Question for people who have bought a new construction home... (wood floors, house)

[HX_Guy]

Quick question for people who have bought a new construction home (from say Shea, Pulte, Lennar, etc)...

Did you have any luck adding anything on your own during the construction phase that wasn't purchased through the builder? If so, how did you go about it?

We'd like to ad some in-ceiling speaker pre-wire but unfortunately we didn't add it when we bought the house and even though it's still early in construction (plumbing was just done, electrical will be done next week), they are saying it's too late to add this option.

What I'd like to do is go there one weekend and hang up some speaker wires myself and take note of where I put them so after we close, I can add the speakers myself. I'm thinking they won't let me do this, but I guess I could ask the construction manager? The other thought that crossed my mind is to go in after they put the drywall up but before insulation is blown into the attic and lay down wires that way, they would probably never even know.

Thanks for any input.

[CodyW]

I would go into the construction office on site. When we bought a home, they were more than willing to work with us a little on things like that. Managed to go and install new fixtures and things with their okay. But, in this case, upgrades weren't offered.

It might be a different story if the builder offers pre-wiring themselves, if not, I'm sure they would let you go for it.

[AZJoeD]

Part of the problem is they do not want construction delays, the other part is they may be concerned about the quality of your work and any liability.

Talk to the superintendent and see if Ben Franklin can get the sub-contractor to do it while he is not looking. You pay the sub directly. If you try to do it yourself before the electricians come through, they will likely cut your wires.

[Desertspiritsteve]

I have a friend who bought a McMansion on the side of a mountain looking down on Sunnyslope (pun intended). He remodeled the 5000 sq. ft. placed and made it seem like a commercial property. All custom wood floors. He went from five bathrooms to three with a gymnasium type shower in the master bath that six or eight people could be in at once. He put JBL! speakers throughout. I suggested to him at the time that he was making an awful lot of holes through to the attic with speakers and can lights everywhere. I don't think the speakers sound very good, and I don't think they are installed in enclosures. I'm guessing there is attic insulation laying on the back side of those JBL! speaker cones. There all holes everywhere for the a/c to leak out of into the attic. It's all very sterile and cold to me. If it were me, I'd think about putting in all the audio/video wiring in the walls in a media room. You could do some nice in-wall speakers and wire for the subwoofer and hdmi cables. There are Bluetooth speakers that can be used in other rooms if you want to cha-cha all over the house.

[EDnurse]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

Quick question for people who have bought a new construction home (from say Shea, Pulte, Lennar, etc)...

Did you have any luck adding anything on your own during the construction phase that wasn't purchased through the builder? If so, how did you go about it?

We'd like to ad some in-ceiling speaker pre-wire but unfortunately we didn't add it when we bought the house and even though it's still early in construction (plumbing was just done, electrical will be done next week), they are saying it's too late to add this option.

What I'd like to do is go there one weekend and hang up some speaker wires myself and take note of where I put them so after we close, I can add the speakers myself. I'm thinking they won't let me do this, but I guess I could ask the construction manager? The other thought that crossed my mind is to go in after they put the drywall up but before insulation is blown into the attic and lay down wires that way, they would probably never even know.

Thanks for any input.

Check your contract. The day I selected all the "options" I was told I couldn't change anything from there on forward. But, upon reading the contract up close, I found a clause that stated any changes will incur a fee of 250.00.

I wouldn't go in there behind their backs.

[Pink Jazz]

We didn't purchase our refrigerator through the builder; we purchased an LG 4-door French door refrigerator online just in time when we moved in, and got a really good deal on it.

Also, right when we moved in, we replaced one of the ionization smoke alarms included with the house with a dual sensor (photoelectric/ionization) alarm (which the builder doesn't even offer), which provides us with better protection from slow smoldering fires than ionization-only alarms due to the photoelectric sensor.

[PoppySead]

I snuck in a did a few things during my construction phase HX_guy. Yours is a bit difficult with the wires but, you need to time it right. Here is the key - you have a pre drywall inspection. Put if off until a Friday, say your busy until a Friday (this is an important step). Then you have Saturday and Sunday with nobody working in the house to do your dirty work, after the sign off. Monday a drywall guy will come with no idea those weren't suppose to be there, nor will he care and there ya go.

Don't tell anyone I told you this info. lol

[HX_Guy]

Originally Posted by AZJoeD

Part of the problem is they do not want construction delays, the other part is they may be concerned about the quality of your work and any liability.

Talk to the superintendent and see if Ben Franklin can get the sub-contractor to do it while he is not looking. You pay the sub directly. If you try to do it yourself before the electricians come through, they will likely cut your wires.

Part of the problem with asking is if they say no, then you are actually going against what they said, which isn't good. If you don't ask and just do it, no one ever said no.

I wasn't thinking about doing it before the electricians, I was thinking after the drywall was already up but before they blow in the insulation into the attic...crawl up in the attic and lay out the wires.

I can understand why they said we can't add it on, it would of probably delayed the finish date and they need to stay on schedule...otherwise why wouldn't they want more money from us, right? There shouldn't be any liability issues, there are just speaker wires, no electricity or anything running through them.

[HX_Guy]

Originally Posted by PoppySead

I snuck in a did a few things during my construction phase HX_guy. Yours is a bit difficult with the wires but, you need to time it right. Here is the key - you have a pre drywall inspection. Put if off until a Friday, say your busy until a Friday (this is an important step). Then you have Saturday and Sunday with nobody working in the house to do your dirty work, after the sign off. Monday a drywall guy will come with no idea those weren't suppose to be there, nor will he care and there ya go.

Don't tell anyone I told you this info. lol

Now were talking! What kind of things did you sneak in?

So there will be a pre-dry wall inspection? And after that is done, the dry wall goes up and no other inspections are done by the city or the construction manager or anyone between the time that we do the walk thru together and when they start nailing the drywall up? That would obviously be ideal, to run the wires prior to drywall, much easier than crawling around in the attic trying to lay down wires.

[pbenjamin]

My experience was similar. This was several years ago, but in a two story house we wanted speaker wire to run from the family room to the master bedroom above it. I found out when the electrical inspection took place and after it was done I ran the wire myself, making note of where it was. When we moved in I punched a hole in the drywall and there it was. I put in wall plates at both ends and everything worked.