We had a Laurel Oak built two years ago and we chose to not have the island. My wife and I fix food in the kitchen at the same time and we thought an island would get in the way as we are both moving around.

We also left out the stupid desk and one of the wall cabinets n the laundry room so now we have more space to dry our clothes.

We also added a golf cart garage and extended the lanai out 3 more feet and had it extended across the entire back of the house.

We liked the Iris floor plan, but the Laurel Oak had 20% more space and the base cost was only 10% higher ($286K compared to $258K), so choosing the Laurel Oak was a no-brainer.

We absolutely love our house.

Great to hear you love your Laurel Oak! We are going to extend our lanai too.

I'm sorry...I apologize....I got the Laurel Oak mixed up with the Indigo...my mistake. I am sorry if I caused any confusion. The Villages has so many good choices!

Frank

Just wondering... what does this mean, “make sure they don’t compromise zones”?

Hi Frank,
You didn’t confuse us. One more question for you, do you have anyone (contractor) to recommend to do things like crown molding, solar tubes, upgrade fans and interior lighting textures etc after market?

You may not need solar tubes in a Laurel Oak. The front of our house faces directly east and we get plenty of natural light in our house all day long. The window in our nook faces south.

Let me respond to some questions...

1) When most folks have hardscaping done, the landscapers will move the plant beds and boundaries, but never move the sprinkler heads. When The Villages installs your sprinkler zones, usually zone#2 is for plants and the rest are for your lawn. This is good, because you typically water your lawn longer than the plants. If the hardscapers do not move some heads and keep all the plant zone for plants and all the lawn zones for the grass, you can end up overwatering and under watering areas.

2) There are many crown molding companies in The Villages. One of the best is JSR molding. There are some others.

3)For Solar tubes I would stick with The Solar Guys, only because they are the biggest, and if you have a problem,(very rare) you know they will most likely be around 10 years from now.

4) Usually for Electricians sticking with whoever did your home insures that no one could say, "The other guy did it".

I'm sorry, I do not have a deep list of referrals....I only refer companies that I have first hand dealings with. I am not "in bed" with anyone as it is not ethical.

I know you did not ask....but beware of some water system sales folks who will harass you the first week you move in. I like NOVA filter systems....you can search here for reviews. I have that filter and like it.

Best advice I can give new homeowners is do a GOOD checklist within 30 days...some things are covered for only 30 days. If the builder says wait, get that in writing. We also do these checklists for folks who do not want to do it, but we will always find more in 10 months as the home settles, etc.

Hope this helps!

Frank

Hi Frank, Thank you for your reply and advise. Regards to #4, do you recommend TV to install the “upgraded” fans and lighting fixtures while the house is being built instead of getting the basic ones first then change to upgraded ones after market since we probably won’t get the contact information of the electrician who did the initial work.

Often I see some folks can get NO fans, and just have the wiring for it with a cover. Then you can buy your own and install them, (or a GOOD handyman) or go someplace like Dan's Fan City. Why pay for builder grade fans you do not want?

As for can lights, decide where you want them and have the builder install.

I see so many folks have the original fans shoved up in the attic because they upgraded them. I am actually looking for one...folks will sell them cheap because they do no good getting dusty in the attic.

When you close on your home there will be a sticker on your panelbox that will tell you the name of your Plumber, your Electrician, etc, etc.....

Frank

You will get info about who built the house.

Even if you don't have the pile of paperwork you will receive when you close you can always call home warranty and they will be able to tell you did the work on any part of your house.

Also for a lot things, like electrical and cabinets, there will be labels in the house that will tell you who did the install.

For fans I think you can specify the no fans are installed when you design the house... if you are going to replace them anyway.

Hi Dan, That is good to know that we’ll get the information of who did the work. As Frank suggested, we will have TV does the wiring for the fans with cap and install ours after market. Thanks for the info again.

Thanks again, Frank. We’ll have TV does wiring for the fans with cap and install ours after market. TV’s fans don’t look attractive.

How about the bird cage? Is it better to get it afterwards from a third party, or let TV do that with the original home build?

And if you did it afterwards with a contractor, do they pull a building permit if it needs one (I assume it would)?

And does something like a bird cage need approval from some architectural commitee or something? Wonder how long that would take...

Just wondering...

-Spoiler

Yes they should, and yes you do. A proper birdcage involves pouring a slab, moving sprinkler lines and heads and installing a supergutter, etc. This always requires both approval by your ARC or HOA, and the proper permits.

It is sometimes better to pay a bit more and not have headaches...companies like T&D and Brian Terry are known to be a bit more expensive but less prone to do shoddy work. They and I'm sure a few others have better reputations than some other companies.

Frank

Just curious but isn't the birdcage something that can be part of the original build which would be the least headaches of all?

And the diff in cost between a T&D birdcage added after the build and one done in the original build can't be that much especially when compared to the overall cost of the house... and T&D will probably be doing the birdcage if it is part of the original build anyhow.

I would agree. Also, this way you can plan on having a hose bib within the birdcage/lanai space, have the slabs look the same, etc. However, folks are all different. Some enclose the Lanai right away, some expand that wonderful outdoor living space. Personally, I really like our outdoor living space and value it more than additional square footage....but many others prefer not to have it at all. To each their own.

Generally you will do much better price wise if using secondary contractors after the fact. There are always going to be pluses and minuses. Initial cost savings, not in property tax values, better selection are positives. Biggest negative is all of this work will be done after you take possession/move in to the house thus being inconvenienced. I would personally go the 2nd contractor route.
I have a small list of great contractors if you are interested; for example, Chuck Abbey, Abbey Flooring, 352-480-4444

Hi Belmont,
I assume you did use secondary contractors. Did that give you substantial savings and what project did you use them on, if you mind me asking?

Ohiobuckeye
 

I agree with what you said but if they think they want to put Solar tubes in or anything else, they better do it now because later might mean costing a lot more because if some of the work has to be in the walls they're asking for a big bill. It would be better to do it now while it's being built. So if they're not in a big hurry to get it done, I would wait until you see if this is really the area you want to live in. I would probably have the builder do it because personally I think these outside people are a little high on their prices. Good Luck!

Ohiobuckeye
 

Am I seeing things on the opening question where you see the house in construction. Is that snow on the roof of the house? Are you sure you're building in TV, LOL?

We added the birdcage about 2 years after we moved in. This gave us time to figure out exactly what we wanted. We had a very compressed timeline for the project, and we only found one contractor that could meet the schedule, Killcrease, BUT 95% of the work was done by Joseph Sweeting LLC, excellent work. We had additional electrical work done to avoid the need for extension cords in the future.
Yes you need ARC approval, IMHO, you should get the initial approval, they will need the final design for final approval. All permits are by the contractor(s), you should never get these permits, as it sets you up as the general contractor.
Our project took 2 weeks from start to finish. BTW, the size is about 800 square feet, total cost was around $18,000.

Thanks for the info everyone.. good stuff..

-Spoiler

f you choose to build you will have the opportunity to make those choices with your designer. We went over all of the placements for switches, recessed lights ceiling fans etc. You can move to them at that time. Remember once you sign your changes become a "Change Order" in the build process at $500 + the cost of the change.

We did our build with no change orders. Did we forget somethings, yes. Will we add them now, the jury is still out.

The morning/afternoon before you complete your final walk through of the house with the Builder, not the agent. They will show you all of the features and provide the contact info for the plumber, HVAC, electrician, etc.

The Solar Guys
 

Hi folks,

Based on our experience brightening up your neighbors’ homes in The Villages with the genuine, patented Solatube brand tubular skylight, we would recommend waiting until your home is furnished and window treatments are installed and you are actually living in the home for a bit before you invest in natural daylighting solutions. This is because lighting needs are very subjective from person to person and so the size and placement of lights needs to be customized for each unique situation so that it can take into account various factors such as furniture location, paint colors, existing electrical lighting on the ceiling, the location of any TV’s or computer monitors in the room, and many other variables, most of which are not available to take into consideration when the home is brand new, unfurnished, and unoccupied. That’s why here at The Solar Guys we offer a free, in-home consultation for our customers so that they can have the confidence they are getting exactly what they need and want instead of paying ahead for something that may not actually suit their needs, much less be necessary for their wants.

Feel free to call us at 866-669-5259 if you would like to set up your own personalized visit with a daylighting consultant expert so that we can put the sun to work for you!

Before you finish designing your house, read Super House by Donald Wulfinghoff. You can find it on Amazon. It will help you a lot to make sure your house has everything it needs.

Great info...I agree 100%. Just so folks understand, I have NEVER seen a builder installed solar tube. This is clearly an aftermarket product. Also, as this post stated, you really need to be IN your home to decide if and where you want these. I typically recommend The Solar Guys because they are the largest company out there doing this, and I believe in going with companies that back their products and will be around years down the road.

Frank

we installed several solar tubes in our home and used "The Solar Guy" and later did more tubes in a rental villa, both were well done and completed as promised. Hope that helps!

Our designer at the design center told us that TV started offering solar tubes about 6 months ago. We decided to get them installed (if we need them) after market after living in our new house as you recommended.

Thank you for the info and feedback. It is very helpful.

We lived there for 17 years as snow birds. I completely understand your feelings. We were West Side at Kapalua. Here since 2016 and very happy!