Thanks luckymom23 & juniork! We are building in VA. We are talking to the builder today and have a list of questions to ask. The main one (after we hammer out a fixed price contract for the bank) will be adding and addendum that spells out the terms of the cost plus idea. The bank is fine with an Addendum, or at least the VP said as much by e-mail last night, so long as it's clear that the bank funds are separate. We can deposit our own money with the bank and they will release it along with the bank draws. It's not really cost plus 10%. It's cost plus 10% plus the fixed fee which is allegedly an incentive for the GC to not shop for high bids to charge the 10% on those high bids. But if the GC normally uses the same subs all the time then they know how much all of this stuff will cost....or at least they can project pretty close except if materials sky rocket again. The cost plus builder wants to make sure they are covered, which we understand. They don't want to do a true fixed price in case costs change dramatically like they did with hurricane Katrina. Looks like we will do a hybrid contract if they go for it, fixed price but with us getting receipts and requesting draws based on those receipts + 10%. The budget will already include the 10% so i.e., it's $16K for sheetrock, insulation and labor and the budget says $20K then the draw will only be for $17,600 (cost +10%). The budgets are all being projected based on bids from the usual subs. I know that the painter for the GC we prefer charges $3.25 psf and he does not spray but uses rollers. That is because if the GC has to touch up then it won't look horrible with their brush marks over a sprayed wall. The $3.25 psf includes labor so we don't need to worry if it takes him and his crew 2 weeks to paint our house. We will not need to be involved in selecting the subs. The GC's all use the same subs for every job. The GC we like best has used the same subs for about 7 years and the finished (and under construction) houses we saw all used basically the same subs. The trim work was AMAZING!! I wish I had taken photos. Our builder friend was very impressed - especially with the california closets (varnished bars) and the trim work behind the toilets (molding around the toilet valve instead of just sheetrock and paint). They just seem to do the little extras and that is why we like them best. We do count the garage when calculating the price per square foot, right? If we count the garage then we are paying (depending on which builder) $123 - $130 psf for 3705 sq ft assuming the cost plus contract comes in at budget and not one penny over. This does not include the payment for the lot though. Builder # 2 gave us a fixed price contract estimate that includes a $40,000 GC fee. And the 3rd builder wants a $24,000 GC fee with a fixed price contract. So yes, the builder we like is in line with all the others - right in the middle in fact as far as final price (assuming the estimates are dead on). Another thing we are requesting is that certain items NOT be on the budget. We see no reason to pay 10% extra for an appliance since the whole point in buying it on our own is to save money. I found a great deal on a 36" gas cooktop and it would defeat the purpose of me getting the deal on it if I pay the GC 10% of my cost in addition to the labor I know we need to pay for the install. I also plan to get my own kitchen cabinet hardware so we plan to ask that those items not be on the budget. I'm not sure if that will fly but we are asking. Thanks so much for the advice!!

Check all the pieces from Coretec before installation! We had a Palo Alto Walnut Coretec floor installed in August. As they were getting ready to install the T-moulding I realized the color was off. Also it was supposed to be skimmed in the same pattern as the planking but wasn't. They didn't install it. The quarter round was also off but similar enough in color that we agreed to keep it. FIVE MONTHS later Coretec informed the installer that Palo Alto Walnut is discontinued and we won't be getting the T-moulding. Back to square one. I am so frustrated. My guess is that they are outsourcing the trim pieces without telling anyone. Someone mentioned that Shaw bought Coretec.

I just wanted to share some install photos. We just finished a kitchen of One Sweet Talker. I love how it looks and I love the wider and longer planks. The customer service was again top notch. However, I hate that I have to say this but I feel like I need to share because I wish I'd known. This is our second house with Supercore and we love the company. We just finished the install Thurs. Sunday we had guests over. One of them must have had a rock stuck in their shoe or something. There's now a huge area of scratching. Almost a foot long. It's so disappointing. And I know that maybe other brands would be similar, but it just seems so soon and just under normal wear. 😕 I'll attach pictures in another comment to show how well they show up on this color.

Love the color, it is exactly what we wanted. As for quality, it‘s our 1st experience with LVP (we are more used to engineered hardwood), and we’re glad we went with the CoreTEC Grande line. I‘m not sure we’d like a thinner LVP that doesn‘t have that super realistic surface layer or the weight to it. The CoreTEC Grande planks are super realistic, heavy and thick, more like wood would be. And they transition nicely to floor tile. Plus, they have a slightly thicker cork layer on the bottom (compared to most LVP planks) and it does feel very nice underfoot. Overall, it’s holding up very well and still looks like new. It’s a little more difficult to get rub or scuff marks off but it resists dog claws and our kids‘ toys better than wood does. One thing to note…if you plan to use rugs with a polypropylene backing on them (most on Wayfair or Amazon have this backing), you need to use a special rug pad in order to protect the floor from developing serious surface problems. Wool or cotton rugs are fine, though. We have two rugs with polypropolene backing, so we bought a couple rug pads from Rug Pad USA before laying down those rugs. So yes, so far so good for us. Good luck and make sure you hire a good installer. There are definitely some tricks to installing the Grande line as the tongue and groove mechanism is VERY fragile. Use a scrap piece of a plank as an install block instead of a regular floor install block. The scrap piece fits together with the plank you are installing and when you hammer the scrap piece (or a regular block up against a scrap piece), it pushes the plank into place without breaking the tongue and groove material, if that makes sense. A regular block just crushes the tongue and groove material once you start hammering. Anyways, sorry for the long post. Hope its hepful.