The design center is a deadline
With a new build, you usually get a few weeks after signing to make your selections at the builder’s design center. It’s exciting, a little rushed, and the numbers add up fast. Opendoor notes that buyers commonly spend around 10 percent of the base price on upgrades, and some spend 20 percent or more.
Do the now-or-never items through the builder
Anything that lives inside the walls or the slab is worth doing before drywall: extra outlets and data lines, electrical panel capacity, plumbing rough-ins for a future bar sink or pot filler, blocking for heavy light fixtures and wall-mounted TVs, and upgraded insulation or windows. Structural options like an extra room or a deeper garage belong here too. They’re inexpensive while the house is framed and expensive, or impossible, later.
Leave the surface for later
Paint, light fixtures, hardware, window treatments, and landscaping are easy to change after you close, and often cheaper. Hiring a painter after move-in usually costs less than builder pricing, and builder landscaping packages often carry a real markup.
Counters, flooring, and cabinets sit in between. You can replace them later, but that means tearing out brand-new work, so only take the builder’s options if they’re ones you’d actually keep.
Where a designer helps
We can go through the builder’s plans and option sheet with you before your design center appointment, point out which upgrades are worth it, and plan the furnishings so the house is ready the week you get the keys. A lot of our clients are buying in Orange County’s new communities, and getting in before selections close tends to save money twice: once on upgrades you skip, and again on work you don’t have to redo.
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