I was one of the final 5 fully custom builds last year before they stopped allowing fully custom. I did exactly what you said. Only thing I would recommend is to pick the floor and cheap out of omit the other items you mentioned.

When I closed I had no bathroom mirrors which allowed me to put in LED mirrors. I didn't have blinds which allowed me to go with the vendor I wanted which also gave me many more options. I didn't have hanging lights so I can go anywhere to get them. I don't have a bac splash as of yet. I also didn't have appliances at closing so I got exactly what I wanted.

I believe since my closing price was reduced that it will also lower my taxes a little.

The villages sales people will tell you they can build a new place that’s cheaper than buying used. We bit and had them give us a bid and the quote included every cheap piece of flooring, carpet, counter tops, etc.. and it was $20k cheaper than a decked out used house. By the time we would replace all the cheap pieces with the pieces we really wanted, the new house would have been $60,000 more than the used home. I think it’s crazy to put cheap c$ap in to replace in the near future, you are paying twice for it

The advantage to buying “pre owned” is the bugs usually have been found and fixed. You know exactly how the sound travels from any possible nearby nuisance. You know whether or not your street will be through way for the neighborhood or a quiet oasis. There always seem to be surprises when you pick a location that looks good on maps, but a few year later is less optimal.

If you are going to go in and replace everything anyway, a fixer upper in an established neighborhood might be a better deal. You may find homes that have done the upgrades that you would have added.

That said, there is quite a bit of excitement of being one of the first in a neighborhood. You can help steer the neighborhood culture and establish social activities that will bring the neighbors together.

If you buy a tear-down in a neighborhood that's already settled, you can use any builder you want to put up the home of your choosing, with whatever internal design you like. As long as the external design is approved by ARC it doesn't matter who you pay to do the work.

In the new sections, it matters because the property is still owned by the Developer and they get to choose who does the work. And of course - they choose the company they have part ownership in, so they can profit from it.

Sad, that choosing your "dream" home of retirement has turned into a mediocre "Avenue of Disappointment".

pandemics every 100 years will do that to standardized processes and stable vendors which TV had prior to the pandemic. And then human mgmt in many industries made very suboptimal decisions for their customers. .

There were cash flow issues created at TV as there were in many, many other companies as prior customer and corporate employee behavior predictability all got blown up. The TV still believes in the mass migration to FL by retirees, and so they keep on going, and thinking they have unlimited demand, think less and less about customer satisfaction than they did in prior years. . many consultants have optimal cost effective solutions, but the only dimension is cost reduction. . because that is what was asked of them. . nothing in regards to resulting customer satisfaction. .

Build Process
 

My neighbor had a great idea, buy the cheapest home in the design you like. This keeps the annual taxes low. Then add the higher end items as you want to do them in the colors and designs you like.

I just added tile floors to my three bedrooms and Lani. It was not cheap. It was $9,700. It looks beautiful now. They matched the tile perfectly. The question is how comfortable are you living in construction projects?

Delta fixtures
 

I recommend getting the standard Delta plumbing fixtures in the bathroom. We paid a lot for upgraded stainless steel and they have a bad finish and they spot easily even though we have a whole house filter and water softener set to the highest. If you want the special valve for shower control you may need to upgrade that.

Why not see what is offered first?

Know Before You Go
 

You can ask if you can go to the design center prior to your appointment. I heard some people were allowed to do this. We were not offered this but did not know to ask. Some got detailed letters from their designer about what to expect from the design process - we did not.

Go to as many open houses as you can prior to your appointment. Ask your salesperson to take you to the model homes on McKnight and nearly completed or completed new construction homes. See what they have that you like. Look at everything - trimwork, fixtures, cabinets, flooring, etc. (Look closely at quality of product and quality of installation..) We were sent away by our designer many times for this so she could "work on numbers." If you have already looked, no need to waste your time on it during the design process.

BTW the model homes have the best workmanship you will see.