it was an incredibly stressful journey at the time!! Here are a few more pics taken over the last 2 years.

Oh my god. The wallpaper. The bathroom. The sneaky sparkle in the window of the 'after' shot. I love all of this.

I love Marie's respect for the things we have, and her practice of thanking the things that don't actually bring us joy for what they have taught us (eg I don't suit that colour or if I don't like the feel of something, I don't end up wearing it). Her system does not generate a lot of rubbish; there are always people that will love the things that don't suit us and will be grateful to be able to buy them at a good price at a charity shop. I have found her philosophy hugely helpful especially for sentimental items which I don't love but felt I should hang on to. She has changed my life!