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We are buying a new house(first time home buyers) and wanted some opinion on these upgrades, if its worth to do it with builder or do later on.
1. Garage Door opener (Builder is asking $800)
2. Laundry tub ($450)
3. Deck stairs for a deck which needs no more than 4 steps ($600)
4. Wrought Iron grill for stairs and on top for two storey family room ($1700)
5. Door for formal living($800)
If you have even basic DIY skills you ought to be able to attach a power opener to your garage door in maybe 3 hours or less and the units typically cost about $300 on sale so that seems grossly inflated ...
Laundry tubs are under $50 at the big home improvement stores, as long at the rough plumnbing is in place I caan't imagine this be more than $100 and a fwew hours for a DIY...
Decks stairs are another $50 worth of materials and even if you need a "tutor" to show how cut and hang stringers there is a HUGE upcharge built intto $600...
Stock wrought iron "spindles" or balusters are $20 /each (I assume that is what you really mean) and easy to pop in to place. I suppose you could shop for something "custom" but even "art school blacksmiths" are not going to charge $1800 for just a landing...
Interior doors of solid wood are about $200. If you get it prehung with matching casing it is easy to install...
You know how car dealers charge big bucks for "dealer installed pin stripping" ? Sounds like your builder is working on same pricing sets...
Quote:
Originally Posted by bindas45
Greetings,
We are buying a new house(first time home buyers) and wanted some opinion on these upgrades, if its worth to do it with builder or do later on.
1. Garage Door opener (Builder is asking $800)
2. Laundry tub ($450)
3. Deck stairs for a deck which needs no more than 4 steps ($600)
4. Wrought Iron grill for stairs and on top for two storey family room ($1700)
5. Door for formal living($800)
you can get the GDO with installation on Craigslist for $350. Or buy a GDO on Amazon.com for $120 and pay someobe $100 to install. Does the livingroom door include making the opening thru the sheetrock? If so, I would let the builder do it, otherwise not. If you don't pay the builder for the laundry tub, will they leave a rough in? If so, I wouldn't use the builder...if not I would use the builder. The deck wor, nope, too high.
binda,
It depends on wether or not you or your husband is handy.
I would pay the amount and have everything donw for me
beofre i move in.
My husband can't hammer a nail straight in the wall.
So, for me, since it is such a big purchase anyway,
I would get it done, or it would never get done.
binda,
It depends on wether or not you or your husband is handy.
I would pay the amount and have everything donw for me
beofre i move in.
My husband can't hammer a nail straight in the wall.
So, for me, since it is such a big purchase anyway,
I would get it done, or it would never get done.
The other option is to hire a handyman to do the list. It will be much cheaper than what the builder wants.
I agree that it's largely dependent upon your skills. However, keep in mind that often times these upgrades just never end up getting done because the buyer either does not want to fork out the cash once they're paying a mortgage, or they just never get around to it. Also, consider the financial cost of rolling it into the mortgage versus paying for it out of pocket.
I wouldn't pay 5-10x more just for the "convenience". If you wanted these features bad enough, you'd find a way to get it afterwards. If not, you don't need them.
If it's structural/electrical I would do it with the builder.
Everything else you can do later and cheaper. You can do the upgrades yourself, hire contractors or talk to the crews that work building the homes and see if they can give you contact info. Any route you go it will be cheaper than doing with the builder.
Since you have the price of the upgrades call around and get quotes. Some might be $100 dollars more by doing it with the builder and it might be worth it for you to spend that extra $100 to have everything else to move in than dealing with it later.
Have you already made up your mind that you are going to do all of these upgrades, and it's just a matter of who does them?
If you're otherwise soliciting input on the upgrades themselves (regardless of who does them), my advice would be to definitely do the first 3, but I would question #4 and 5. Is the iron upgrade on the stairs something you really want? It doesn't add any function - just aesthetic. As for the living room door - how do you plan to use the room? Is it important to you that you be able to close it off? I have a hard time imagining why someone would want or need a door on their living room if that is how they plan to use it (rather than using it as a den, or an office ....).
Aren't stairs on a deck that needs stairs required by code?
Builders actually sell houses without garage door openers? I figured that was common-place in every new construction build.
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Are these the "complete project costs" or what???
