NEW HOME BUILD DESIGN CENTER TIPS DO'S & DONT'S // WHAT NOT TO SPEND $$ ON // WORTH SPENDING UPG

hey guys are you currently thinking or planning on building your dream home if so this video is for you as i will be sharing most common mistakes to avoid at the design center hey guys welcome back to my channel for those that are new here my name is norma and in today's video i'm going to be sharing with you and walking through hold the design center process when you are building your new home i'm going to be going through most common upgrade mistakes homeowners have done in the past and how to avoid them so if you enjoyed watching or found this video helpful in any way don't forget to give me a big thumbs up and click that red button to subscribe to my channel so you won't miss on any new upcoming videos so let's go ahead and get started alright guys so i put a lot of thought into this because i want to make sure i walk you guys through everything and basically cover it all so i'm going to be sharing this as my own experience when we built our home two years ago we met at the design center and buying a home can be your dream come true but at the same time it can be very overwhelming and stressful so i'm going to be walking you through all the upgrades what to avoid what not to do and do so i hope you guys found this video helpful and let's go ahead and get started so there are going to be three main keys that you must know before you head to the design center one of them is going to be have an established or reasonable budget because that's going to be very important when you are at the design center number two is going to be know what your builder is offering because once you go and see the model home that you fell in love with and that you want to build as your dream home it's not going to be completely the same when you try to build your own home because a lot of the upgrades that were in the model home are not included in a standard home so you have to really ask questions before you sign the contract and head to the design center and get to know what your builder offers and what they don't what is an upgrade and what is not and number three is going to be have a key of your personalization of what style you want your home to be what personalization you want your home to look like so you have to know the style and if you don't a lot of people have a really hard time finding this well that's why they are there to help you at the design center but of course they are not going to help you save the money that you might want to because if there's a certain look or style that you want to go for they're going to open up the book and just basically lay it all out and offer you everything that you can choose from and that's not going to be very helpful at all so you really have to know the style that you want the personalization that you want your home to be so i suggest you go on instagram or pinterest and see what type of look you want your home to be and once you have accomplished these three main keys then i believe you would be ready to go it's still going to be overwhelming when you're at the design center and the reason is because once you step into the design center you only have maybe two or four visits so some builders may offer two visits some may schedule four as for us we only have two so one of them you go into the design center and they're about two hours to three hours long and they basically lay everything out for you you get to choose everything from doorknobs door styles your carpet all your flooring your faucets from adding extra outlets and so forth alright so once you have a really good idea of what you want your home to look like and what style you are going with once they start offering you the upgrades of what's not included with the builder grade then you definitely want to think twice before you decide to do an upgrade so some builders are going to offer some incentives and some are not so don't be bummed out if your builder is one of them that's not going to offer anything at all because that was the case for us so basically we really didn't have to upgrade much because our builder already offered so many beautiful standard features so it's very important that you know how much incentives your builder is offering a lot of builders start at 5000 10 000 15 000 and so forth so yes if they are offering you five thousand dollars or ten thousand dollars is that really a lot well yes it's going to help in any way because it's ten thousand dollars no one else is going to just give you ten thousand dollars so a lot of builders are either offering closing costs or as their incentives or upgrade features so you definitely want to take advantage of that if you are planning on upgrading a lot of homeowners are just going to really make it a lot easier as possible and just want to buy an inventory home an inventory home is basically just a home that's already built with the builder selections it might have some upgrades but not too many and you just want to build your dream home and you want to have your own selections and that is really cool to do because it's such an exciting and amazing moment in your life so definitely when you are at the design center you want to start off with all of the upgrades that are going to be necessary so in this case they're going to take you into a showroom where they have tons of light pendants and chandeliers now this is when you come into play with your partner or your loved one or if they're living at all to you like in my case um basically you're going to have an overwhelming decision because you have a certain amount of hours to choose that one light pendant you want for your entryway the light pendants that you want for your kitchen and etc so um it really depends what standard features they are offering you because there are a lot of really nice ones and light fixtures light pendants is one upgrade i would not do with the builder because the builder is going to make their money at the design center they're going to make a lot of money from you and so to avoid these i'm going to be going through a list of what not to upgrade in my opinion this is just from my own experience we did not upgrade on any of the light fixtures a light pendant that is something that you can easily do once you move in it is super affordable if you just hire an electrician or if your husband or yourself is pretty handy and you are able to just basically swap out that old light pendant to your new up style modern chandelier so uh try avoiding upgrading any type of light pendants any type of chandeliers it's just something very simple and easy to do once you completely move into your home or even before you move in once you close on your home you have the key in hand you're able to call any electrician to come on over and make that change for you it's super affordable it's not that expensive as you believe some people think hiring an electrician can be very expensive because it's just basically an electrician and that just sounds really expensive but it really isn't um we did our own in our dining room we swapped out our old standard chandelier to a most beautiful one that i found on amazon and it was really simple and easy to do so try avoiding overall any type of light fixtures and pendants okay another upgrade that i'm going to say avoid doing will be paint now i understand you don't want to move into your home and then have to worry about hiring a painter or you doing it yourself and just covering all your furniture completely and just you know not trying to get the paint just all over the house or maybe you don't want to worry about closing on your home and then still before bringing the furniture in you're going to come in and basically cover all your floors and start painting corners edges and then getting all that done i know it's really simple to say okay i just want to close on my home get the keys and just move it and get all settled in but for some people if you have a tight budget and you really want to save a few bucks i'm going to say avoid upgrading on paint because the builder is going to overcharge you i'm just simply painting something that can be easily done by you or if you just hire a local contractor or a painter to do so and honestly i think it's not worth doing an upgrade to getting any or maybe most of your home painted through the builder all right and another upgrade that i would definitely try to avoid let's talk about window treatments window treatments a lot of the builders don't offer window treatments but most of them do so at the design center they're going to offer shutters they're going to offer blinds one inch two inch white black etc there's going to be many types of window treatments to choose from again this is another upgrade that is not necessary but it is very important to have because you are going to get the keys you're going to open your home and you're going to have tons of windows and no privacy whatsoever well that was us we moved into our home but we did buy some paper blinds at home depot that were like probably four or three dollars for each window and we did all these coverings on our windows with these paper treatments because it was just going to be temporary so that is something you really want to really hold on because the builder is just going to overcharge you and if you go to home depot even or another company you are really going to save a lot more than what your builder is pricing you at all right guys another upgrade i will definitely try avoiding will be landscaping and believe it or not it sounds silly but if you are building your home ground up landscaping for some builders is not a standard feature that is something you have to pay for and it's going to cost you a lot and trust me guys when i say this do not do it you're going to have a lot of options to choose from because once you move into your home your front door is just going to be covered with a whole bunch of business cards from a whole bunch of landscapers painters window treatment companies trust me you're going to get it all right at the front of your doorstep so once you start getting those cards in just call maybe two three or four if you have time and get quotes from them and then you have a better options than the builder prices all right and since i was mentioning an exterior upgrade pull and spa is another feature that you definitely do not want to go with your home builder that is something that they're just going to overcharge you and it is not the time to do so so you definitely want to move into your home settle in and then basically look at the layout of where you're going to want your pool if you plan on having a pool and if not well then that's even better because that's just more money that you're going to be saving but if you are planning you know just move in settle in and take a look you know plan it out with time because it's going to be very important of where you place your basically your sitting area your patio you know all that stuff so that is something you definitely want to do once you move into your home all right so let's go ahead and talk about premium lot since we're still under the exterior category so believe it or not yes there is such thing as a lot fee so if you want that beautiful lake view in your backyard there's going to be a premium cost and it's going to cost you at least 5 000 and up so it just depends on the builder they all have different prices so again some of these builders include this as an upgrade because you are going to have your beautiful lakeside view or if you want a corner lot or if you want to be in a colon sack because again that gives you a lot more square footage in your lot property so you're definitely going to be paying the price if you want this feature but then again i think this kind of falls under your lifestyle and again if it fits into your budget then i would say go for it because a lot of people find it very important to actually live in a corner lot like for some people it's like a must like they want to be in a corner lot or they want to be in a colon sac where you get most of like the backyard um square footage and a lot of people which is their dream come true is to have a lake view so if that falls under your category then i mean i would say go for it if you have a tight budget and you've already maxed out and all the other upgrades then a lot premium is something you definitely don't want to worry about all right and these premium lot options this is only available if you are arriving at early stages of the developing of the neighborhood or community that you plan on building your home if you are there in the later stages then the options are very limited so you might not have the option of getting a golden sack or a corner lot or a lakeview lot so again this is only if you are in the early stages of the developing neighborhood all right so now let's go ahead and move back into the interior upgrades and let's talk about countertops and backsplash now this is a really big decision that you really have to think about because you're going to have your standard grade uh tops and backsplash and then you're going to have the other ones that are going to be your upgraded ones now this is again depending on your lifestyle depending on your budget because even their standard countertops are very beautiful options but if you kind of want to go over the top and you want more of a fancier luxurious looking countertop and backsplash then again you know it's going to cost a lot more and when i say a lot more i mean thousands of dollars more so in my case if i had the option of upgrading my countertop if i didn't like any of these standard options i would definitely take advantage of that incentive that your builder is offering if any and i will put it towards these major upgrades and major upgrades would be counter tops black splashes flooring and your faucets because those are going to be four major upgrades um definitely i would do a countertop upgrade if any of the standard ones are not what you are looking for or what you thought would look like so again this is your lifestyle this is depending on your budget but um you definitely don't want to move into your home and then have the whole thing you know under construction again because the last thing you want to do is just having to deal with your kitchen not being able to cook it's not going to be open for you so i would say i will upgrade if again my standard feature was not what i wanted or not what i liked so if it's under your budget then i would definitely do it if it's not then it's just going to be a personal decision because again you're going to move into your new home and then you're just going to have to pause because you're not going to have access to your kitchen if you're going to have some contractors come over and knock out the whole countertop area and then just basically start construction all over again so this just really depends on your lifestyle of what you really want if it's under your budget i would definitely do it and then just have it ready when you move in all right guys another interior upgrade i would definitely avoid doing with the builder will be an interior faucet and a sink and that is because a sink and it can be a kitchen sink a restroom sink a bathroom sink whatever it is it doesn't take a lot of skills to really swap these out but you want to make sure it's done the right way because we are dealing with water you want to make sure they are sealed properly and it's done correctly so if you are a handy you know person that you can get the job done then you can definitely try to do it yourself and if not you can just hire simply a plumber and they will take care of it and it doesn't cost a lot it's actually very inexpensive to hire a plumber and just do these upgrades and paint them instead of doing it with the builder and i would definitely not do this with the builder because they are going to charge you a lot and you are probably just overwhelmed with all of the selections but then again this all depends on your lifestyle your personalization and what style you want your home to be because you're going to have the farm housing the double sink the underground or under mounted sink and you know stainless steel or if you want the other you know porcelain one so it just really depends of what you want and you can find all of these upgraded features elsewhere not only home depot you can try lowe's you can try other areas not just the builder is the one that's able to get their hands on these type of styles you can find these elsewhere for much less of a price all right now let's go ahead and move on to flooring i would not do a whole upgrade on flooring you are getting new carpet and if the standard one is not as pretty it's new so take advantage of that you can easily use it up to a year or two and then change it out later on you know like it's going to be a lot more worth it leaving it than spending that extra money that the upgrade or that the builder is going to charge you for the upgrade so i will definitely skip out on flooring now we did all standard carpet all over the house and it's been working perfectly fine for us we recently upgraded our staircase and we just recently swapped out and upgraded our floors from the staircase to wood floors and i loved it and i don't regret doing that the carpet was new and it looked beautiful but you know we just wanted to do the upgrade sooner or later and that's really one great choice that we decided not to do with the builder and yeah i will recommend for you to do the same thing all right so now that i give you a list of what to avoid upgrading with the builder now let's go ahead and talk about the upgrades that are worth doing with the builder and there's not a whole lot so let's go ahead and talk about exterior upgrades a lot of these home builders are not going to offer any type of extended patios or patios at all so that leaves you with nowhere to sit while you drink your morning coffee or sit and watch your kids while they're jumping in the trampoline or slipping in the slip and slide so definitely in patio would be something i would do an upgrade with the builder the reason is because you can definitely hire a contractor especially if you know somebody or somebody that was recommended um if it's somebody that you really trust or somebody that you have really done research on and know they know how to get the job done right because we are talking about roofing so that's definitely very important that's one main key that when contractors come out and give you quotes they have to know that they're doing it right and that they're going to design this patio that kind of makes it flush evenly with your existing roof so you kind of want to make it part of the home you don't want to have a home and then like a little type of you know patio covering area that definitely looks off and i've seen these mistakes a ton of times so if you are going to pay for something cheap a lot of people don't know that it's going to look this way until it's all done and then there's no turning back so if you are trying to save some money then definitely if you know somebody or if you've seen their work then go with outside of the builder but it has to be done tell them to do it to where it's going to look like it's part of the home and if you do go with the builder then that's just one less thing to worry about because it's going to be hard to find that one contractor that's going to build a patio that's just going to blend in with the home and make it look part of the home so unless you know somebody somebody that was recommended if you've seen their work then definitely go for it do it outside the builder but if you're new to the area you don't know many people um and you just want to kind of get that out of your way i would definitely recommend doing it with the builder it's going to be under the warranty roofing is going to be done right and it's just going to look its best another upgrade i would definitely do is going to be a front door upgrade now a lot of these builders are going to offer you beautiful standard grade doors and that's great if that's the case but a lot of these builders just give you the most basic ugly front door and it's not going to look nice at all and if you are saying okay maybe in the future i can go ahead and upgrade it then okay yeah that's going to save you money too because yes builder is going to charge you a lot of money for this upgrade but it's going to be done right if you upgrade with the builder this is just kind of like the patio it's going to be where it's going to fit your actual current door frame so if you move into your home and let's say maybe the following week or month or year you decide to change your door and the person that you hire or if you do it yourself because you think you know how and again a lot of people do but then you've got like an inch gap on one side and then like it's like squeaking tight on the other it's uneven and that's because you didn't change the whole door frame and so there's you know it's there's just pros and cons to this so it just really depends who does the upgrade if you're going to be installing yourself is a professional going to be doing it it's definitely going to cost you a lot more if you do it outside of the home builder i know home depot and lowe's offer these types of upgrades that you can actually buy the package you buy the door and installation if you want to do that it's going to be cheaper than the actual builder price but if you don't know the area like i said if you're new or if you don't have any recommendations or know anybody that know how to do these installations i would definitely not take the risk unless you are a really good handyman or handy woman lady because you have to change the entire door frame not just the door and a lot of people do not know that so when you see a door that's uneven it has gaps you know on every other corner that's because the door frame was not switched it was just the door and in most cases it doesn't work that way so again in my opinion i would definitely do the upgrade with the builder but if you know someone that's a professional or you just want to pay a little bit more with home depot or other door companies and i would say just go ahead and go for it another huge upgrade i would definitely do so when you are looking at your home a lot of builders offer what's called a transformation room and that is because a study room can be the option of making it into a bedroom and that is something that you definitely want to do with the builder again this is something that you can do outside of the builder if you know you know great construction you know contractors that can transform these doors but if you do it with the builder it's going to be done the right way because they are not going to have that double door panels that most offices or study rooms have it's going to have an actual room architecture type of thing so again this is something that you definitely want to go with the builder and definitely there's going to be a closet if you do it with the builder because if you decide to leave it as a study room and then later decide to transform into a bedroom you're not going to have a closet because the study room does not come with closets so if your builder is offering you hey you know this is the study room in the model home but you can transition it into a bedroom i would definitely do it with the builder you're going to get the closet space and then the right door framing so that is another upgrade i would definitely go for all right guys i really hope these tips were very helpful to you and i wish you best of luck if you are currently in the process or if you are thinking of building your dream home and i wish nothing but the best to you please don't forget to give this video a big thumbs up and don't forget to subscribe to my channel for more upcoming videos if you have any questions please leave them in the comments down below and i promise i'll get back to you as soon as possible i'll see you guys in the next video

Channel: Norma Does it all

Views: 51,570

Keywords: new home build, new home tips, homeowner design center tips, design center tips, design center dos and don't, buying a new build home, buying new home, buying new home tips

Id: LPxvU5uElqg

Length: 23min 22sec (1402 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 24 2021