Contract issue with Westin Homes (Houston, Spring: bankruptcy, tile, closing)

[dutchess12]

Man, sounds like some beautiful homes. Good luck during your built, we had a few issues but all got resolved. We have the first walk through tomorrow, so hopefully we find nothing too big of an issue and it is smooth sailing from here. Can't wait to join the neighborhood!!

[davidrod8]

2 things that caught my eye where the $1200 garage door openers and the almost $6,000 iron spindles... are those prices right? seems a bit high...

With my previous high I didn't want to do the garage door openers through the builder, so I went and bought them at lowes and then had the same guy that was installing them for the builder to come and do it in my house...

It was a lot of work and I ended up saving about $100... not worth it... The new house will have 3 doors so I guess I'll have to revisit this and see if it is worth it...

a_guerrajr... looks like you and I are the same... I also speak spanish and always talk to the guys building the house... plus after the house is done, I usually walk down to the next house under construction and work directly with them... A lot cheaper than going through the builder...

[a_guerrajr]

Originally Posted by davidrod8

2 things that caught my eye where the $1200 garage door openers and the almost $6,000 iron spindles... are those prices right? seems a bit high...

With my previous high I didn't want to do the garage door openers through the builder, so I went and bought them at lowes and then had the same guy that was installing them for the builder to come and do it in my house...

It was a lot of work and I ended up saving about $100... not worth it... The new house will have 3 doors so I guess I'll have to revisit this and see if it is worth it...

a_guerrajr... looks like you and I are the same... I also speak spanish and always talk to the guys building the house... plus after the house is done, I usually walk down to the next house under construction and work directly with them... A lot cheaper than going through the builder...

Yea the spindles aren't cheap! However we felt that was a key feature to make the house nice inside, otherwise it would of been more sheet rock. Probably could of been done after the fact, but i rather have it there already.

The garage door openers are 400$ each, i bought mine at lowes for like 220 and 60 install, so 280 total.

and they are going to build 2 houses behind mine, so hopefully i can talk to these guys.

[davidrod8]

$120 X 3 = $360 that's some good money saved right there, plus I wonder if you got a better one than the one they would have put in there to begin with...

Yes, we also feel the spindles are a must... can't wait to start going over our options...

[a_guerrajr]

Originally Posted by davidrod8

$120 X 3 = $360 that's some good money saved right there, plus I wonder if you got a better one than the one they would have put in there to begin with...

Yes, we also feel the spindles are a must... can't wait to start going over our options...

Yea my wife gave up an elevation upgrade to fit the cost of spindles.

[honycombe]

Spindles would have cost us $6k, we had them put the standard white ones in. Las week my husband took the white out and replaced then with iron. We went to a company off of Hardy Toll Road. They had TONS to choose from. I got exactly what I wanted, for $1500. Took 1.5 days to replace all 132 spindles, with just me and my husband, and it's not like I was a huge help. Wasn't difficult though and saved us lots!

[a_guerrajr]

1500$ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that's not bad at all.

Well for us it would of been 2700$ to get the wood spindles in the landings. plus another 1500$ based on your figure, about 2K in savings.

[36a42]

we have signed the contract abd we are planning to visit design center. How much it costs for your upgrades?

Originally Posted by deckhanddavy

Interior upgrades:

-lvl 3 cabinetry throughout
-lvl 2 granite to the kitchen and master
-iron spindles
-travertine stone subway tiles on the kitchen backsplash
-wood floors (cheaper than tile)
-profile series appliances
-diagonal floor pattern on the tiled areas
-bronze fixtures (door handles, faucets, etc)
-front door upgrade - decorative metal over glass
-rounded corners on all walls
-two tone paint on all tray ceilings
-8 ft french doors to the study
-light fixtures to a bronze package (can't remember the name of the series for the upgrade)
-garage door openers
-cable tube added to both the fireplace/bookshelf and the media room (allows you to snake all of your electronic cabling through the walls
-fan hookups for the patio
-added a 3rd bathroom to a room upstairs
-fireplace (cast concrete made to look like stone)
-bookshelf builtins next to the fireplace
-barreled ceiling in the dining room
-extended glass insert to the back door
-configuration of one of the bottom cabinets in the kitchen (right next to the fridge) to act as a pull out garbage receptacle. This is not an option they offer, but they took this request into consideration and had their engineers design one for us. It's super convenient, and is designed to hold two standard tall kitchen trash cans. They slide nicely in place to a wood holder. My fiance hates the idea of a trash can sitting in plain view in the kitchen, and we had this configuration installed in our last home. Is really nice actually.

Outside upgrades:

-stone and full brick elevation
-colored mortar between the brick work
-full brick to the entryway
-wow, we did a lot but I can't remember anything else! hehe


Things I REALLY wish I upgraded:

-more recessed lighting in the family room, study, bedroom and bathroom (the lighting in the home is adequate, but added recessed lighting would seriously make a difference for us)
-8" base boards...I can't believe I passed on this one. The 3" baseboards don't bring the wow factor at all, compared to homes with 8" ones
-ceiling fan in the study
-bring the fence line out to the front of the home. Provides secure gated access to the AC units, breaker box and other utility feeds...we really kicked ourselves about that one. Now we are a little worried that they are exposed and anyone can come along and gain access to them.
- white bathroom showers and toilets. The almond color we chose looked great in the design center, but doesn't work at all with our neutral colored theme in our home.
- walnut colored wood floors. Our dark espresso colored floors look great, but wow...they collect SO MUCH dust, lint and foot impressions that it's more work than it's worth keeping them clean. Planning on getting a roomba soon!

**We initially started cleaning our wood floors with a sponge mop and wood floor cleaner, but it left streaks and the floor was a little sticky afterwards. We purchased a steamer mop after some research online, and the floors are absolutely PERFECT after each clean. No chemicals and it's really easy to clean. Just vacuum, then steam mop...it's one of the best home items we've bought yet.

Things we have done on our own, not offered as an upgrade:

-sealed all of the tile grout (I had someone come out and use commercial grade sealant. Good for 5 years.)
-insect and pest control. Also, had all open holes/crevices from the outside of the home sealed with wire mesh to prevent rodents entering the home.
-mosquito control. Good for 3 weeks at a time. Bonide 5612 Mosquito Beater
-a 1 1/2" hole drilled to the base of the bookshelf in our family room. Westin put the electrical outlet on one side of the bookshelf and the cable/phone/ethernet jacks on the other side. I don't think they thought that one out too well. This hole allows you to keep all of the cabling hidden behind the bookshelf niches, instead of dangling out in front. Be wary though, the wood divider between the bookshelf niches is a good 2" in thickness, so you'll need some tools to get the job done. Andrew, our project manager, kindly came out on his spare time to do this for us after we closed on the home. I don't own tools that can drill a hole like that!



hope this helps!

-Dave

[a_guerrajr]

Make sure to negotiate for 30% as your deposit
also you can try to negotiate with the design center, not sure how much flexibility they have on it

we walked out of the design center with like 15K in upgrades i think

[36a42]

how expensive are the undermount sinks and custom bowl in master bath? we liked it in the pictures. It is given in the broucher as designer backsplash, what does it mean.