Riverstone/Stonecreek Upgrades (Brent, Naples: wood floors, new home, refrigerator)

[KALROSE24]

Anyone living in Riverstone or buying in Stonecreek choose the AC upgrades? (AC Upgrade, Air Purifier, Air Sanitizer? Is it worth the upgrade cost and has it been beneficial? Also, any recommendations on what options are musts through GL?

[froglipz]

If you have the money, sure why not!

[markjames68]

I'm not in those communities but if they use a decent manufacturer an upgrade is never a bad idea in Naples as it'll be in use year-round. The builder-grade system in my community was a 14 SEER system and I upgraded to an 18 SEER that is also variable speed which means less noise and a much more consistent temperature and humidity level.

I'm not sure what an "air sanitizer" does because technically an air purifier would remove particles (including smells) from the air.

If you want, find out what the exact upgrade specs are (model #, etc.) and post them here and people can comment. There is no reason why they shouldn't tell you those details.

[movin1]

We moved into our house in Riverstone last April. We did upgrade the HVAC to the more efficient unit, but did not do the other options. As makjames says, higher SEER is better, especially here. IMO, the other stuff is fluff. More expensive filters, marketing hype. Not worth it to us.

Make sure you clean your filter in the indoor unit regularly, like every 6-8 weeks. We just had to have a service call to clean out the drain line. It was full of construction crap and there were a few inches of water in the pan below the unit. If I hadn't heard the dripping noise, the water level would have risen to the point where it floated the breaker switch and shut off the unit. The guy had a handy little wet vac and sucked out several gallons of water. I went to Home Depot the next day and bought one.

We got the twice a year service contract from Del Air. They clean and check everything to keep things in tip top condition. No working AC is a real drag when it's hot and if it goes down, you don't know how long it will be before someone can get out to fix the problem.

Search this forum or my post history for upgrade options in Riverstone. There are a few previous threads about them.

[Brent_Robertson]

Depends on the time line, remember when a builder quotes they put in a builder overhead cost vs a direct supplier who ends up putting in the upgrades. Structural things such as doors, roofs, a/c system, cabinets you are kinds stuck and can't remove and get new quotes as it will cost too much but a pool, brick driveway, garage door, pool heater etc. you can pass on those and add later. I have requested upgrades for my clients as part of the deal on the home to make it fair for both sides.

[markjames68]

Originally Posted by Brent_Robertson

Depends on the time line, remember when a builder quotes they put in a builder overhead cost vs a direct supplier who ends up putting in the upgrades. Structural things such as doors, roofs, a/c system, cabinets you are kinds stuck and can't remove and get new quotes as it will cost too much but a pool, brick driveway, garage door, pool heater etc. you can pass on those and add later. I have requested upgrades for my clients as part of the deal on the home to make it fair for both sides.

You definitely can do a pool later, but there's also nothing like getting the key to a new home and it's all done. Otherwise everything gets ripped out and in the case of a pool and cage you need to run electric, plumbing and more. This affects everything back to the panel (which is probably in the garage).

[movin1]

We have seen several pools being done after the fact. What a mess. You end up having to pay to replace landscaping that was there and got torn up and it takes 6-8 weeks to get done.

We had our pool and cage put in during home construction and are glad we did.

Be sure to have any outdoor kitchen plumbing (sink) and electrical (frig, grill, outlets, lighting etc) done by the builder too.

We also had an outdoor shower plumbed in on the lanai by the pool. Very nice.

[CH183]

I closed on my place in Riverstone last July and have spent the last 6 months doing work and upgrades that I decided not to do with GL. These include custom pool and screen cage, wide plank oak wood floors throughout, plantation shutters and window treatments, crown moulding and other ceiling wood work, replaced all shower glass enclosures, replaced wood stair bannister with glass. The list goes on. Spent nearly 250k Doug all this but well worth it as at the end I got exactly what I wanted which a lot of it was not offered by GL. Yes it's messy but I was not living in the house during all this work.

[markjames68]

Originally Posted by CH183

I closed on my place in Riverstone last July and have spent the last 6 months doing work and upgrades that I decided not to do with GL. These include custom pool and screen cage, wide plank oak wood floors throughout, plantation shutters and window treatments, crown moulding and other ceiling wood work, replaced all shower glass enclosures, replaced wood stair bannister with glass. The list goes on. Spent nearly 250k Doug all this but well worth it as at the end I got exactly what I wanted which a lot of it was not offered by GL. Yes it's messy but I was not living in the house during all this work.

Hopefully you didn't have neighbors on either side of you during the pool build as that essentially stretches out the mess and noise for them as well.

I do agree that plantation shutters, window treatments and crown molding are all items that can easily be done after build at a much better price.

[movin1]

We also did lighting fixture upgrades, replaced the kitchen sink faucet, did crown molding, a lot of painting and some wall paper, window treatment (shades and drapery), built in outdoor grill, refrigerator and sink (we had GL do the plumbing and electrical rough ins), a whole wall of built in home office furniture, laundry room cabinets and master bedroom custom closets after we closed.

Be sure to budget for a lot of things that aren't included in the price of your house! It adds up fast.