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New home construction - upgrade costs?
DH and I may be able to sell our current home faster than I thought we would, so we're starting to look at options for our next home. After completely renovating our current house, we're looking at new construction so we don't have to do it all again. Since we're just at the very beginning stages of research, we haven't contacted any builders, looked at their design centers, etc. but I was hoping maybe some nesties had experience and could give me a ballpark estimate of how much the following upgrades would cost. Thank you very much for your help!
The plan we're looking at is approx. 3000 sf (unfinished basement), 4 BR, 2.5 BA. The builder standards don't include anything reall(low grade carpet, vinyl flooring, cheap fixtures, etc.) We would be looking to change all the flooring to hardwood except tile in bathrooms (stone or ceramic), upgrade kitchen cabinets and appliances, add a pantry, add a fireplace and built-ins, upgrade carpet on 2nd level and upgrade all fixtures. Any idea how much these would cost? I'm just looking for a ballpark, like $10k vs. $100k since that would be a big difference.
Re: New home construction - upgrade costs?
My cost handbook that appraisers use notes that as of 3/2012 in St. Paul the average quality of construction costs for $3,000 square feet for a two story home is $70.44 per square foot, NOT including garages, decks, porches, fireplaces, basements, etc. Good quality is $93.64 per square foot.
However, of course these are just average costs put out in a national publication, and your actual costs will vary and the only way to know for sure to get real quotes.
When deciding on upgrades you need to also consider those homes around you. You don't want to put in solid hardwood, granite counter tops, high end cabinetry etc, in a neighbohrood that has only standard grade homes. You'll most likely end up paying more to have your home built than it will be worth.
Like pp said, it depends on where you live. We built our home in 2009. Your really have to weight the cost of the upgrades (along with the quality you are getting for the cost) with the inconvenience of doing it after you move in, because while some upgrades are reasonable, some are absolutely insane!
Our house is about 3500 sq feet, the basement is unfinished by the rough-ins for bathroom was standard, so we'll finish it ourselves later. Somebody on here gave me the following advice which we really found helpful:
1. Upgrade anything you must have that you cannot do later (at least not unless you want a significant cost - extra windows, bathrooms, fireplaces, pantry, etc.)
2. Upgrade anything at building time that you get a decent upgrade credit for and will cost you much more later if you don't do it now (cabinets and appliances were in this category for us - to upgrade from oak to maple - it was maybe $2500. We couldn't replace the builder's cabinets for that price so we upgraded. Same thing with appliances. Another example, Level 1 hardwood was standard in the foyer and powder room (which is a large space). We hated the level 1, so we used the credit for the hardwood to upgrade to a nice tile. It was about $1200).
3. Consider upgrading things later that cost significantly more than through the builder than they would if you did it yourself. Unfortunately for us, flooring was in this category. Carpeting (crappy) was standard. Vinyl in the kitchen was standard. To upgrade to their crappy level 1 hardwood, it would have been 18K just for the office, living and dining and family room downstairs. Add on 6K for hardwood in the kitchen, or 7K (for crappy tile) if we wanted tile. That would have been 24K just for downstairs flooring that was the lowest possible grade. We priced out top of the line Mirage hardwood installed in all those areas for 22K - so we did not go through the builder. If we wanted level 4 or 5 - they wanted damn near 45K! I wasn't willing to finance that into my mortgage and pay interest on it because it wasn't a brand I wanted and the quality was crap. We did it later.
Think about how long you want to be in your home - if it's a long time, go for the savings because you don't want to be paying interest on crap upgrades marked-up 50% or more rolled into a 15 year or 30 year mortgage. Also, don't pay a whole lot to upgrade anything you'll have to re-do down the line if you do plan to stay. Example: upgrading to top of the line tile with a 50% mark-up that will still be dated in 10 or 15 years, and you'll replace, but you'll still be paying for the upgrade the life of your mortgage.
I wish I would have tried to negotiate more on the upgrades - I was naive (even after research) and my REA was worthless. I have a friend who walked into the design center (she had the same builder) and blatently lied and said she was told 50% off upgrades. The woman gave her the 50% off. If you can do that - upgrade away because that 50% (or more) off will be about what it's worth in true market value. I had another neighbor negotiate 60% off with the builder and they gave it to her. It doesn't hurt to try, we didn't know we could negotiate that much plus we bought at the bottom of the market and our model was nearly 200K less than others paid for the same thing the year before, so all in all, we still made out pretty well (or other neighbors got screwed - depends on how you look at).
Good luck.
I can tell you this: We were originally going to build. Our upgrades totaled $100k. Yes, you read that properly. Anything we wanted to do that wasn't *exactly like* every other house in the neighborhood resulted in a HUGE hit to the pocketbook. We chose to buy an older home in a neighborhood we really loved and renovated and I highly doubt I could have had a home built that I love as much as this one.
You will probably be able to tell quite quickly how much in upgrades you are going to need. I remember getting lists from builders that detailed the allowances - one builder allowed $1,500 for kitchen appliances. DH and I had a good time laughing at them.
If your builders standards are that cheap/low quality I would be concerned about the quality of the home structure itself.
Ive seen a lot of cheap construction and low quality builders - people who buy those houses almost always regret it. The quality of the standards with a builder will tell you a lot about the quality of their homes while. I realize that not everyone can afford 'it all' - I would rather make sure the base is high quality and worry about upgrading the cosmetics later.
That all being said - first you need to know the allowance offered for the categories offered, find out what vendors the builder works with and whether those vendors have a higher quality that you like. My builder has great relationships with vendors and so there was a nice discount but I know not all vendors have that.
I don't think anyone can give you the answer to your question because we have no idea what your starting place is and what your definition of upgrade is - I mean, you can uograde a 5k cabinet package to 20k depending on what you select. Hardwood has varying levels of hardness - often times people cheap out with a 'softwood' (calling it hardwood and have dings and scratches quickly) but any level of hardness is an upgrade (in name alone). Ceramic flooring can have a wide range is cost. Does your appliances come with a low quality SS or ? You see?
Good luck.
If you have a contractor friend, have them vet your wish list.
Upgrades are negotiable. My parents built a lower end home with an independent builder who charged almost nothing for many of the changes around moving walls, doors and kitchen layout. He charged a reasonable amount for added windows and increasing the footprint. His painters even used the paint my mother purchased which saved her having the house painted again.
All of the PP gave excellent feedback. We purchased a new construction home 4 years ago from a reputable builder. We were actually able to negotiate quite a few upgrades and ended up paying the asking price, with the upgrades included. You may be surprised at what you can negotiate, but obviously this varies greatly on the builder/area/etc.
Some upgrades such as light fixtures and tile are fairly easy DIY projects and may not be worth the builder upgrade price. Bigger items, such as hardwood floors, would be worth having the builder do pre-move in, imo.
I would be very leary of a builder that uses that cheap of supplies to begin with though. Since you are in the early stages of looking, I would do as much research as possible on the neighborhood/area and builder.
One of my friends was being nickle and dimed into over-priced upgrades. I looked at her list, some of the things made sense to do as part of the construction- the jetted tub and hardwood floor. The backsplash was way cheaper and fun as a DIY project. They wanted $500 for mirrored bypass closet doors. She bought new ones at Home Depot for $175 each and installed them on the same track as the hollow core doors that came with the house. It was even cheaper to leave the builder grade carpet until settlement, and then have it replaced after. She donated the builder's carpet to a home her church was renovating.
If your builders standards are that cheap/low quality I would be concerned about the quality of the home structure itself
New construction does not mean quality construction. You have been looking at low end builders - just be aware what you get is not going to be as long lasting as many 1940's homes.
Put your money where it counts, quality windows, insulation, energy effiecient heating and cooling.
Have a good chunk of money left over after closing as there most likely will be many things you still need to do.
Thank you everyone for your feedback. The development that we want to build in is actually one of the nicest around here and they have a specific list of builders that are allowed to build there...so I guess I assumed these were quality builders, not bad as most of you have indicated.
I would really appreciate if any of you with experience could check out the list and let me know if these have a bad reputation?
http://www.stonemillfarms.com/Homefinder/Builders.aspx
In Munster, IN, the cost to build ranges from $100/sq foot for a basic house (carpet, no granite, unfinished basement) to $150/square foot (best of everything). We're currently building and the estimate we have is about $135/square foot with wood on the first floor and carpet upstairs. We went with the top of the line windows for energy efficiency. This price includes the garage and the concrete pad in the back for a patio. We aren't finishing the basement until after the assessor goes through because if the basement is finished, it counts as livable square footage and your property taxes will be higher - keep that in mind
Pay very close attention to things your builder tells you. We had one builder tell us that "plumbing was included," but failed to tell us what that meant. This, along with other things he failed to mention, took our original bid from $220,000 to $320,000. Take to locals that have built to get a good idea of who they used for builders. We talked with banks and found out that some of them were building even though they had filed bankruptcy (scary!). Do your research before you start. It's a lot of work, but totally worth it! Good luck!
I am a lurker, but noticed you are looking to build in MN. We built a new home in a similar community to Stone Mill Farms and have been very pleased. We went to the Parade of Homes in October and toured several of Custom One's homes that were built, and I would highly reccomend going to see some of the model homes they have built. They have so many amenities that I never even thought of when we built our house, (but wish I would have)
We were looking at building another new home, but decided to stay in our home for another couple years. We built a home with a custom builder and had several upgrades put into our home. In Stone Mill Farms has some of the best builders in MN, any builder you choose will build you a beautiful home. There was some great advice given such as what to upgrade and what you can upgrade on your own. Good luck!