Wow...as I said, Build Direct has some issues. They just went through Bankruptcy protection about a year ago. The lady has NO IDEA what she's talking about -sadly. An oil finish is NOT an oil-based polyurethane. Two different animals (In fact one is an insect and the other a lizard). Oil based finishes REQUIRE monthly and YEARLY maintenance by the homeowner. It is an oil that seeps into the wood (does NOT sit on top like polyurethane). Like outdoor wood furniture, the OIL needs maintaining. The COLOUR needs maintaining and the CLEANING is SUPER specific. You will require 4 different maintenance products for these products: 1. Maintenance oil 2. Oil Soap 3. Heavy stain repair oil 4. "Master" oil (contains the colour) Your requirements will be: Every 3-4 months you will apply maintenance oil over the heavy wear areas OR ANY TIME the wood starts to look 'thirsty' or 'dry'. And be prepared. Product out of China (could be out of the factory in a container for 3 MONTHS before it gets onto a container ship...then another month at sea; then another month in port or in transit to a warehouse facility; and then another month - 5 months waiting for you to purchase it) is notorious for being dry. That can mean you are REQUIRED to apply maintenance oil the next day. Then you wait 24-48 hours before you move in. Now you have to use the oil soap (Woca offers great products that can help you deal with this) and cleaning on a regular basis. Should you find a stubborn stain, you must use the repair oil and a good scrub. After the scrub you have to reapply the colour or master oil (assuming you can get it out of China = doubt it). This area WILL be a different colour than the rest of the floor. Now you have hit the 1 year 'master colour' maintenance = apply the ORIGINAL colour (hence the name 'Master Oil') over the ENTIRE floor. Wait for it to dry (24 - 48 hrs) and then put the furniture back. The bad news is you MUST do this for the next 30+ years. The good news is you can do this one room at a time. The Floor and Decor stuff does not list the finish but the MAINTENANCE instructions (way down on the bottom of the installation instructions) give hints this is a urethane finish. It won't be any more exciting than that. Usually 'special' finishes will be SPECIFICALLY stated. They are expensive and the sellers will want to HIGHLIGHT the super tough finishes. Montpellier does none of that. Which means you must be prepared for boring ol' urethane. The look you are going for is a HIGH END finish. A $5/sf price tag indicates you are not quite in the right ball park. Again, this 'look' should be $10/sf or higher to indicate a quality product. Floor and Decor isn't much better than Build Direct. The only difference being they are US based....that's it.

Is that allowance a material only allowance or supposed to be the installed price (including materials). If you plan to go with engineered hardwood floors, then you CAN get a flooring in that cost but it will not be high end. It will be a thinner one. I know of a several Bella Cera flooring options that would be within that budget but several of their lines would also be over. Keep in mind, that is materials only. I'm not including labor for install, glue (or whatever method you use), floor prep materials, etc. As far as tile goes, I could easily get floor tile in that budget (again, materials only) and probably like it fine. It would eliminate a lot of choices though since there are many above that range (and also MANY below). Most of the floor tile options I've used are $5/sqft or less. My wood from bella cera was also within that range but I got the price I did on it due to some help from a friend who sells wood flooring. (for reference, mine is 7.5" wide) Once stores reopen, maybe go into some flooring stores with displays and take a look around. See what you're drawn to & then ask for the price. That will be a good indicator in regards to whether the things you like are within the allowance given.

@John Creek do you have any installation photo of the Regretta? I'm actually thinking of intalling the Hallmark Leeward Regretta in our kitchen and then the Hallmark Organic 567 in Gunpowder in the rest of the house. The colors and look are almost identical (I have sample boards of each), although the texture is a little different since the Organic 567 has more scrapes and texture. But the Regretta being waterproof, seemed a better fit in our kitchen. The living room is a step down, so the transition is not a big deal in there, but we do have to other rooms (dining and office) that I would like to keep the Oragancic 567 as well, but it flows into the kitchen via a doorway, so I might just keep it all the Regretta, even though I love the look of the Orangic 567. The 567 will go up the stairs as well (off the dining room). I'd love to see photos of the Regretta in a real house. There are very few photos out there. Post some if you have any. Any info would be helpful. Thanks!

Thank you everyone for the constructive feedback and useful comments. 1. @otter play. We are already in the permit process with a single floor plan - About to submit for the third time but took a pause as they are requiring an additional parking space on the lot if our house becomes 6 bedrooms (Which the ground plan will do) 2. @DeWayne - Not rebuilding a whole house, just building a 2 bedroom unit on top of the detached garage and the open space between the garage and the main home. We would not touch the main home and there would be nothing on top of it. 3. Thanks @sabrinaalfin. Your comment was very helpful. Def dont think we have a highly skilled architect, I had to provide a ton of feedback in the process we have gone through the past year on the plans. 4. @joseph - I had a contractor review our existing foundation. This is a 60's home and is on a raised foundation. Please note, the re-inforcing of the foundation would have to be just on the detached garage portion. 5. The upstairs ADU would only be above the existing 2 car garage. and on top of a new room I would have between the house and the garage. 6. I wish moving would be cheaper. There is nothing in southern California that would give you this lot size and squarefootage for the price I would get for this home. My Main goal of putting up this post was to make sure I can get a read on whether I should continue with the ground floor extension plan. (Adding 2 rooms + 1 Bathroom to the main house, and convering the Garage to a 1 Bed ADU). Vs building a second story on top of the garage (2 Bedroom ADU, and add a room to the main house + Bathroom) If the second is more cost effective and would be faster I would opt for that so I can rent out the unit to pay for the cost. Thanks again for all the help!