David Weekley Design Center (Houston, Rice: sales, how much, house)

[fiveguys]

We are going to David Weekley Design Center for our first design appointment tomorrow. Just wondering if anyone out there has experience with them. I checked the pricing for various options. Seems to me their wood/tile flooring is the one thing that seem to have a HIGH MARKUP.

And any thoughts on what I should avoid buying from a design center and what I should buy from design center.

Thanks for your inputs!

[tdhg566]

EVERYTHING at the design center will come with a markup. You need to develop a strategy: are you trying to optimize your money, or your time. Some things are more difficult to DIY later. It's easy to install ceiling fans, or rocker light switches, or new mirrors and frames. Harder to put in new gas lines (e.g. to a patio or for an emergency generator). Even more ugly would be installing the inevitable larger sink option (would require cutting the granite again, something that's never without risk). Tile is a potential DIY option later, but then you have the problem of matching to the existing tile that will be in the wet areas the builder's carpet will touch.

How good a DIY person are you? How much disruption will you want after you move in? Can you handle continuous DIY projects?

You also need to decide what you absolutely can not live without on day one.

Finally, and most important, you need to decide on the maximum amount you will spend.

THEN make an ordered list, most to least important. Have the sales person start a tab. When you run out of money, you stop. Everything past that is DIY later.

[Houston321]

Weekley, although a good builder, is famous for nickel & diming you at the Design Center. I remember there was a point in time where they were charging extra for the light kits on the ceiling fans. I'd be interested if that is still the case?

[Cookiekaikai]

Just say no to the "DuPure" water softener sales people. They will try to sell you a softener with "lifetime warranty" for like 4-5k. You can get exactly the same softener for thousands less from local water treatment companies. Even if you want to buy from them, just say no at the design center, they will come to your house later on with a big discount offer.

[ethanw]

This is my second David Weekly home that we finished this year in Riverstone. David Weekly is very good with the home designs and they use top materials. Weekly is also the only builder I know to stand behind their warranty even after several years. In my first house they came back to fix some issues with materials, after NINE years. No builder will do that. The energy savings are FANTASTIC... In a 6000 SF home with two 5 tones AC units the highest electricity bill was $250 for the hottest month of the year. You can't beat that.

But the building process craftsmanship is HORRIBLE. Don't expect Germans to build your house, we're on the border with cheap labor so you do the math. Actually for the money we pay we do get a lot of house and part of that is the cheap labor. You must watch and inspect you house like a hawk during the building process. PM me if need more guidance on this topic.

DO NOT use any upgrades from David Weekly and any builder for that matter, unless you have to. That's where they make their money. Just pay / upgrade for stuff that can't be done after house is finished. Things like big ticket items, different cabinets, tile, extra bedrooms, stuff that can't be done by a contractor or by you (DIY).

But if there is stuff that you can add after the house is done, things like crown molding, ceiling fans, etc, etc, while you building the house, just get the contractors name and phone numbers and call them after the house is done. You will be surprised how much less it costs to add stuff after. Trust me it works and they love making some money on the side during weekends or when they can.
Example: Weekly will charge $250 for a ceiling fan and the lights. I paid the contractor $60 each , parts and labor and added 6 of them to the house, same brand with the existing ones.

Also paying the guys during the building process works as well Just need some balls to do it...and also strike the right balance. You can't just pay everyone
Example: Weekly will charge me $600 just to run the main power cable in my backyard around the corner (for a pool to be built later). Usually they run it across diagonal to save money. I paid the electrician $75 and he did the job right for me.

As for the water softener, indeed don't get their $6000 which is a very cheap brand anyway. Pay just $3200 and get a Kinetico which is one of the best brands in the industry.

Again PM if you need specific help. I will be more than happy to help you save some money.

Regards
Ethan

[fiveguys]

Originally Posted by Cookiekaikai

Just say no to the "DuPure" water softener sales people. They will try to sell you a softener with "lifetime warranty" for like 4-5k. You can get exactly the same softener for thousands less from local water treatment companies. Even if you want to buy from them, just say no at the design center, they will come to your house later on with a big discount offer.

Pentair Soft Water Softener System (Includes Loop @ Attached Garage) $3,295 / EA

Confirmed they still do. Outrageous?

[fiveguys]

Originally Posted by Houston321

Weekley, although a good builder, is famous for nickel & diming you at the Design Center. I remember there was a point in time where they were charging extra for the light kits on the ceiling fans. I'd be interested if that is still the case?

Went to the design appointment, for instance,

P748-B
Master Commode - Gerber 1.1 UltraFlush Ergo-Height {Biscuit}
$445 / EA
Is this expensive?

[Houston321]

Gerber EF-21-324 Ultra Flush 1.1 GPF Elongated ErgoHeight Two-Piece Toilet#

Looks like it retails for $319. So considering the installation and the warranty that isn't really a bad price.

[ethanw]

This is probably a Fleck 7000 system which is less than $1000. I will add $400 labor for install... so total should be $1400?

Aqua-Clear H2O (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270669354189 - broken link)

And Infinity is the Raine Systems division doing the softeners for David Weekly...

Infinity Water - Call Today! (http://infinitywater.net/softeners.html - broken link)

Infinity Water - 281-304-7873

In a nutshell is OVERPRICED....

For $3295 you can get top of the line Kinetico...... or anything else that is cheaper.....

Just get your water softener loop which is $300 and shop around for softener system.....

Originally Posted by fiveguys

Pentair Soft Water Softener System (Includes Loop @ Attached Garage) $3,295 / EA

Confirmed they still do. Outrageous?

[chris_ut]

Originally Posted by fiveguys

Went to the design appointment, for instance,

P748-B
Master Commode - Gerber 1.1 UltraFlush Ergo-Height {Biscuit}
$445 / EA
Is this expensive?

if you were buying it yourself and paying the install that is about what you would pay. Where the builder gets you is that your already paying for a toilet in the base cost of the house but when you upgrade you pay full price for the whole thing and the builder pockets what you paid him for the original toilet and install, say $250, so this toilet is really costing you $695.