Here is a picture of a house with the color scheme we picked, but its not our house or elevation. Guess you can't see it too well. The roof tiles are a greenish color, the house is tan with white accents and the door is a light blue/green.
We decided to stay with the one we picked after driving around. Still seemed like we would have liked to kind of make up our own scheme instead or picking one of theirs though. Guess we only get so many options though.
So after picking the outside stuff, we got to go through the interior construction options...here are some of the things we wrote down and what we picked and paid...scary.
First they have to ask you if you want an fire sprinkler system...for $4900, no thank you. Guy there said that no one has ever gotten that :)
We got the vaulted ceilings in the great room ($3550) and master suite ($1650) and also the bay windows in the nook ($1560) and master suite ($2000). We didn't get the expanded backyard patio, because we didnt' want it to eat into our back yard. Or the optional side turn garage ($8400) for the same reason. We did get a two foot extension on the normal two car garage ($1300) figuring it would help with some extra storage space. We also said no to the media center/fireplace in the great room. Just not something we wanted to spend at least 5K on. We also didn't get the courtyard wall/gate ($800) at the front of the house, just seems silly to me. We did get a 8 foot gate on the side of the house ($300) instead of the normal 4 foot gate. Since we are planning on putting a pool in, they need to be able to get some equipment into the back yard. According to the guy that works there, if you don't have the double wide gate, they have to tear down your wall and then charge you $1000 to fix it when they are done.
We also got to pick the front yard landscaping. It is "included" in the house building. Course, the included just means you get some rock and a few desert plants in the front yard. You can upgrade to a nicer desert package for $900, but the guy there said that pretty much they just give you a few more plants and charge you triple what you could spend to do it yourself. They also had two grass packages, at $1320 or $1540 where you get "putting green" patches of grass in your yard. Ian originally really wanted grass, but talking to people, it sounds like the little sections surrounded by brick are a pain to take care of. So we just went with the normal included landscaping now, but may need to add some stuff later on.
We get to go pick out all the interior options on Wednesday. Of course, they give you no list of things to pick from. And you have to make all your selections in 4 hours, and can't make changes afterwards. One of our friends built a house with the same builder last year, so we have his list of some options...and we were able to talk to a friend of a friend who is building in the same place we are now. So we have somewhat of an idea of what they are really ripping you off on, and what is worth paying them to do. Pretty much you have to get them to do any wiring and plumbing for you, or at least its cheaper and easier that way. We found a kitchen sink at home depot that was listed on our friends option list. Price at home depot, $200...price on the list $350. I dunno how difficult it is, but paying $150 for installation seems pretty ridiculous to me. We also hear that the countertop upgrades are a big ripoff as well.
So after we pick our upgrades, they should start building soon!
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