[cquick]

Help! Our real estate agent just called! She was able to reschedule our design team meeting for TOMORROW! I am so excited to finally get started on our house!

But now I desperately need advice! Ideas on bumping out garage walls, whether to enclose the lanai now or later, what to use for flooring, counters, what will "they" allow us to change in the house (doors, etc).

Help! All you people out there who have built a house from scratch here in TV!

OH< BTW, we are planning to build a designer Zinnia............

Connie

[Carla B]

If you've been reading the forum, the universal advice is to bump out every wall you can and include a golf cart garage, if your lot allows. Then decide on floors. I'm sure the design team will guide you along on that.

They didn't allow changes when we built, so we spent a lot of money on revisions after moving in. If you can't decide what to do about counters, etc. it wouldn't hurt to go with the cheap alternative and live in the house for a time, then make changes. Good luck and how exciting!

[Lynnelf]

We are currently building a Zinnia. We made all the stretches that were allowed (which vary according to your lot size.) We extended the garage, the master bedroom, and the guest bedroom by 2 feet and the lanai by 4 feet. We chose the tub in the master bathroom and put a shower in the guest bathroom instead of the tub (because guests only use the shower when they come.) We got a bay window in the guest bedroom (wasn't shown as an option but we asked about it and we got it.) When we went in to meet with our designer we decided to chose everything we wanted without regard to the budget. After hearing the final cost, we planned to make some choices of the things we could do without. The great news is, when she took off the four percent incentive, we were right at our budget and didn't have to make any choices. We got our dream house! The Villages makes it easy and fun!

[Sable99]

I just had my design team meeting at the end of February. What can I say, decisions, decisions and even more decisions. Of course, I had the added burden of making all of these decisions on my own.

I knew going into the meeting that I wanted the Iris but, I still looked at other models! I also knew that I wanted to extend both the garage and lanai 2 feet. Or, so I thoguht! I also knew I wanted stainless steel appliances with a french door refrigerator and granite!!! And, I had some things that I wanted to ask them about.

It was an exhausting few days. We picked out just about everything -- interior doors, door handles, paint colors, bathroom and light fixtures, color of lanai screens, tile, carpet. In one day, we must have went to 50 homes comparing colors and styles in the models. This model for this fixture and this one has that fixture, etc. We also made a trip to the granite company to pick out my slab of granite. Oops, I almost forgot what type of roof and the exterior paint and trim colors!

My house is being built now!! My realtor sent me a video of my home on Saturday and the outside walls are going up! Amazing!

I would suggest that you might take digital pictures or use your cell phone to remember the differences in the tile, etc. It gets confusing after a while. Make sure you have on comfortable clothes and shoes!!!

I did change some of my original plans. I added another 2 feet to the lanai. I decided to do the acryllic lanai flooring now because of the discount they were offering. I was able to take out the laundry tub and replace it with a storage cabinet.

But, I didn't get some of the things I wanted. I wanted to put a waste basket cabinet in the kitchen but that wasn't going to work out. And, it was too expensive for me to have a jetted tub in the master -- over $4,000! And, I was only able to put granite in the kitchen because of the $$$.

So I had to give a little but, I am still going to have a beautiful home.

Good luck with your decisions!

Marilyn

[VillageSitter]

Take a small digital camera with you to the meeting. We traveled from model to model and it is easy to forget what you saw and which one you liked best if you dont have it in front of you at the time of your final decision. Have fun!

[missypie]

Amazing what all of you write! So exciting just reading this. I keep learning every single time I read this forum. I think it's so nice that people take their time to write of their experiences.

[cquick]

THANKS EVERYONE! WHAT GOOD ADVICE! We plan to ask for a few things....and especially glad you let me know about the bay window. I was going to ask about it, but I was almost afraid to do it!

Connie