I see houzz is upgrading...
16 days ago
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Builder upgrades vs Future upgrades - Structural Only
Comments (38)Standard doors are 6" - are you suggesting not to upgrade to 8" ? We felt higher the door height, the easier it is to move furniture and stuff, of-course the width of the door isn't changing. I wouldn't bother with this. How often do you move "furniture and stuff" that's taller than 7'? Extended Lanai: Oh, I thought it'd be a deeper lanai ... I'd be less inclined to pay for a wider lanai. Wider isn't all that useful, and it means more rooms are shaded /have less natural light. Vent Hood/Microwave to Outside - If we don't choose, the smoke will stay indoors - the builder should have included this in the base price but it is what it is. I am really surprised that this isn't standard. I would do the oak riser steps instead of carpet. Yes overpriced but probably better now. Yes, if you don't do the oak risers now, you probably won't be able to do them later ... at all. If they do carpet stairs, they're going to use plywood /paint quality stuff under that carpet; thus, it won't be a matter of pulling up carpet later and staining /painting. It is easy to say walk away and build a custom home, but not everyone can afford to do that, nor does everyone want to go that route (even if they can afford to). True. Tara we all have to make compromises. For ourselves it's been a 2 year journey building our custom home, plus the hours and hours spent researching and finding even the smallest details. So I understand where you're coming from. Yup, no matter your circumstances, you're going to "give" somewhere. For us, we're taking the same route as CP describes above: The place where we're "giving" is time and personal effort....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 MoreShould I upgrade my flooring?
Comments (13)Your home is very 'warm' in colour. That means you have lots of yellows, oranges, reds, etc. going on. Right now, the trend is COOL. Gray, blue, cool greens, etc. The 'modern' looking stuff looks more modern because of the colour. So long as you have the trendy colours going for you, you will have a modern feel/look. If you are unsure as to how cold colours will work with your furniture, you can always prime the walls white. White primer is an excellent way to cover dark colours AND prepare the walls for new paint AND give you the proper visual to bring in newer looking stuff. For me, your tiles are fine. You will spend HORDES of money doing something 'wrong' (ie adding more tile on top of tile) only to be left with a house that still reads 'out of date' because of the paint colours. I'm a huge fan of Scandinavian Modern (like the stuff they sell at Ikea...yes...I spotted all those cute Ikea pieces...keep going with them and you will have Scandi modern down in no time). I love the look of WHITE WALLS, glass, chrome and light floors put together with STRONG colours. Like a red sofa. A blue arm chair. A turquoise area rug and big bold prints on the walls. Right now, Scandi Modern is cool in tone. That means the walls are still a crisp white colour but the floors are white or gray or very pale wood tones. You have one of the three colours already in situ. I would put the $15/sf towards a professional cleaning and a new grout colour. Pay someone to go white with the grout (it will turn gray again...but for a while you will have white). Then go cool on the walls. Now wait and see how you feel about all of this. If you really want new floors, then pay the price to get those tiles out permanently. I know. Expensive but well worth it. You do NOT want to know how much it costs to retrim every single door in the house. Including issues with balcony doors, etc. And then there are baseboards (must be removed and painted and reinstalled = more money than you care to imagine). And then there are the counter tops. If you add 1" to your floor, you counter tops will sit 1" LOWER than they are right now. The one good thing would be the stove will finally sit flush with the counter tops...but I digress....See MoreWorth it to upgrade a dishwasher upgrade even further? [Miele]
Comments (8)When I purchased my dishwasher I could not justify the additional cost for Miele over Bosch. Since my dishwasher went out we have had 5 others go out in my family (I seemed to have started a trend). All of them followed my lead and ended up with Bosch. 2 of my sister's had Bosch before, one had Miele. My dw was bought during Covid when supplies were quite limited. I got one that they had in stock and it did not have the door open feature. It was on the market, and I got one of the last year models at a pretty good discount. The rest have the door open feature. I think it is a good feature to have since the newer dishwashers don't seem to dry as well as the older, less energy efficient dishwashers. It isn't a big deal, but I do need to dry plastic ware while I am putting dishes away. I am used to having a tea towel over my shoulder when I am in the kitchen anyway but having the pop open dw may lower my chances of me sporting a brightly colored tea towel while shopping at the grocery store. ....See More- 16 days ago
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