Upgrade flooring and counters at time of new build or wait?
 

Pros and Cons to building a new home and leaving the standard lower cost counters and flooring and then ripping it out to install granite/quartz counters and ceramic tile after closing through one of the many local companies. Is there a significant cost savings and increase in style selection? I know the closing price of the home would be less and therefore taxes would be lower, but is the savings, selection and hassle worth it or should we just pay for the builder upgrades at the time of build? Would be looking at the higher tier stone for counters and ceramic floor tile throughout the home (no carpet and no luxury vinyl).

We upgraded to granite & tile during construction.



I could not see a savings by upgrading later with the sunk cost of what was paid for during construction.


We did stay with the standard carpet. We figured we would let it wear out and then decide if we want carpet or tile in the bedrooms


:pray:.

Installers charge to rip out stuff like ceramic tile flooring. You also have to worry about someone damaging your cabinets and walls during the demo. I would just install what I want during construction. So much easier.

kathy

We had Linoleum installed as it serves as a vapor barrier for the hardwood floors that we had installed after closing.

We had the upgrades installed as part of the original build, I do not recall the differential, but I am sure it was cheaper to have this done during the build.

You may want to check and see what upgrades are available from the builder and then decide if what is available is what you want. If not then you'll need to upgrade after the build.

I was always told to wait because the upgrades won’t affect your taxes.

Closing today - this was our approach, which we are still content with. We rapidly found out that the upcharge on upgrades was pretty steep.. Think retail (labor+materials - base cost) PLUS a hefty margin (33-50%+) ! We have a substantial amount of tile in the house, so in order to remove the linoleum and then prep / install tile you would have the labor mess of tearing that up PLUS remove / replace / paint your base molding. Living in the house during the process would be a nightmare, as you have several iterations of laying the tile, having grout spacers throughout the area, and then the grout process. I think the granite / quartz process would be equally trying. Most countertops involve some level of plumbing .. sinks, faucets.. sometimes drop in cooktops etc .. and those counters abut to your backsplashes, which are applied AFTER the counters are installed. Of course, you can probably just move in without any backsplashes or mirrors to minimize those issues, but you won;t escape the plumbing extras.. Also, in some cases upper cabinets are placed ON the counters after counter installation (think master bath). So we had all that done during construction, and to our eye, we think the tile work (floor tile, quartz counters and glass and tile backsplashes) was outstanding. We also had them install crown in every room, so that all woodwork etc was finished and integrated with Kitchen finishes etc ..

What we decided to do after market is the following:

Epoxy Garage Floor - scheduled to start right after closing
Glass in Lanai - Already Contracted - will start once deed filed and permits obtained
Installation of some specialty Lighting
Some Appliances (Wall Ovens, Fridge, wine Cooler) - (cooktop, dishwasher and undercounter microwave done during construction)
Home Automation, Audio / Visual etc

Our approach was to not endure tear out and construction after closing.. We did enough of that when we remodeled our last home .. hope this lengthy response helped.. I'm sure others would take a different path

We built our house and looked closely at the numbers. We wanted rectified porcelain tile, that would have minimal grout lines. The Villages wouldn’t do it as part of the build, so that made our decision easy. For tile throughout the house, the up charge was an adder of over $30,000. We took the basic flooring and had that removed and the tile installed for just under $15,000. We also opted for the standard baseboard with was torn out with the flooring and replaced with upgraded baseboard. In addition we ordered the least expensive laminate countertops and replaced them with granite on the same day we closed on the house. Our savings were over $20,000 on the interior. The savings on the pool were even higher.

We recently upgraded our 14-year-old Gardenia with new granite everywhere and are very pleased with the results, BUT WISH WE'D JUST DONE IT AT THE TIME WE BUILT! I don't know about the cost difference either way, but WHAT A HASSLE THIS WAS! My STRONG advice-- If you can find quartz or granite you really like now, install it as part of the original construction.