I'm looking at new construction for the first time and surprised by a few things that turned me off. I was so naive. Everything is an upsell. The base is so ugly you're forced to upgrade and the upgrades cost double if you were to buy from any home improvement store. Take the advertised starting and add at minimum $50K for anything decent.

I hate how in a shower the tile doesn't go to the ceiling leaving a gap that makes it look unfinished. It probably cost $20 in extra supply to complete and 15 minutes of work. They'll charge $300 for that upgrade. I asked why so expensive and the lady tells me extra supplies but in the next sentence tells me they will leave extras of whatever I select in case future repairs are needed.

Appliances and fixtures are another big one. The basic hood vent, dishwasher, microwave, oven are trash looking but the upgrade is overpriced but you really have no choice unless you want the headache and buying afterwards and installing. Defeats the purpose of move in ready home.

New home designs I noticed don't have formal dining rooms anymore. They've been replaced by a home office or a guest suite. No gripe here just an observation.

This is a small gripe but New homes rarely have Jack and Jill bathrooms. I hate how if somebody is taking a shower they have to walk out of their room with a towel on. Some of the homes I saw the bathroom is directly next to the upstairs game room so there is no privacy. Some homes at least had a hallway from the game room and the bathroom was more inside. All bathrooms should have a level privacy away from room it is serving. One home I saw had the half bath in the living room built under the stairs. Imagine sitting on your couch and being able to hear your guest blow up the toilet and they come out in front of everybody. Who designs this crap?!

Like I said I was really naive. I thought many things in a more affluent neighborhood would be standard that aren't.

I'd say it depends on the builder. Most master planned communities in the suburbs, 100%. They build as cheap and as quick as they can. Some don't even give you the option to change anything. My sister just bought a $600k new build in the suburbs and I couldn't believe how poor of quality everything was. Kitchen cabinets are particle board, couldn't even put a vanity in the half bath, just a pedestal sink, etc.

But it's not unheard of for more custom builders to be more open and go into the process knowing the expectations when it comes to finishes. We're debating building and before even finding a lot we're running through finishes, appliances, etc with the builders to know a realistic price.

Just want to give some perspective.

We bought a new build - it was very much how you describe. Our daughters room was on the other side of the wall next to our living room where the TV was. We had to have the volume at 12 in order for us to not have her wake up from the noise. The upgrade for extra insulation as almost $2,000.

We had upgraded our guest bath with subway tiles up to the ceiling. Cost us $1500 extra.

Don't even get me started on the cost of adding crown molding or better molding around.

We got the upgraded kitchen. This was purely to have the legs on the island changed from a terrible leg design vs the farmhouse design we were looking for. The thing that made us most upset though was the AC Vent directly above the stove top. So over the course of 30 minutes eating dinner - any food left on the stove top was almost ice cold. Just poor oversight.

The thing that caused us to sell and really chapped my ass - we spent over $50K on upgrades on ours. Still didn't get what we wanted to make it feel like it was worth it. But this pales in compression into the prices they were charging on the new builds with similar metrics that were signed after us. But those homes were getting it even worse and the build on them were poorly poorly managed.

We ended up selling and taking our modest profit and downgrading back in college station as part of the wife's nurse practitioner program switch and bought a better house with all the upgrades we wanted. Better appliances and layout for 4/5s the price. It's bare minimum additions for premium prices.

I am very curious to see what it's like 10-20 years from now and how those houses hold up over time.

For what it is worth, I just completed a total custom new build on my land. It was a cost plus fixed fee contract. The cost of minor upgrades was almost nothing. Cost being difference from original subcontractors bid. Many subs would just say "that's no problem, I won't charge you." Was able to review every subcontractor invoice and track to the upgrade. Yes, complete custom can be time consuming….but the minor cost of minor upgrades is a benefit.

When I built in College Station, I specifically went with a small, local, low volume builder because his finishes were nicer and he didn't gouge me on upgrades. For example, when I told him I wanted pre-finished hardwoods in the entire house (he used a mix of hardwood, tile, and carpet), he just charged me for the cost of the wood. Nothing extra to upgrade. He also let me bring some of my own light fixtures (even hung them for me), got me a matching fridge at his cost, and did a few other changes that I specifically wanted with no hassle. I even got a credit for the light fixtures I already had and was able to upgrade the living room ceiling fan and master bath sconces at no extra cost.

I unfortunately had to sell that house and move to The Woodlands. I bought new construction here because building wasn't a realistic option. I was quoted something like $20k to upgrade the floors to all hardwood (on a similar-sized house), and when I asked if I could go to the design center to compare the standard finishes to the upgrades, I was told only people under contract could have appointments at the design center. I was looking at $30k in upgrades and possibly still not having the finishes that I wanted. EVERYTHING in the model home was an upgrade, so I couldn't even do a fair comparison. I was seriously worried about blowing the budget (and houses here were already about 30% more than what I had paid in CS).

There is still new construction in my area, and over the last 9 years, I have watched the builders continue to downgrade fixtures, appliances, and finishes, all while raising prices. $600k-$800k and you're likely to get appliances, cabinets, and light fixtures that you'd find in an apartment. Master tubs with no backsplash (or a single row of whatever tile is on the floor), refrigerators with no surrounding cabinetry (so they just stand-alone against a wall in the kitchen), master shower with a fiberglass pan instead of tile, push in range where there should be a cooktop and separate wall oven, etc.

The house I bought was already built. It's better in some ways (decent appliances, upgraded tile, etc), but I swear there isn't a square corner in the house. Cabinet doors are particle board, pre-finished hardwoods that I had installed in the bedrooms (to replace carpet) are low-quality and started showing significant wear after a couple of years, and plenty of other issues. I'll probably be replacing the kitchen cabinets and completely rebuilding the master shower in the next 5 years.

Dan Scott said:

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One home I saw had the half bath in the living room built under the stairs. Imagine sitting on your couch and being able to hear your guest blow up the toilet and they come out in front of everybody. Who designs this crap?!

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I had friends with a house like this.

Their downstairs guest bathroom was about 10 feet from the combo dining/living room. You could hear everything that went on in there. I never used it. LOL

That's why I subscribe to the idea that bathroom exhaust fans should be as loud as possible.

Solid core doors with a floor sweep, insulation in the walls, and caulking the drywall to the studs in anything adjacent to a bathroom or bedroom FTW!

Things like this are why I'll pick up an existing place in the location I like, one that hasn't been remodeled within the last decade or two, and redo things on my own. It's a colossal pain in the ass and by no means for everyone but the quality and finishes you can get this way are so much better than what new builds offer! And you get to join the long running threads on the home improvement board club.

The addition/garage rebuild thing that's going on is a cost plus contract. Cost plus a lot right now because materials are so high but that's unavoidable. But I'm doing the same thing some of you are doing with changing out things on your own because I can save the extra material cost and my labor is free. In this case I'm talking things like flooring, garage HVAC and dehumidification, cove lighting, and the art project that will run from the fireplace mantle to the ceiling. I had a few expensive fixtures and doors going into the project but that was a known quantity going in and they were fine with it, unlike all the production builders would've been.

As a tradesperson (cabinet guy) I have seen a steady deterioration of quality in new construction homes over the decades. And it is all in pursuit of the almighty dollar. I would never buy a house built in the last 20 years unless it was a custom build.

Much of our new construction (obviously not high end custom) is on the lower end. The shell of a home hasn't really declined all that much, but the interior finishes (tile, paint, flooring) and objects (cabinets, appliances, plumbing fixtures) has really plummeted. And these are the items that we see and feel every day.

Was in Europe (Denmark) a year ago and stayed with a friend. The husband was a commercial builder (a 'worker' not an owner) but he was putting the finishing touches on his own house that he and his brothers built from scratch. While not a large house...what a house!? You could tell not only was he good, all the materials (doors, windows, roofs) that were used would be at least 50+ years life span. Granted, styles change, but some of the basics were so solid you would never have to worry about anything for years or decades.

We (in general) build for 10-20 years and it is all about maximizing profit at the moment. Encourage your kids who are not 'college material' to think about the trades. With the quality that we have turned out in the last 20 years, there will be no shortage of work to fix all of this garbage.

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New home designs I noticed don't have formal dining rooms anymore.

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So glad our new build doesn't have one. Worthless room we never used and had to furnish in our last home.

Now, just a single dining area that can seat 12 plus 4 at the bar.

It's definitely a special use thing, but mine definitely gets used. I host a tabletop gaming night and we've had over 35 people show up at times. It's never felt crowded at all because there are 5 or more tables going, almost all of them in separate areas.

But I'll admit that's the exception rather than the rule.

I really like having a formal dining room near the front door so I can dump all my crap on it. Don't want all that stuff taking up space in a room I actually use.

We bought our first house a few years ago that has all of the problems mentioned on this thread. The house was built in 2009 and you can tell that the builders got really smart on marketing. The houses look great from the street and feel nice to walk in for a few minutes during an open house. For someone that was naive like me, I didn't pick up on the cheap builder grade things they were doing. That and my alternative might've been to buy an older home and fix it up, but that wasn't in my budget.

I'm in The Woodlands and a lot of the homes were bought by wealthy investors from Mexico. They simply didn't know or care about a lot of this stuff. We bought our house from a wealthy Mexican family that was no longer using it. After we moved in we were shocked at how some of the stuff was built cosmetically and that they accepted it.

I'm wondering if because of the ubiquitous home-reno shows and the constant "trends" that keep turning over in kitchen and bathroom fixtures builders have just figured all this stuff is disposable. In 5 or so years, the current owner is going to want to "update" or a new owner will want to gut it.

I feel like we've already seen this with appliances, particularly refrigerators. They aren't made as well as the used to be and the finishes and "extras" have become very trendy. But it entices people to upgrade even when they have a perfectly functional appliance.

A lot of the stuff basically is - for the most part it seems like when people decide to change things out they go from one builder grade fixture or appliance to the nearest big box to go replace it with another one that's newer. What gets me is just how much of the 'stainless' stuff being sold really isn't. I see hinges and fixtures get all kinds of rust after a while when the fake stainless finish starts to go. Seems like it's about after 10 years, but I'm also about 20 miles from the ocean.

With regards to refrigerators I think increased efficiency requirements are driving that just like they are in HVAC. Thinner walled tubing in evaporators and condensors helps out with meeting requirements but at the cost of longevity.

I am now in new construction sales. I usually say what the base price is, then immediately say how much most people spend in upgrades. One thing to ask is about builder incentives through their lender. You can sometimes get some pretty huge $$ in upgrades if you negotiate, especially right now

I can build a house for you and avoid all this bs.

Shoot me an email

markRmiller89@gmail.com