Upgrades at New house

O

ochawk

New member
Hi,
I am first time new home buyer and I have recently signed a purchase contract for a new house in Portola Springs. I have an appointment with design center next week. I would like to get your suggestions on what upgrades I should go as I have a little room for upgrades (budget). I am interested in upgrading below items.

1. Ceiling lights (LED can lights) in living area and bed rooms. (Rest of the house is standard)
2. J-box for Ceiling fan
3. pre-plumbing for TV in living area and loft
4. Pre-wiring for speakers/home theater

Is it a good idea to go through the builder for these upgrades or do it later by a contractor. If we do it by a contractor later, then will contractor have to make holes/patches on drywall's? Is it a good idea to go through builder for level 1 only? and then for level 2 by a contractor? Please let me know.

Please share your thoughts/suggestion.
 
ochawk said:
Hi,
I am first time new home buyer and I have recently signed a purchase contract for a new house in Portola Springs. I have an appointment with design center next week. I would like to get your suggestions on what upgrades I should go as I have a little room for upgrades (budget). I am interested in upgrading below items.

1. Ceiling lights (LED can lights) in living area and bed rooms. (Rest of the house is standard)
2. J-box for Ceiling fan
3. pre-plumbing for TV in living area and loft
4. Pre-wiring for speakers/home theater

Is it a good idea to go through the builder for these upgrades or do it later by a contractor. If we do it by a contractor later, then will contractor have to make holes/patches on drywall's? Is it a good idea to go through builder for level 1 only? and then for level 2 by a contractor? Please let me know.

Please share your thoughts/suggestion.
Click to expand...

Congratulations!  Which community did you buy in?

I would upgrade all of those things through the builder.  You can do other things, like flooring, paint, etc outside the builder, but I?d do all of the above things with the builder.
 
I would definitely do the ceiling fan box and ceiling can lights through the builder.  As for the TV and speaker pre-wiring, it would depend on whether you liked the standard pre-plotted arrangement the builder is offering.  In my instance, I did not want the TV where the builder offered to pre-wire so I had them install the 2 inch flex conduit in the locations I wanted so my installer could easily run speaker wire and cables after the house was completed.  The builder would not do anything outside of what was pre-plotted.  I also had additional cat5/cable jacks and electrical outlets installed at locations I wanted.

You may want to take pictures while the home is in framing so you can refer back to see where the studs and ceiling joists are.
 
Thank you both for your reply. Will two ceiling lights per bed room enough? Does two lights provide sufficient/enough lighting for regular needs? or Should I go with 4 ceiling lights per room? Please let me know.
 
Matching the model's lighting is a good start.

Knock on a few closed owners doors and ask "What do you wish you had done through the build process?" This often yields the best answers specific to your floorplan, plus you get to meet some cool new neighbors.

Is (or did) the builder building your floor plan anywhere else? Visit those communities for ideas as well.

If the builder does the work, it's under warranty which has some value.

My 02c
 
ochawk said:
Thank you both for your reply. Will two ceiling lights per bed room enough? Does two lights provide sufficient/enough lighting for regular needs? or Should I go with 4 ceiling lights per room? Please let me know.
Click to expand...

Normally the can light option from the builder is not changeable and bedrooms normally have 4 can lights.  Make sure a dimmer switch is provided as well if you are going through the builder.  If you decide to do this after close, then you can install can lights to suit your furniture arrangement and maybe two would be sufficient.  The question of whether 2 can lights produces sufficient light depends on the user, but to be safe and for resale purposes I would do 4 per bedroom.
 
My builder has 4 CAN LED lights per room as a packaged upgrade. But they also said they could do 2 lights instead if I like to do so. They also told me that they could also rearrange the placement of two lights (middle row instead of corners) if needed. 
 
ochawk said:
My builder has 4 CAN LED lights per room as a packaged upgrade. But they also said they could do 2 lights instead if I like to do so. They also told me that they could also rearrange the placement of two lights (middle row instead of corners) if needed. 
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I think this depends on what rooms and the size of those rooms. If it?s a small bedroom and you plan on doing a table lamp or other freestanding lighting, then 2 cans could work.
 
If you are buying in Elderberry, 2 can lights are enough in the secondary bedrooms. 4 is good in the master.
 
Soylent Green Is People said:
Knock on a few closed owners doors and ask "What do you wish you had done through the build process?" This often yields the best answers specific to your floorplan, plus you get to meet some cool new neighbors.
Click to expand...

This is a no-no in Irvine.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
Soylent Green Is People said:
Knock on a few closed owners doors and ask "What do you wish you had done through the build process?" This often yields the best answers specific to your floorplan, plus you get to meet some cool new neighbors.
Click to expand...

This is a no-no in Irvine.
Click to expand...

Nah.

We knocked on someone's door in OH to ask who and if he was happy with his landscaper and the owner was more than helpful. He was so absolutely proud his wife designed some of it (she's an interior decorator). He was an Asian guy and said he shopped around a lot for his landscaping.

Knocked on some other doors before we moved to ask about different neighborhoods and everyone we talked with was really friendly.

And it was no different the last time we bought in Irvine, the time before in Irvine and the time before that in Tustin Ranch.

Might be just you. lol! JK!

 
ochawk said:
Thank you both for your reply. Will two ceiling lights per bed room enough? Does two lights provide sufficient/enough lighting for regular needs? or Should I go with 4 ceiling lights per room? Please let me know.
Click to expand...

The electrician we walked our house with 18 years ago suggested that we put two smaller can lights above the bed with separate switches you can reach while in bed so each side has it's own light for reading. We never used the lights for reading but we did use them quite a bit. One had a three way so we could turn it on and off entering/exiting the room and without getting out of bed.

Unfortunately we forgot to get that in this house and it's the one thing we wish we had gotten again.
 
Ready2Downsize said:
irvinehomeowner said:
Soylent Green Is People said:
Knock on a few closed owners doors and ask "What do you wish you had done through the build process?" This often yields the best answers specific to your floorplan, plus you get to meet some cool new neighbors.
Click to expand...

This is a no-no in Irvine.
Click to expand...

Nah.

We knocked on someone's door in OH to ask who and if he was happy with his landscaper and the owner was more than helpful. He was so absolutely proud his wife designed some of it (she's an interior decorator). He was an Asian guy and said he shopped around a lot for his landscaping.

Knocked on some other doors before we moved to ask about different neighborhoods and everyone we talked with was really friendly.

And it was no different the last time we bought in Irvine, the time before in Irvine and the time before that in Tustin Ranch.

Might be just you. lol! JK!
Click to expand...

C'mon... you're not the demographic I'm talking about.

No FCB is going to knock on their neighbors' doors. Heck, in some communities, the neighbors aren't even home 9 months out of the year (amirite BTB?).

#DontKnockDontTell
 
Hi,
Is it worth the money to go for an upgrades for

-audio prewire/ multi-room speakers
-Camera prewire

I am asking this because, with advent of technology, Can we use wireless audio/camera System instead of wired one effectively without compromising on Quality? I don't have much knowledge of about wireless speakers/cameras. Or do you still suggest me to have prewire done through builder so that audio/camera systems installed at later.

My builder is charging $400 to prewire two speakers in a room (or $650 to install two speakers in a room). Also $200 to prewire a single camera connection. It can cost 1-3k depending on how many rooms you would upgrade.

Please feel free to share your thoughts.



 
It's really up to you, you don't want to be gutting walls in a year to install camera or speakers.

I don't think wireless surveillance camera are that great because you need to recharge their batteries. Much easier to ask them to run Cat5e and use PoE cameras later.
 
The camera's have gotten much better.  I bought 3 pack Arlo Pro at Costco Black Friday sale and installed them Thanksgiving weekend, still haven't had to recharge the batteries.  Just checked my app and one is at 50%, the other at 60%.  They are triggered about 1-3 times each day it seems. 

I would recommend Arlo Pro even though the reviews weren't that good, I haven't had any issues, video quality is decent and installation was pretty painless.
 
Thank you Marmott and Aquabliss for your thoughts. I don't want to be gutting walls in a year to install camera or speakers. But at the same time, I wan to get the feedback from people like Aquabliss who have used wireless/blue tooth speaker/camera technology so that I can take a informed decision on wireless or with wires. I want to go with wireless/bluetooth if these solutions are working fine with others. Thank you.

Same thing applies to Internet Data cable (Cat 5/6). I have experienced wifi issue while streaming video on my TV even though I have a good router and high speed internet  in my home. In those cases, Internet CAT data cable would be a good option to be considered.
 
First, congratulations on the house! Great time to buy...
1) You can probably save money going to Home Depot to purchase the LED lights yourself. They are super easy to install, you just need access to a 4 foot ladder (min).
2) J-Box - I would have the builder do this one, you don't want to screw up your electrical and void your warranty.
3) Pre-plumbing for TV. Depends if you have a good handyman. This is a wash. It's definitely less stressful to have this done before you move in. At least have them wire for the sound system if that is important to you (your #4).
A competent contractor can do all of the above for you for a reasonable price, far below what your builder is probably asking. Best thing to do would be to shop quotes and then make the decision yourself if you are okay with the time spent after you move in, as opposed to the cost it takes you to do before you move in. Good luck either way!
 
with regards to this topic... I've never had experience buying a new build.

instead of upgrading the flooring from builder, is it typical to ask builder not to install the flooring and have your own contractor install it before the cabinets goes in?
 
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