Saratoga Upgrades

[borca]

Hello everyone... going to moving in to Santa Clara SG in a couple of months... First time buyer here 
I know this thread is about Saratoga but I'm facing same decision point on flooring and I'm absolutely new on this...
Went to the design center for carpet and tile options I heard from everyone that outside will cost like 1/2 or even 1/3 of what IP is asking for but here are options from IP and what I found out from Lowes just today:

IP:
Cheapest tile upgrade for around 250 sq ft total: $3000
Cheapest carpet upgrade for around 1300 sq ft: $2500
Better than average from their selection carpet: $4500.
They offer $1100 credit if all flooring are upgraded, come out to ~$4400-$6400



Lowes:
comparable better carpet + padding: around $3.5 sq ft come out to around before extras on taking out the standard carpet/stairs cost...: $4800
Tile installation (~$4 sq ft) + tile cost (~ same as cheapest tile) (~$1.75 sq ft): ~$1600
Lowes does have around 15% off with mover discount and Lowes card.
Come out to ~ same price or maybe $500 less.

Allow me to ask this: did I miss something when it comes to comparing IP to Lowes as an outsider example? I don't really have a specific demand on flooring, just carpet with padding and OK tile. While seems IP and Lowes price is somewhat comparable, and of course with IP i I was hoping to have at least some level of quality on installation and hassle free and not void any warrant on the toilet or cabinet (I was told if we do carpet that requires things moving around they'll void the warranty on chips and things on cabinet and things, and of course maybe the whole bath room could have warranty voided due to the necessity to remove the toilet during installation).

What do you think? Any advise is much appreciate as I have to make decision in a few days... thanks all~!

 

[qwerty]

Those lowes per sq ft prices for the tile and carpet seem pretty competitive to me. To safe 500, which would be less once you consider you have to pay rent for the days you can't move in after you close, I would just stick with IP. Not with the headache to save a couple of hundred dollars

 

[broda]

Doing all electrical options with IP as just makes sense. Also did countertops, upper cabinets, and shower options with them.

It would be a terrible waste of a lot of money on poor quality materials to do flooring with IP. Absolutely essential to get it with a 3rd party.

Most people want hardwood, but for my children I need carpet (and I just like carpet more). Was going to insert a bunch of carpet research here, but started a new post instead.

You really need to stay on top of them and really pay attention to all your upgrades. They've made several blunders where they've done something poorly or they've just ignored the upgrade altogether and installed the standard materials.

yes...go visit your house every single opportunity you get.  Report your issue to both the sales staff and the designer at the design center.  Never rely on just one of them.  When you see something wrong, complain and complain constantly until it's corrected.  Or else they will just try to move forward without taking care of it. 

For IP standard carpet...when we tore out the carpet to put in the hardwood, the under padding i noticed was ridiculously thin.  Not sure what they give with the upgrades, but something to think about in your carpet shopping.

 

[lucky760]

@Broda- Thanks for the reminder. There actually is an outstanding problem they had not yet fixed before they restricted our access into the home. I just pinged the design center to check if it's since been repaired. (That's an annoying thing. We visited as much as possible and found problems every time, but now we can't even go into the house until 1 week before escrow closes, so if we find problems at that point, it could delay our closing.)

Most third-party carpet vendors provide at least 7/16" 8# pad with the carpet.

To add that via IP it'd be a bit of a costly upgrade, though I don't know their exact price.

 

[broda]

Depending on how major the issue is you can put a conditional hold on escrow.  They completely missed upgrades and even though I brought it up to the sales staff, they said they will do a final quality walk and catch all that.  Sure enough when it came time for my final walk through it still wasn't there.  I brought it up again, and called escrow.  Said they aren't delivering all items purchased and I won't close until it's delivered and I have proof.

They wouldn't let me in the home again so they took pictures. 

 

[Irvinecommuter]

Hello everyone... going to moving in to Santa Clara SG in a couple of months... First time buyer here 
I know this thread is about Saratoga but I'm facing same decision point on flooring and I'm absolutely new on this...
Went to the design center for carpet and tile options I heard from everyone that outside will cost like 1/2 or even 1/3 of what IP is asking for but here are options from IP and what I found out from Lowes just today:

IP:
Cheapest tile upgrade for around 250 sq ft total: $3000
Cheapest carpet upgrade for around 1300 sq ft: $2500
Better than average from their selection carpet: $4500.
They offer $1100 credit if all flooring are upgraded, come out to ~$4400-$6400



Lowes:
comparable better carpet + padding: around $3.5 sq ft come out to around before extras on taking out the standard carpet/stairs cost...: $4800
Tile installation (~$4 sq ft) + tile cost (~ same as cheapest tile) (~$1.75 sq ft): ~$1600
Lowes does have around 15% off with mover discount and Lowes card.
Come out to ~ same price or maybe $500 less.

Allow me to ask this: did I miss something when it comes to comparing IP to Lowes as an outsider example? I don't really have a specific demand on flooring, just carpet with padding and OK tile. While seems IP and Lowes price is somewhat comparable, and of course with IP i I was hoping to have at least some level of quality on installation and hassle free and not void any warrant on the toilet or cabinet (I was told if we do carpet that requires things moving around they'll void the warranty on chips and things on cabinet and things, and of course maybe the whole bath room could have warranty voided due to the necessity to remove the toilet during installation).

What do you think? Any advise is much appreciate as I have to make decision in a few days... thanks all~!

I would say shop around.  I mean all these jobs are done by subs anyways.  Check out Home Depot and Costco too.  I spoke with the carpet at Costco and he seems knowledgeable.  The hardwood contractor for Costco was terrible.  We're going with Venetian.

 

[mirapixo]

I would say shop around.  I mean all these jobs are done by subs anyways.  Check out Home Depot and Costco too.  I spoke with the carpet at Costco and he seems knowledgeable.  The hardwood contractor for Costco was terrible.  We're going with Venetian.

I heard many good things about Venetian, keep us posted please

 

[usctrojancpa]

I would say shop around.  I mean all these jobs are done by subs anyways.  Check out Home Depot and Costco too.  I spoke with the carpet at Costco and he seems knowledgeable.  The hardwood contractor for Costco was terrible.  We're going with Venetian.

I heard many good things about Venetian, keep us posted please

They did my hardwood flooring and did a great job.  I highly recommend them to all my clients.  Hell, even my dad who is a big perfectionist said he couldn't have done a better job. 

 

[Irvinecommuter]

I would say shop around.  I mean all these jobs are done by subs anyways.  Check out Home Depot and Costco too.  I spoke with the carpet at Costco and he seems knowledgeable.  The hardwood contractor for Costco was terrible.  We're going with Venetian.

I heard many good things about Venetian, keep us posted please

They did my hardwood flooring and did a great job.  I highly recommend them to all my clients.  Hell, even my dad who is a big perfectionist said he couldn't have done a better job.

I was pretty impressed by the guy and his responsiveness/professionalism.  My wife is a stickler and was impressed by him. 

 

[tracy]

Venetian installed my wood floor too. They did a good job and the price is good too.

 

[broda]

me 4...have no complaints...upgraded my baseboards for free. 

 

[bimmerv]

A quick question on baseboards - Do they (Venetian Flooring) paint the new baseboards to match the color of the walls just like what the builder provides in the standard baseboards?

 

[broda]

A quick question on baseboards - Do they (Venetian Flooring) paint the new baseboards to match the color of the walls just like what the builder provides in the standard baseboards?

They will paint the baseboards.  Took the touch up paint the builder gives you and use that to paint your baseboards.  It was enough to paint all my baseboards.

 

[borca]

Those lowes per sq ft prices for the tile and carpet seem pretty competitive to me. To safe 500, which would be less once you consider you have to pay rent for the days you can't move in after you close, I would just stick with IP. Not with the headache to save a couple of hundred dollars

Thanks! Yes.. for around $4000-$6000 total cost with either IP or Home Depot/Lowes with presumably similar product (Carpet+Tile). I will likely go with IP for less hassle, 1 year warranty intact, quicker move in, and less surprise extra charge by outsider (stairs, standard carpet remove cost, tile leveling...).

I just wonder why IP price is the same as outsider (Lowes) when I was told by everyone from my agent to friends that outside is much cheaper than IP.

I guess maybe my home is not big enough to make a big difference, or the fact that I'm not using hardwood (even the IP designer said that for hardwood and big home some people would shop around)

BTW... any good deal or  places for appliances? I need new stainless steel refrigerator and washer/dryer (ouch!~ from my wallet). Hopefully the upcoming Memorial day will have some neat discounts...

 

[borca]

I would say shop around.  I mean all these jobs are done by subs anyways.  Check out Home Depot and Costco too.  I spoke with the carpet at Costco and he seems knowledgeable.  The hardwood contractor for Costco was terrible.  We're going with Venetian.

I would love to shop around but I have a very tight move in date... we got to make decision by this week... guess we don't have much choice but IP...
BTW Venetian flooring has 5 stars on 56 reviews from Yelp! If we are doing hardwood (we are not) I would definitely talk to them...

 

[songkou]

We added privacy door, mirrored door in walk-in closet, mirrored closet door in my of bedroom, whole house insulation, and ceiling fan pre-wire in all rooms & great room.  On cabinets, we added dinning room cabinet, launch base and upper by garage entry, and upper cabinet over master room toilet.  And some other small stuffs.  Price on upgrading dinning room cabinet to glass door is a joke (+$1,500 on 4 glass cabinet doors).

Today, we're going in again to the Design Center for stage 3 ripoff.  That's on bath enclosure, closet organizers, framed mirrors, interior paint, and counter-tops.  We'll probably upgrade master shower to obstacle or rain glass (can't decide until seeing the real thing).  Don't know how hard to install mirror frames ourselves later-on.  opt-out on paint (ridiculous pricing).  We'll upgrading all counter-tops to granite.

Any thoughts and suggestions?

 

[lucky760]

We added privacy door, mirrored door in walk-in closet, mirrored closet door in my of bedroom, whole house insulation, and ceiling fan pre-wire in all rooms & great room.  On cabinets, we added dinning room cabinet, launch base and upper by garage entry, and upper cabinet over master room toilet.  And some other small stuffs.  Price on upgrading dinning room cabinet to glass door is a joke (+$1,500 on 4 glass cabinet doors).

Today, we're going in again to the Design Center for stage 3 ripoff.  That's on bath enclosure, closet organizers, framed mirrors, interior paint, and counter-tops.  We'll probably upgrade master shower to obstacle or rain glass (can't decide until seeing the real thing).  Don't know how hard to install mirror frames ourselves later-on.  opt-out on paint (ridiculous pricing).  We'll upgrading all counter-tops to granite.

Any thoughts and suggestions?

Good stuff. We also got most of those upgrades. (Great minds think alike.) Couldn't bring myself to spend the money on the expensive above-the-toilet cabinet though.

Also really like the soft-close cabinets and drawers throughout the house. They work well, but you have to make sure they really installed it on every drawer and door because I found several they missed.

I highly recommend the rain glass. It looks and feels really great and sturdy. It's not obvious (at least it wasn't to me), but the inside of the rain glass is smooth which is good.

The mirrors should be a snap to do yourself. Just hang it up on the wall. That's what we plan to do. Should just be a matter of removing the standard mirror and it's little supports. You can buy a nice framed mirror for very little compared to the many hundreds of dollars IP charges.

Actually, I thought the paint pricing was high as well, but I talked to a few people I know in real life and they assured me it was definitely worth doing with the builder, so I'd recommend you give that a second thought.

All countertops granite here as well and the same stone for all of them (kitchen and bathrooms). Also did the full granite backsplash in the kitchen. I've always wanted tht and it's a beautiful thing.

 

[Irvinecommuter]

We added privacy door, mirrored door in walk-in closet, mirrored closet door in my of bedroom, whole house insulation, and ceiling fan pre-wire in all rooms & great room.  On cabinets, we added dinning room cabinet, launch base and upper by garage entry, and upper cabinet over master room toilet.  And some other small stuffs.  Price on upgrading dinning room cabinet to glass door is a joke (+$1,500 on 4 glass cabinet doors).

Today, we're going in again to the Design Center for stage 3 ripoff.  That's on bath enclosure, closet organizers, framed mirrors, interior paint, and counter-tops.  We'll probably upgrade master shower to obstacle or rain glass (can't decide until seeing the real thing).  Don't know how hard to install mirror frames ourselves later-on.  opt-out on paint (ridiculous pricing).  We'll upgrading all counter-tops to granite.

Any thoughts and suggestions?

Good stuff. We also got most of those upgrades. (Great minds think alike.) Couldn't bring myself to spend the money on the expensive above-the-toilet cabinet though.

Also really like the soft-close cabinets and drawers throughout the house. They work well, but you have to make sure they really installed it on every drawer and door because I found several they missed.

I highly recommend the rain glass. It looks and feels really great and sturdy. It's not obvious (at least it wasn't to me), but the inside of the rain glass is smooth which is good.

The mirrors should be a snap to do yourself. Just hang it up on the wall. That's what we plan to do. Should just be a matter of removing the standard mirror and it's little supports. You can buy a nice framed mirror for very little compared to the many hundreds of dollars IP charges.

Actually, I thought the paint pricing was high as well, but I talked to a few people I know in real life and they assured me it was definitely worth doing with the builder, so I'd recommend you give that a second thought.

All countertops granite here as well and the same stone for all of them (kitchen and bathrooms). Also did the full granite backsplash in the kitchen. I've always wanted tht and it's a beautiful thing.

The phase 3 stuff is insane.  With 4 bathrooms in plan 2...it was so much money for the shower enclosure/tiles and the flooring. 

We went with most of that stuff as well plus the cabinet over the toilet.  It was $600 IIRC, which is not cheap but considering the prices of the other stuff we thought it was pretty good.  The only I objected to was the mirror frame...$400 for something that costs $100? 

 

[socal78]

Price on upgrading dinning room cabinet to glass door is a joke (+$1,500 on 4 glass cabinet doors).

  We'll probably upgrade master shower to obstacle or rain glass (can't decide until seeing the real thing). 

Any thoughts and suggestions?

I'm not defending the price quoted, but, tempered glass is more expensive. I recently had some shelves made directly from a glass shop and was surprised at the cost.

Rain glass or something other than a plain door is easier to keep clean. I used to squeegee my plain door after every shower and it still showed water spots & soap residue / build-up. I also sprayed it with a special solution but it was a constant battle. Save yourself some headache, get some kind of privacy glass.

 

[lucky760]

True. If you really want the toilet cabinet, $600 isn't too much perhaps, but for me, I couldn't see the benefit to having it for that much.

Yes, the baths are all very expensive. What we did is make the shower floor in bath 4 and the master bath small tiles and sort of a beige color. Also for bath 4 and master shower is where we have the rain glass. The glass is great in bath 4 (which we prettied up since it's the only one guests will see) because the window (to the outside) is also rain glass standard.

For all the shower walls we left the standard white square tiles. But around the master tub we have a mosaic liner with a decorative edge and two mosaic liners on the shower walls. Those things really improve the standard white tiles without being overly pricey.

We left baths 2 and 3 standard since our children don't need rain glass or fancy decorations in their showers. (How awesome is it that they both have their own full bathroom though? )

And the beige shower floors also really help to improve the look of the showers overall for not too big a cost. (With the shower floors just white the showers tend to look like a fiberglass shell to me.)