Upgrade charges

[Green Sailor]

Those of you who have recently built a Lantana, Gardinia and Begonia. I would like to know the charges for the following upgrades: Kitchen with granite and stainless appliances, bumping out the Lanai two and four feet, adding a golfcart garage, bumping out the entire house by two feet, adding tile to the living area instead of carpet and adding a walk in shower.
Thanks for your help

[graciegirl]

I don't know if that information is available but I would really like to know too.

[NJblue]

Unless the sales practices have changed (and this is possible), there is no way to know what those costs are. When we purchased a year ago, the process was you had to tell your sales agent what you wanted in your house (without any knowledge of what each upgrade costs) and then they would get back to you with the total price for the entire house. I would have loved to have known what the itemized costs for each item was - it would have made the home buying process much less stressful and, in the final analysis, they would have extracted more money from me since we kept the requests low, fearful that we would blow our budget.

[Hawkwind]

Those of you who have recently built a Lantana, Gardinia and Begonia. I would like to know the charges for the following upgrades: Kitchen with granite and stainless appliances, bumping out the Lanai two and four feet, adding a golfcart garage, bumping out the entire house by two feet, adding tile to the living area instead of carpet and adding a walk in shower.
Thanks for your help

Last week I asked the cost of adding a golf cart garage and was told it would be between $15k to $20k. The property will need to be large enough to handle the increase in size and still be within zoning.

[kittylecroix]

We looked at those same model houses last March. We were mostly interested in the Gardenia. Our sales agent was able to tell us exactly how much each upgrade was as far as adding the closet in the third bedroom, which entailed bumping out the house three feet. Also, adding on to the lanai and bumping out the whole house a couple of feet, adding to the garage, etc. Certain upgrades, such as granite counters were a part of a package, which we didn't get into at that point, but the other upgrades definately had an associated price.

[under55]

We built a Camilia last year. Golf Cart garage was $7000. Pool,Spa and birdcage and extending the concrete of the bird cage to the end of the house was $50,000. The other upgrades were not available in a piece meal fashion like they are now I believe. We would have done all TILE.

[Ooper]

We were looking at a Begonia a couple weeks ago and the sales rep told us the prices of all the upgrades... stretches, elevations, etc. Tile and upgraded countertops (i.e. granite, etc) vary depending on what and how much you choose. The stretches were not that bad but vary on which house you want. Best thing to do is schedule an appointment with a sales rep and all your questions will be answered.

[Kelsie52]

During our visit --our saleman told us it was 10000 for the golf cart garage and about 6 to 8 for granite countertops ---

[billethkid]

anything from TV. Then get the added features from independents. You will then be dealing with only one profit maker (nothing added for TV).
We had our granite done separately for significantly less $$$ than TV.

We extended our lanai substantially and added a huge bird cage across the full width of the house and added a pool, hot tub and large waterfall. All for significantly less $$$$ than TV.

And usually you will find it is the same contractor(s) TV uses.

btk

[Ooper]

:agree: Anything short of stretches will be cheaper if you do it independently.

[bamiller7]

I was told $8500 for golf cart garage an $10,000 for 3rd car garage

[batman911]

I would ask for everything you want to be included. If the final price is too high, you can delete items you can have done after building.

[cgalloway6]

Estimate $1k/ft for any stretch, any direction, $10k for golf cart garage. Get the house as big as the lot will allow and you can afford. Much more expensive to make those changes after closing. Granite, tile, carpeting, hardwood, appliances, outdoor kitchens, pools, depends on the grade/size you select, cheaper to do after closing. Plus after living in the house you may have different opinions about what to choose. If money is no object, get them done during the build. If money was no object you probably wouldn't have asked either.

[graciegirl]

I was told $8500 for golf cart garage an $10,000 for 3rd car garage

Your post above revived a thread that was started and not posted on since 2009.

[TheCollierCpl]

Those of you who have recently built a Lantana, Gardinia and Begonia. I would like to know the charges for the following upgrades: Kitchen with granite and stainless appliances, bumping out the Lanai two and four feet, adding a golfcart garage, bumping out the entire house by two feet, adding tile to the living area instead of carpet and adding a walk in shower.
Thanks for your help

Hi, We have done that but it is not easy to calculate. These depend upon the type of tile, carpet,etc. also, prices are adjusted by TV in accordance with commodity prices. However, your sales rep can easily give you this info. Our sales rep could answer these in a few minutes. Here's how (if you dont have a full time sales rep). I assume you have your estimate. It says " Personalized Home Estimate Summary" at the top and has your name, account, marketing rep, etc. This has a home estimated price and homesite premium listed near the top on the left. All you need to do is contact your rep and tell him/her to add those options. He will and then will email you the new estimate. You can breadk this down so that it is virtually a shopping list. Any of the good sales reps will do this for you. Be aware though, your price is not in stone until you have your design appointment completed, sign off on the contract and give them the 20%. We signed in July. Our first visit was January. There were three price increases in that time.
Expect prices to increase regularly and dont dilly dally if you are serious.
good luck, it is worth the effort!

[billethkid]

I would ask for everything you want to be included. If the final price is too high, you can delete items you can have done after building.

You will find that the delete $$$ are never as high as the cost to add of a comparable select feature.

btk

[tag460]

When you are at you designer meeting you can ask what each item cost. We built a gardenia Nov 2012 and I sent you a PM with all the information from our build.

[Houselover]

Those of you who have recently built a Lantana, Gardinia and Begonia. I would like to know the charges for the following upgrades: Kitchen with granite and stainless appliances, bumping out the Lanai two and four feet, adding a golfcart garage, bumping out the entire house by two feet, adding tile to the living area instead of carpet and adding a walk in shower.
Thanks for your help

We closed on our Sainbel in Apr 2013 and did a lot of customizing by the Villages and a lot of after close upgrades by outside contractors.. For each upgrade by the Villages, our agent was able to give us the exact additional cost.. For the upgrades after closing, our agent also gave us the price the villages would charge for these upgrades which was always higher than the outside contractors. This was a lot of work for the agent, but we were able to make the best decisions financially for us for all the upgrades and changes we made to the basic model. BYW, one of the upgrades we did was install a lower grade of carpet(we didn't like the base carpet or the upgrades they offered) from the basic model allowance and were given a credit for this "below base" carpet.. Bottom line, your agent can do the work for you, but most prefer not to unless pushed to. Good luck..