Contract issue with Westin Homes (Howe: wood floors, houses, neighborhood)

[movingaroundok]

honeycombe... if u dont mind me asking what did your bill end up looking like... i have always been curious about the westin homes =)

[honycombe]

We just got our electric bill in from Reliant for the month of August. $250, and we have a pool, so that adds to the electricty. We did upgrade the insulation and we did tint our floor to ceiling windows. However, $250 on a @4100 sq. ft. house, when the temperatures were 100 every day.....I couldn't be happier.

[dutchess12]

Wow that's not bad at all. I was a little worries. We close on our new Westin home on Sept. 29th. We do our first walk through on Tuesday. I am so excited!!

[davidrod8]

We just signed our contract yesterday... Building a Patterson in Cardiff ranch... Same deal on the contract.... up to XX,XXX.... I asked the salesperson and was told the same thing, if you don't use it, you'll lose it.... no problem... between the lot and the car garage, we got that covered, and we haven't even scratched the surface yet...

We got the same deal as everyone here, 8% of the base price, and if we go with their preferred lender (which we did) they pay for the title policy...

they also have an offer right now with a few extras.... granite in kitchen and all bathrooms, under-mount sink, rounded corners....

Now comes the hard part... upgrades... what did you all get? What did you wish you had gotten? I see some of you added better insulation... What do you wish you had gotten but didn't???

[dutchess12]

That is an amazing deal they are having with the granite, etc free. That is great!

We were not told about the insulation upgrade, so we did not get that. We didn't even think about it, but we got a north south house, so even during the build prior to ac unit, our home never was hot. Now when we go through with the builder keeping the ac at 78-79 it is very comfortable, which is very surprising.

We upgraded the iron spindles, oil rubbed bronze in whole house(faucets, lights, knobs, etc.), granite in kitchen and master, we did hardwood floors on entire first floor(except master bath and laundry)which was our best decision. We also upgraded to the stainless steel package, but didn't buy the refrigerator or washer/dryer from Westin. I checked pricing and we could get a better deal just buying that on our own. We did have the media room pre-wired, which was a smart decision, I recommend that for sure. Of course you will need to upgrade cabinets, as the standard is the pine/oak look. We went with Timberlake (I think that's the name), and it was not too much, and we are very happy with them. We did upgrade the tile surrounds on the secondary bathrooms, which was also a smart decision. We used a level 1 tile, so it wasn't too bad in price.

Good Luck at design center, it can be overwhelming. Let us know how it goes!

[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]

Holy crap Dave, you spent a crap load of $$$ in upgrades. We are leaving the fence extension for after we move in. 12$ a linear foot is expensive. I'm going to try to get the fence guy's info and see what he charges on the side, if not my dad and i will do it. I thought the full brick option was a bit pricey, most of our house is brick already, it was really the half sides and they wanted over 4K(i wish it would of been cheaper). The base boards can be done after the fact for cheaper than their price.

What garage door opener did you get?
How much was the trash can cabinet? That is a pretty cool feature, you gave me and idea


This is what we did on our Barcelona (3200 sq ft)...

• Base Price: 203,990
• Lot Premium: 2,000
• Media Room: 8,188
• Upgraded Mortar For Brick/Stone: 1,200
• Stone: 2,133
• Maple Cabinet In the Powder Room: 263
• Memory Foam Carpet Pad and Stain Proof: 1,162
• 8" Deep Kitchen Sink: 77
• Granite in Master Bath: 980
• Undermount Square Sinks in Master Bath: 690
• Front Door with Glass/Design: 750
• Rounded Corners: 750
• Electrical Outlet above Fireplace: 75
• Cultured Stone Fireplace: 738
• Tile in Butlers Pantry: 190
• Tile in Extended Foyer: 430
• Tile in Dining Room: 785
• Upgraded Tile in Master Bath Floor: 594
• Upgraded Tile in Master Bath Shower: 689
• Tile in Jack and Jill Restroom Upstairs: 205
• Nickel Lighting and Hardware: 1920
• R38/R15 Insulation Upgrade: 1380
• Two Tone Exterior Paint: 225
• Gas Plumbing For Gas Oven: 195
• Bronze Plumbing Fixtures in Master Bath: 386
• Tub w/ Whirlpool Jets: 650
• Phone Jack Outlet above Fireplace: 75
• Conduit over fireplace (for wiring TV stuff): 225
• Bronze Shower Enclosure: 250
• Glass block window in master: 650
• Shower Seat in master bath: 875
• Bronze Iron Spindels in Stairs and Landings: 5,930
• Tech-shield in the Attic - 1,120

Plus 3 18packs of Corona for the framers, they added supports for curtain rods on all windows in the house. They added more storage space by extending plywood in the second floor, and he framed out a fullsize door instead of those mini doors for access to part of the attic.

Got the electrician to run me some under light cabinet lighting for 150$ in the kitchen, that's me buying the lights and he wires them up too, so from start to finish. He's also coming back to run me some wire to do landscape lighting.

now i have talk to the brick guys, fence guys, cabinet guys, concrete guys, sod guys, and tile guys

[deckhanddavy]

Originally Posted by a_guerrajr

Holy crap Dave, you spent a crap load of $$$ in upgrades.

What garage door opener did you get?
How much was the trash can cabinet? That is a pretty cool feature, you gave me and idea

Got the electrician to run me some under light cabinet lighting for 150$ in the kitchen, that's me buying the lights and he wires them up too, so from start to finish. He's also coming back to run me some wire to do landscape lighting.

now i have talk to the brick guys, fence guys, cabinet guys, concrete guys, sod guys, and tile guys

Ha, yeah, we really went over our 'cap' on this one

The garage door openers were around 1200 I believe. A bit pricey, but saves me from having to fiddle around with a weekend project. The trashcan configuration cost us 450. Was totally worth it, and they used some heavy duty metal sliding rails for support. I've only seen rails that large on server racks. The wood mount looks to have been fabricated by hand, and is also pretty darn sturdy. At first, I thought they were going to do a make-shift job, but they really did a bang-up job for us.

Yeah, the underlighting is something we want to add as well. I'd like to get the LED strip lighting and have the power cables routed under the shallow areas of the cabinets, but alas, I am all thumbs with doing small jobs like that. I'm still thinking about tht one. $150 sounds like a sweet deal to me.

[deckhanddavy]

Oh, also, I know a guy who can seal your grout and tile if you're looking to save money. He also does wood floors, tile and I believe stonework.

[a_guerrajr]

Originally Posted by deckhanddavy

Ha, yeah, we really went over our 'cap' on this one

The garage door openers were around 1200 I believe. A bit pricey, but saves me from having to fiddle around with a weekend project. The trashcan configuration cost us 450. Was totally worth it, and they used some heavy duty metal sliding rails for support. I've only seen rails that large on server racks. The wood mount looks to have been fabricated by hand, and is also pretty darn sturdy. At first, I thought they were going to do a make-shift job, but they really did a bang-up job for us.

Yeah, the underlighting is something we want to add as well. I'd like to get the LED strip lighting and have the power cables routed under the shallow areas of the cabinets, but alas, I am all thumbs with doing small jobs like that. I'm still thinking about tht one. $150 sounds like a sweet deal to me.

dang 450 isn't bad at all. hopefully i can talk to the cabinet guys and maybe they can fab up something.

i have the electricians # if you need it. He speaks Spanish mostly, but i can translate for you.