Location: Tn . Builder Is 15+ Months Into An Unfinished Custom Home. Should We Wait Until Completion Before Pursuing Legal Action?

Location: TN. My wife and I contracted with a licensed Tennessee general contractor in July 2025 to build a custom turnkey home. As of October 2026, the home remains incomplete.
The builder publicly advertises an approximate construction timeline of 6–9 months. An older search-engine-indexed version of its website references 5–7 months, which is the timeline we assumed when moving forward with them.

Our contract does not specify an exact completion date, but it contains a “Time is of the Essence” provision and a clause addressing correction of deficiencies within 10 business days. We have asked for updates and timelines and never been given anything in writing in terms of milestones or completion dates.

We’ve experienced:
Four different project managers since construction began.
Multiple failed county inspections, including two failed pre-slab inspections.

Rough-in work that took approximately five months, with some inspections requested before all required work was completed.

Several issues we have identified that needed remedied in terms of workmanship to even a person off the street would notice.

Documented water intrusion that took months to resolve beyond the 10 business day contract clause; and an upstairs tiled deck that does not drain properly which is also 2 months beyond the remedy period (I assume because they have to tear up the tile and buy new tile — we supplied the original tile/materials). And the sub that originally did it doesn’t want to fix it / take the loss.

Incorrect or disputed material selections compared with our signed specifications. Countertops and interior paint, in particular.

Repeated workmanship deficiencies identified by our independent inspector.
Periods of little or no construction activity and no reliable written completion schedule. Over the last 12 months, 1-2 business days per week is a generous average for workers onsite performing work or fixing incorrect work.

We also had a dispute over a $100k+ construction draw (cash builder, not using a bank) that was requested before all associated work was complete. We ultimately paid the draw. More recently, after we raised unresolved deficiencies, company leadership stated in writing that production would be halted until an agreement on the path forward was reached.

We’ve documented additional financing expenses, inspection costs, erosion repairs, and other carrying costs associated with the prolonged construction.

Here’s our dilemma:
Our priority is getting the house finished. Two independent builders have advised us against terminating the current contractor because they would not be willing to take over, or warranty another builder’s partially completed work.
We are considering waiting until the house is substantially completed before pursuing breach-of-contract claims or other appropriate remedies.

My questions:
Under Tennessee law, can we generally wait until construction is complete to pursue damages for delays and defective performance, assuming applicable deadlines are preserved?

Could continuing to make contractual payments or allowing the builder to finish be interpreted as waiving claims for earlier breaches?

How should we preserve our rights without escalating the dispute or provoking another construction shutdown?

Are final-payment releases or acceptance documents particularly dangerous in this situation?

What type of Tennessee attorney would be best suited to advise us privately while construction continues?

We understand that Reddit isn’t a substitute for legal representation. We’re looking for general legal considerations before consulting a Tennessee construction/civil litigation attorney.