Saratoga Price Increase and Upgrade Costs

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lucky760

lucky760

New member
Just thought I'd share that I was in the Saratoga sales office the other day and couldn't help but notice the base sales price is now up $15,000 from where it was about 1.5 months ago (from $734,000 to $749,000). I guess it's inline with the increasing demand, but still... yikes.

Side note: I have heard from folks that Irvine Pacific tends to have much lower upgrade costs in their design center because they own the land so they don't have as much to compensate for. I'm still in the design phase for my Saratoga home, but it does seem this is true, at least to some degree. At the last new build we were attempting to buy [we fell out later], the design center quoted us at around $1,500 for a single row of liner in the shower wall. (That's the pretty ~6" horizontal row of tile that breaks up the normal square tiles.) At Saratoga the cost for the same thing is about $600.

Don't get me wrong; there are still upgrades that are ridiculously overpriced, but it was a pleasant surprise to be able to afford several options we thought would cost much more.

Anyhow, just thought I'd share for anyone who might be interested. :)
 
Yeah...we are getting close to making the decision.  The price increases have been quite shocking to say the least.

If you don't mind me asking, what are the prices for flooring and kitchen upgrades?

 
I'd wait until you go through the full process before giving them credit.  From what I see, all their prices are ridiculous.  In addition, you get less for free than you used to, which ends up costing you more money.  Meaning, the "standard offering" is lower that what it used to be.  Did you spec out the same grade (group #) for the tile?  Size difference in shower?

Its too difficult to say "how much are they charging for flooring and kitchen upgrades?"  because of the amount of variability.    I could say "$10K for floors" but you don't know what kind of wood/tile I'm using.  I could say $2K for cesarstone but you don't know what I picked or what I'm covering.  That being said, they charged me about $16 per square foot for floors that I got  quoted out at about $12-13.  The design center is okay on some stuff and a complete rip off on other stuff.    Appliance upgrades were reasonable.    Flooring was really expensive to use IP, but we did it anyways.    Cabinets/ counters were expensive, but still cheaper than ripping stuff out and replacing so we did that too.  Workmanship was shitty thought (they outsourced South Coast Cabinets).  HORRIBLE.  BEYOND HORRIBLE.  Our cabinet doors strike each other when closed simultaneously, soft close broken.  Chips, scrapes, gaps.  You name it we got it.  IP okay in fixing, but doesnt make me feel better.    Shutters they quoted about $22/sq ft and we just got it done for about $13 (almost 1/2 the cost). 
 
To Test:  I liked that video.  Definitely possibility of a dead cat bounce/dip.  However, we just went into a 20-30% correction in housing price in Irvine and interest being super low, it is pretty hard not to buy right now. 

If all those things in the video happens, the foreclosure of my house is the least of my worries.

 
akim997 said:
I'd wait until you go through the full process before giving them credit.  From what I see, all their prices are ridiculous.  In addition, you get less for free than you used to, which ends up costing you more money.  Meaning, the "standard offering" is lower that what it used to be.  Did you spec out the same grade (group #) for the tile?  Size difference in shower?

Its too difficult to say "how much are they charging for flooring and kitchen upgrades?"  because of the amount of variability.    I could say "$10K for floors" but you don't know what kind of wood/tile I'm using.  I could say $2K for cesarstone but you don't know what I picked or what I'm covering.  That being said, they charged me about $16 per square foot for floors that I got  quoted out at about $12-13.  The design center is okay on some stuff and a complete rip off on other stuff.    Appliance upgrades were reasonable.    Flooring was really expensive to use IP, but we did it anyways.    Cabinets/ counters were expensive, but still cheaper than ripping stuff out and replacing so we did that too.  Workmanship was shitty thought (they outsourced South Coast Cabinets).  HORRIBLE.  BEYOND HORRIBLE.  Our cabinet doors strike each other when closed simultaneously, soft close broken.  Chips, scrapes, gaps.  You name it we got it.  IP okay in fixing, but doesnt make me feel better.    Shutters they quoted about $22/sq ft and we just got it done for about $13 (almost 1/2 the cost).
Click to expand...

If we buy, I know we'll probably go with the builder on the countertops, bathroom flooring, and maybe appliances.  Everything else, I will probably go outside contract.
 
@Irvinecommuter

I don't mind talking about it at all! We haven't gotten to the flooring upgrades yet, but we've already decided 100% to stick with standard and to go to an outside contractor (likely Venetion Flooring Systems, per recommendations from folks on Talk Irvine). For anyone who isn't aware, the wet areas all have vinyl flooring standard, except for the front door entry which has ceramic tiles.

In the kitchen we're sticking with one of the standard granite countertops, but we're upgradinig to the full backsplash, which is comparatively inexpensive at just over $1,000, whereas we've known other builders to typically charge double that.

Adding large pot/pan drawers is over $200. Adding glass cupboard doors (4 doors in 2 cabinets) is insane at $1,500. Adding soft-close drawers and doors throughout the house is almost $500.

Whole-house insulation is about $900 (and very worth it). One option we were surprised is standard is dual-zone HVAC, so the upper and lower floor each has a separate thermostat and temperature control.

Also a good standard option is all the provided stainless steel appliances (refrigerator not included). The lowest appliance upgrade is $600 and simply adds a fancier cooktop, but all the other appliances are unchanged. The next one above that uses all different appliances and costs $2600. The biggest upgrade is almost $9000.

Another surprise, but bad one, is the master bath does not come with a medicine cabinet.

We're adding granite to all bathroom countertops at a cost of $1400 for the master and about $1000 for each of the other bathrooms. (That's for level 1, the least expensive.)


@akim997

The shower liner we're talking about is Group B, which is the second level upgrade above Group A. Our previous (failed) purchase was for the lowest level upgrade and cost more than double. It's just one example of an upgrade that really is much less expensive with IP.
 
if the design center costs seem cheap with IP its because you are already getting raped on the price of the home.
 
I thought that some of the design center options were more reasonable than others.  Almost anything to do with the bathroom was way too expensive.  some things were worth the price for some convenience.
 
wow...I thought I was an IP homer...after going through most of the process (we close in a few weeks) at Maricopa, my feelings towards IP are pretty much in line with other posters.  I don't think that their customer service is as bad as other claims, but I will never ever ever defend the IP design center.  Definitely some upgrades are worth the "convenience" including cabinets and countertops, but others were like murder.  To replace the carpet on the first floor of Maricopa plan 1 everywhere but the bedroom with the standard tile was quoted at about $5500 (memory is fuzzy but should be close).  FYI, same tile at home depot is $1 a sqft and its being installed on a bare floor, so $15+/sq ft installed for the UPGRADE is a joke especially considering you're also paying for the carpet that they are not installing.
 
After going through the appointments, it depends on which designer you have, but some are extremely helpful, and some just have absolutely no clue what they are doing.  Mine is pretty good.  They even recommend what they think I should do outside of the design center.  I won't call out names just so people aren't saying who is doing what.  Even though the pricing has been outrageous on things, I have had really good customer service with the design center so far.

If you're smart you will log into the studio chateau and check out your option and have everything priced outside of IP.  It helps gauge what's decent and what's not.  My appliance package priced outside of IP was $1200 more so I went with IP.  Flooring Venetian quoted me prices for the same floors at $1800 under what IP charges.  Garage Epoxy IP is like 2200 and most places are doing the same work for $1200-1400.

Someone posted tech center for Saratoga 2 was $2700...might have been lucky760.  it really is just judgement calls on most things.  If $2700 for a desk is like pocket change to you...what does it matter.  Be smart, do your research...most of the designers from listening in their conversations, if you come in knowing the pricing and what you're talking about they will be pretty straight forward with you.  But they can also smell a chump a mile away.  Example of this,  I opted for a large pot/pan drawer upgrade...when I first logged in it was like $230 and they raised the price to $580.  Because I had printed out the options from Studio Chateau and have everything documented, they gave me a credit of the difference.  No hassles about it, they said oh yeah that's wrong, let me get that fixed right away, but imagine if I didn't have that printed out.  I can't stress enough to do your research...the people who get angry find out they get ripped off after the fact and it's too late by then and all you can do is throw a tantrum.


 
- electrical, plumbing, cabinet and counter top upgrades are almost always cheaper/more convenient to go with the builder
- appliance is usually fairly priced. for built-in definitely the builder
- flooring in general is high margin item for the design center
 
@broda

Yes, that tech desk is about $2700, but there's no way I'd throw that much money away on that. I'm going to look into having someone build it for me, but if even that's still too expensive, I may just go the Ikea route or leave that space empty.

Totally agree about garage floor epoxy. That's another one of those that's ridiculously over-priced and can easily be done aftermarket.


@akim997

I forgot and was going to mention about shutters that the least expensive place we've found is called Shutters King who charges $11/sqft. We'll probably go with them for all the upstairs windows and use exterior rolling shades for all the first floor windows.


@qwerty

I don't disagree with that astute observation, however that's the going rate for the privilege of living in a new, decent house in a nice, safe neighborhood near excellent schools.
 
@lucky760
  Is this the shutter company you mentionedhttp://shuttersking.com/.
How much deposit they ask for ? And how long do you need to wait for them to install? 2 weeks or 3 weeks.
Can you please let us know your feedback with them once you got the shutter done. Thanks
 
lucky760 said:
Did they get the motorized or hand-cranked ones? I like the motorized type a lot, except it's less practical because you have to deal with the power cord running along your wall.
Click to expand...
They got the motorized ones. I'll take a look at the power cord next time I visit (they are in the Bay area).
 
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