Are you considering building a new home? Maybe you are getting ready to make your design center selections. Or just trying to see if new construction is a good fit for your family.
As a first time home buyer, I was a little overwhelmed when we decided to build a new home from the ground up. There is a lot to know and a lot of money that can be spent on upgrades.
Our builder offered great incentives. We got $20,000 to use on upgrades and another $10,000 for closing costs. This is one of the many reasons that I love new construction!
The only catch is that they require you to use their lender in order to use the incentives (also known as discretion). This is just a smart business move that also benefits the buyer. Since they are making money on the loan, they have more flexibility to offer unbeatable incentives to their buyers. Their interest rates are pretty competitive too!
$20,000 sounds like a lot of money, but it went FAST. Keep reading to see the 9 upgrades we chose for our new construction home.
1. Larger Lot Size
We bought early on in the development. So, we had a variety of lots to choose from. We chose one on the edge of the community with no back neighbors. These lots were longer and offered a little more side yard. The extra backyard space and privacy was a big bonus for us.
We love to spend time outside as a family, host birthday parties, and we would like to have a small garden. Added bonus: a larger yard helps with our resale value.
2. Extended Tile Flooring
My rule is: If there is no door, the flooring should not change.
The standard flooring option for the home that we chose was tile at the entry, which immediately changed to carpet in the middle of the foyer. The carpet continued as a narrow strip that went past the kitchen and then filled the living room. This left the kitchen and dining room sitting on its own little island of tile.
If you have an open concept home, a great design tip is to keep the flooring consistent. The only exception being my door rule that I shared above.
We paid extra to extend the tile coverage from the front door all the way to the back door. We only left carpet in the bedrooms. Consistent flooring will make our kitchen and living space feel much larger, easier to clean, and again.. help with our resale value!
3. Cabinets
I love natural birch cabinets with the modern square trim. This upgrade, however, was out of budget.
We opted to keep the standard cabinets, which are a chocolate color with a traditional more rounded trim.
We DID upgrade the size of our cabinets, though! We discovered at the design center that we could upgrade from the standard 30″ cabinets to 42″ cabinets for only $100. This must have been a typo in the system.. But we did not argue. Take my money, please!!
Even though our cabinet color and style is not my favorite, I was happy to choose space over appearance because we can always paint them later!
4. Electrical
This was my husbands favorite part. If there is anything that you can do to make your home more functional for your lifestyle, go for it. This is your chance to tailor fit your home to your needs.
My husband does a lot of our vehicle maintenance on his own. His vision was to create a usable workshop space in our garage. To carry out his vision, we added 3 outlets to the ceiling in the garage so that we can mount shop lights with pull strings. We also added more outlets on each wall of the garage so that he can plug in all of his gadgets.
In the living room and owner’s suite, we added conduits. This is a tunnel that you feed cords through so that when you mount your TV, you don’t see the power cords and HDMI cords running along the wall.
BEST of all, we selected holiday lights pre-wiring so that our Christmas lights will plug right into an outlet on the underside of the roof. The power supply for this outlet is attached to a switch in the garage. MERRY CHRISTMAS!! 🙂
5. Garage Nook
Our builder offered several structural upgrades, which are changes to the floorplan to further customize the home to your family’s needs. One of these upgrades was to add a garage nook.
Like I mentioned earlier, my husband desired a usable workshop space in the garage. In fact, one of the reasons we chose this specific floorplan was because it was the only one that offered this structural upgrade.
We love the garage nook because it gives us storage space for tools and a workbench. Happy husband, happy life. Right?
6. Extended Owner’s Closet
Another structural upgrade was to extend the owner’s closet. This was a no brainer. We have so many clothes! This changed the entry door to our room too, which really made the floorplan more functional.
It is always a good idea to consider how much storage space you will need for your things. My family enjoys camping all year round. That means we have camping gear for every season. This takes up a lot of space.
A large closet will give us room to grow and room to breathe.
7. Extended Covered Patio
Yep, we love structural upgrades!!
This was on my must-haves list. We spend so much time outside while the boys play and get dirty. Having a sanctuary to relax and stay out of the sun is very important to me. Oh and again, added resale value!!
We also added a brace for a ceiling fan because we live in Texas! We will add the fan later, but having that fan brace already there means that we can safely add a ceiling fan whenever we have the savings to do it.
8. Kitchen Backsplash
Whoever decided that floor tile should go on the kitchen backsplash as a standard option needs to be fired. Hehe, just kidding. 🙂
But really, that is one of the first things that I look for in a kitchen. On the bright side, you can always DIY this one later. When we were making our selections, I was able to find an elegant creamy white subway tile that only cost about $300 to do.
This was a price that I was willing to pay since 1). I am too busy to try a home renovation project with two toddlers in the house and 2). I spend the majority of my time in the kitchen! I was happy to pay a little extra to make a huge difference in my favorite room.
9. Recessed Lighting
Good lighting can totally transform a room!
We added recessed lighting to our living room. This upgrade will brighten up our entire living space. This is where we spend a lot of time: playing games, reading books, hosting friends.
This is an investment that we will be able to appreciate for a long time!
Final thoughts
What upgrades would you add to your new home? Let me know in the comments section below.
If you’re a first time home buyer, be sure to check out my post: 5 Simple Tips to Save for Your Down Payment
