Builder Appliance Upgrade costs
Mike S
6 years ago
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6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoMike S
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Builder Upgrades Selection Help... Please!
Comments (6)did they offer any energy efficient upgrades? Or I should ask, where is the home located and what is the exterior shell construction like? Energy efficient upgrades and air sealing enhancements should be your FIRST place to spend money. It is the only place in your home to have any sort of a pay back for you. What windows are they including? As for the rest of your list, its really impossible to have any idea on costs associated with the house with seeing a plan or knowing sizes of spaces. For example, the wood flooring. If your home is 4k sqft, thats a great price. If its 1k, thats a really bad price. However just looking at the prices, nothing is really jumping out at me as way higher then it should be. I would probably not have the builder responsible for appliances. I would think that is an area you would like to have complete control on what you select. No one here can really tell you which one of those cosmetic items you should or shouldnt do since it is your home. Do it how you like it! Typically the more you can compile into the build process, the better. It MAY be possible to do it afterwards, but also consider the mess and additional time it will take to fully complete the house. Discuss with him owner-provided items and ask for install only pricing too. Sometimes they are flexible with this and give you a good install price. Just know things like this are up to you to have things ordered, on site and correct to meet the timelines. If things are delayed, they come at a cost, which is out of your pocket not his....See Morenew house - upgrade cabinets from builder or upgrade later
Comments (20)It is likely going to cost you far more than $5,000 to change cabinets out later. It will also be a hassle after moving into a new place to rip out old ones, find new ones that fit the old boxes (if you do/can keep boxes...if you can’t, add a lot more than $5,000), what happens if there is damage to boxes or backsplash or counter during - lol, add another few thousand dollars! Add labour costs if you are hiring labour too. Soft close on drawers I would do during the build. Soft close on cabinets you can easily add yourself after closing if you want, depends how much builder is charging for that line item if worth it to you. Another factor to consider might be whether you can roll that $5,000 into mortgage or it will be cash out of pocket. If $5,000 will get you what you really want now, then go for it. But if you are going to be compromising even going with the $5,000 upgrade, stick with the “included cabinets” and save your pennies for new cabinets later on. Down the road later on. I can’t tell you if that $5,000 is really that high or not. They don’t warehouse cabinets - they order them at a certain timeline in build, but the builder would have priced out package based on their “standards” where they also usually get bulk discounts as they use them in most homes they build. Yours are a special request upgrade not factored into their pricing. If $5,000 is reasonable or unreasonable really all depends on what the quality differences are, how much cabinetry you have, etc. Cabinets are expensive. Shaker (painted MDF) were standard with my builder which was fine as it is what I wanted and am happy with their manufacturer and construction. But I added a tall pantry cabinet and that was about $2200 CAD. Soft close for drawers (I think ~20 drawers in house) was $270 CAD. Soft close on cabinets (~28 in house) was $400 CAD. It was worth it to us to have it done for close rather than do it after....See MoreIs 30K too much to spend on builder upgrades on a 360,000 house?
Comments (15)9ft ceiling $5664 - YES Loft $7614 - Are the majority of other homes in the development adding the additional space? If yes, then this is a big YES. If not, you don't want to be the largest house in the development because the answer is you'll never make it back. An additional question is will you actually use the space or are you adding it just for resale. If adding it to use, then yes it's worth it for your own enjoyment, resale be damned. Full siding beams $470 - What is a full siding beam? Black railing $550 - Is this a black railing inside or out and what's the material? Is it just someone painting it? Entry door $500 - What is the difference between the entry door offered and the upgrade? Riverside doors $315 - What is a Riverside door and what will it add to the house? Tahoe dark bronze $99 Railing $5541 - Railing for where? And why so expensive? Glass pantry $161 - NO. Anything in the pantry is better off without light French doors $566 - What is there now that you need french doors? Bath hardware $42 - What kind of bath hardware? Toilet paper holders? Towel bars? If so, that sounds inexpensive so YES. Water softener $2512 - What brand? How does it work? Does it also filter out chemicals, etc? Depending on brand, etc and if you have hard water, then YES. Faucet $330 - Probably YES. Half bath faucet $116 - Probably YES Lighting package $1000 - If you mean upgrading the lights that are there, then NO. I'd rather wait and find exactly what I want and change them later as I find my favorites. It's easy to change out lights. However if you're talking about adding more lights, cans, etc to make the house brighter, then a big YES. Ceiling fan master $200 - Again what brand and what is there now? Canned lights $400 - Is this additional canned lights? How many additional? Exterior canned lights $600 - Same question as for interior canned lights. Carpet $2200 - NO. I'd choose hardwood or luxury vinyl planks over carpeting everywhere. Carpeting doesn't hold up. Laundry room tile - What is there now? Cabinets $708 - What brand of cabinets are the upgrades and what's there now? More importantly what is the layout of the kitchen and bath cabinets? Island $518 - Can the kitchen fit an island? Or will it be tight? Kitchen hardware gold $200 - Big NO. That's a trend and in 5 years it will look dated. Sink $85 - What kind of sink and where in the house is this sink? Bathroom culture marble $789 - Cultured marble is fake. What was the original option? Bathroom cultured marble $585 - see above? I'm surprised everyone is giving advice without knowing the answers to the above questions!...See MoreIs it worth upgrading kitchen cabinets with the builder?
Comments (10)Not a professional but based on your clarifications It is not called "builder grade" for nothing :-) The cabinets are more expensive than would cost if you were remodeling a kitchen and getting equivalent cabinets. The business model of builders is to charge excessively for upgrades because the base package offered is generally not desirable to most buyers. I would doubt you would be able to get a builder to agree to use a third party cabinet supplier - too many potential issues as builder homes with these kinds of packages are essentially assembly lines. If you were building a true custom home, that would be different as your initial contract would provide for your providing various components. You cannot swap cabinets in a year or two to upgrade. Cabinets are probably the most expensive and disruptive component in any remodel and by changing cabinets, you are essentially remodeling. Everything would need to be taken out and reinstalled. You would not find any GC who would be willing to guarantee that the counter would not be damaged when it was reintalled. Even though you can reuse appliances, they would all need to reinstalled. If you wanted to upgrade in terms of under cabinet lights, that would be an upgrade. I would suggest that you consult with someone knowedgeable about home values and what is generally done in your neighborhood. In other words, you don't want to overbuild but you also don't want to underbuild. There are certain components like cabinets which are not generally swapped out easily and certain others like backsplashes, faucets and even counters which are often upgraded because they are discrete changes - you can change and upgrade these items without creating a chain reation of other items as would be the case for cabinets. That is why standard advice is to get the best cabinets you can afford and possibly save money on other more easily upgraded items....See Morecpartist
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