New construction upgrades?

[Anonymous]

I am curious of everyone's experience or knowledge on new construction upgrades. What's the average cost I can expect to go over the base price? I know we would like to include nice upgraded elevation, morning room and gourmet kitchen. Any ballpark figure of how much this will run me? The builder is Ryan homes if that helps.

[Anonymous]

We recently purchased a new construction home and went about $10k over the purchase price on upgrades. All of this depends on what the builder charges and what they're willing to write-off. For our build, we chose the standard elevation which was included in the purchase price. If we wanted a brick front, it was an extra $6k, so we went with siding. If we wanted an end unit home (we're in a townhome), it was and extra $8k. 

We did things like adding a wet bar in the basement, upgrading the hardwood floors, adding glass tile in the master bath, upgrading the backsplash, carpet, counters, cabinets, and other items. 

There's a lot of variables and it also depends on how much of an upgrade you want to do. Our builder classified upgrades in levels. So there was a Level 1 (standard), Level 2, Level 3, Level 4, and Level 5. 

[Anonymous]

Your response is greatly appreciated rookie08.

Does anyone else want to chime in please?

[Anonymous]

I spent closer to $20k on upgrades, some of which was "structural" upgrades (things like bay window, fireplace, etc.). Flooring was definitely the most expensive item, because the lower Level options usually aren't that great. I recommend getting a realtor, as they will often negotiate on your behalf to get some promotional discounts.

[Anonymous]

We had about 20k in upgrades as well and we did slurge on some flooring, countertops, fireplace but I felt we were mostly pretty conservative in choosing what we upgraded.

[ashjt2011]

Maybe my townhouse had super basic finishes or maybe I went overboard, but I spent 78k in upgrades and a 10k lot premium. Base price was 256k, I ended up at 346,900 with everything. This was getting upgrades like stone counters, upgraded appliances (not black), a bathtub in the master bath, upgrade vinyl, among a few other things.

[SoCredWorthy88]

We are actually in this process. Located in Colorado with Richmond homes.. Our base was 414,950 and we’re sitting now at 523,000. We added finished basement, plus lot premium, AC ( not included in base price) additional electrical options, deluxe bath, upgraded kitchen, upgraded flooring, upgraded cabinets and upgraded granite. Hope that helps

[kunjaqueen]

As much or as little as you decide!  I know, not helpful right?

Were almost ready to close our new home.  Base price was $517,950 for a 4 bed, 3,000sq ft house on 0.6? Acres.   We put in another $15,000 in upgrades but many of the items others are mentioning adding were standard in our home!  I upgraded the fridge to a commercial size (3 teenage football players ), my oven to convection and our stove top to a large 6 burner.  That's most of the upgrades, the rest went into some minor electrical adds and better insulation in the house.  

My my advice is to consider what you can't do later and pay for those (like wires and behind the walls stuff) and do the cosmetic stuff as you can afford once you've closed.  

[CreditInspired]

I know this wasn't asked but I wanted to bring it up because I was surprised. When my friend got upgrades -- alarm system, fireplace in BR, upgraded kitchen cabinets and granite counters, and central vac system -- the builder required those to be paid upfront. Reasoning: if for some reason the deal fell through, the builder wouldn't be stuck with as customized home to resale. Of course, at closing she was refunded that amount, but something to think about.

The other concern was that base price was a regular loan, and once she added the upgrades, it made it a jumbo loan, which luckily she qualified for the additional amount.

[kunjaqueen]

We had a similar experience when we picked our upgrades.  I'm not rolling them into the loan since we already paid them in full but we had to write a check for $15,000 which was fine since we expected it but could have been tricky if we'd upgraded more or hadn't been expecting it.