[GNXGuy]

We just signed a contract for a lot in St Catherine yesterday. Our design appointment will be mid February!!!!

[CateS]

Congrats! We have our design appt the 1st week of January. We purchased in St. Catherine too. Beautiful area!

[Ccbarb]

How did you know the cost of your choices if they didn’t tell you through the design build?

[Ccbarb]

If they aren’t transparent with pricing how do you know the cost of what you’re building during the week?

[dtennent]

A lot of great suggestions. Two things I would note:
1) The kitchen. When we stretched the house we added 2 feet to our kitchen. When we built 5 years ago, we were not impressed with the quality of the kitchen cabinets nor with the creativity of our designer. So we installed the basic cabinets and countertops. We have since redesigned the kitchen, have new cabinets, quartz countertops, and a much better hood. If you are serious cooks, gas cook top is much better than induction. Wish we had figured out a way for real pantry. Also, you should upgrade the water shut off to your sinks and refrigerator. The ones that they install are junk.
2) Closets - we replaced the wire racks in the closets with closet inserts. Increased our storage immensely. If your are not a DYIer, there are a few companies in the area who do quality work.

Have fun and Good Luck.

[Kenswing]

Originally Posted by Ccbarb

If they aren’t transparent with pricing how do you know the cost of what you’re building during the week?

For us, we did our design on a Monday. On Tuesday they gave us the price. The whole price, not an itemization. If we would have blown our budget we could have started changing to less expensive options. Luckily we were within our budget.

We did communicate a great deal with our designer before the actual design process and got ballpark figures for the things we wanted. So there were no big surprises come pricing day.

[jimbo2012]

I asked & received a price for every single item down to a $13 up charge.
they don't itemize it on the final contract you need to keep trac

If you don't ask you must be very wealthy

[cj1040]

We bought our lot in July via phone and photos by the realtor. We were there in Sept to design and they book you daily for one week.
I had selected my model and the changes I wanted to make - stretches 3 ways, eliminating one of the three bathrooms to make a storage closet and reconfigure the laundry area and making a large walk in closet for my sewing room. The items in the design center are not priced - tile, counters, faucets, knobs and handles. This would make it much easier if you are trying to control cost. The cabinets are not the quality we are used to having previously build a home with solid wood Woodmode cabinets. They are disappointing in fact. Lowes and Home Depot have a MUCH bigger selection of colors and quality and the same with flooring choices. After we got over that and had to work with what was available we finally moved on. The hardware-- faucets, handles, knobs - that is not standard is expensive but unless you want to deal with replacing it all just bite the bullet and order what you like. We went with the blind company they book you with even though it is expensive for plantations just to get it done and also the closet company but just the master. We will have the others done with a less expensive company. After selling our lovely lake home in NY and cramming into a rental for a year with things in storage we just wanted to be able to put our clothes away properly once we move in. We bought only the microwave from them because installation is expensive. We got all LG appliances ordered at Black Friday sales from Home Depot to be delivered the day after we close in Feb. We got a laminate flooring throughout as I have been there and done that with tile cracks and grout upkeep. We got quartz counters in the kitchen and other solid surface in the bathrooms and nice tile for backsplash and shower/tub areas. We got some of the pre wire internet deal but just the basic pkg. We went to TD pools to see what that was all about and ended up with a 12 x 25 fitness pool with splash deck and waterfall and pretty tile trim, chose the style of the bird cage and chose the finer screening for SPF factor and bug barrier. Just cutting 1 foot off the pool width saved over $1000 as it affects the deck and birdcage size. So - measure out what size pool you want on a floor and think carefully about it. We just wanted a fitness pool 4 1/2 ft deep and big enough to bob on a float or play mini volley ball or basketball . We are only 5 min from the community pool but with the virus and crowded aqua classes we can just do our own thing with music whenever we want.
The villages will now let you move rooms all around - put the kitchen in a different place, change windows and sizes of windows, remove a bathroom all sorts of things for a price of course. So use graph paper and plot out the furniture you really need to place and pin them down on final room sizes so you can make sure everything will fit the way you want. I have certain pieces that I needed to be sure of so this is what I did and also for the house we had built in NY. As for the color of the house I chose swatches from a paint store and they matched them for the house and front door color I wanted. i did not want landscaping that needs trimming as I like a spiky natural look for Florida so we went to a nursery and took pix of plants there as well as driving around. They do not give you very long with the landscape person and ours was not really knowledgeable about the plants I had wanted. That was the least impressive of all the appointments. You have to be very careful with all of this as there is a $500 change fee if you change ANYTHING after you sign. We close in mid Feb so just hope we will like it all put together.....With the selections we saw I cannot really think of anything I would change at this point EXCEPT to find out if our lot was in a flood zone before all this started - it is.....

[cj1040]

Just replied about how we made our selections and designed our home in Sept for Feb closing - number one is be sure what direction you want your lanai to face - is some shade important to you? And ask if your lot especially if on a pond is in a flood zone. We did not and turns out it IS and we have to have flood insurance for our mortgage. Realtor never disclosed this and apparently most of them do not. VERY annoyed about this and just found out when shopping for homeowners insurance last week.

[Dotneko]

Dear Lord. We spent the two days the week before last choosing everything for a Sequoia - stretches, moving walls, cabinets, flooring, adding a soaking tub. Went to cad/cam weds and got back friday PM with prices over budget. Went back in Monday to tweak to see if we could save a bit. Back to engineering. Designer on Christmas break. We made the mistake of looking at some more houses and it appears we are changing our minds on the house - a Sycamore is more in line with what we want and will need much less tweaking. I suppose better to find out now......
Oh, very little communication on pricing unless you specifically ask - how much is changing the elevation for example.
We are also in St Catherine. Shauna Lane.

[GNXGuy]

Originally Posted by Dotneko

Dear Lord. We spent the two days the week before last choosing everything for a Sequoia - stretches, moving walls, cabinets, flooring, adding a soaking tub. Went to cad/cam weds and got back friday PM with prices over budget. Went back in Monday to tweak to see if we could save a bit. Back to engineering. Designer on Christmas break. We made the mistake of looking at some more houses and it appears we are changing our minds on the house - a Sycamore is more in line with what we want and will need much less tweaking. I suppose better to find out now......
Oh, very little communication on pricing unless you specifically ask - how much is changing the elevation for example.
We are also in St Catherine. Shauna Lane.

Nice to meet you neighbor. We are also on Shauna lane. I’ll send you a private message

Joe

[Laurawilcox]

Interested in knowing more about “winning your lot choice” please. What is involved in that process.

[Laurawilcox]

What did you need to change to add your soaker tub? Is it in the Master or guest bath? I know they aren’t preferred in the Villages, but favorite of mine

[GNXGuy]

Originally Posted by Laurawilcox

Interested in knowing more about “winning your lot choice” please. What is involved in that process.

The most desirable lots are few and far between and typically have multiple people trying to secure them the second they are released at noon on a given Friday

I have learned that the villages sales people are informed of new lots to be released on a given Wednesday for later release at noon on that Friday.

You must be working with a real estate person at the villages and let them know what you’re looking for. If on a given Wednesday a lot that is scheduled to be released meets your criteria your sales person will be sitting at their computer at 11:59 AM on Friday waiting for the lots to be released and they must be the first one in the queue to hold the lot.

Luckily We had been working with a sales person for a month or so prior, did a lifestyle visit and knew the area and just waited for a lot with an awesome view that would fit the house we wanted to build. Sales person notified us on Wednesday and at the same time included a drawing of the lot along with the house positioned on the lot. Once we gave him verbal go ahead to try to secure the lot, We waited for the call and at 12:10pm that Friday we were told we were the lucky one. 17 lots were sold on that first day of release in that small section of St. Catherine.

Joe

[Dotneko]

Yes! We were first in line when those lots were released and had our rep hold it. There was a backup buyer within the hour.

The soaker tub in the Sequoia was going in the guest bath - we added a stretch and pulled the tub/shower out and added a corner tub and separate shower.

It will be much easier in the Sycamore - in the master bath, no need to stretch, eliminate some of the counter area or steal some space from one of the two walk in closets.

Our designer is pulling her hair out with us I'm sure lol.