I've bought a bunch of new homes in the past couple of years, and 45K is a rip, you must be buying a KB where everything is an option.

Len's, I agree KB IS CRAP!

However, I can see how one can easily spend 20-40k on upgrades. They never give decent carpet, tile, etc (these days just a crappy flooring credit). Perhap's a little more when you get into 7 digit's. Also i suppose it depends on the area.

Dude, you haven't worked in 2 years and your putting 45k worth of additions to your house, be happy. Not so bad to have to work a little doing what you are.

not as crap as US H....

By the way, I would never do flooring through the builder, always take the flooring credit, shop it around and have it done outside of the builder.

It's a damn shame your not here in PA I probably could save you $15k to $17k. If you live on the eastcoat let me know I always like to help out the next guy

Bone its like I said. See what I mean. These fuckers all tell you a quote and then jack it up on you.

I got ripped for $600K in extra costs above our projections on the house we built in LA.

That's why I said in the original thread on this, been there done that and never doing a custom build again.

lensman said KindBud o_0

although i dont smoke no more, i still know the hidden lingo!

If you got the dough to build a million or multi dollar place, what difference is a few extra bucks?

Most guys that can afford to build a big house keep track of every penny and don't like being ripped off. Its the principal.

are 35 grand that cruicial for your retirement?

Depending on how you made your money in the industry before, you're probably going to be faced with another bit of reality if you haven't been active for over a year & a half.

Things have changed a lot. :2 cents:

go back to submiting TGPs

It's fluoridation of the pineal gland man... just drink distilled water without fluoride and you'll get back your will power :Graucho

Fuck boneprone you should be happy you have a beautiful wife that you are in love with... that's all that matters man!!!

I understand that. No one likes to get ripped off. ...BUT... That HAS to be a nice crib. I am thinking the 45k is worth it.

PK is that as pretty as it sounds? Willing to share a couple of pics?

That's how rich guys get rich... by paying attention to what they spend and not acting like a teenager with daddy's credit card.

I gotta get out and take a few more..

This was way back...(not a great cam either).... http://www.nwlink.com/~bmans/pond_jul01/gallery.html

This was just the upper portion from my deck a few weeks ago...and the greenery is just all coming back in.....

http://209.81.0.2/pktemp/upperpond.jpg

These are some my artsy landscaper took..
http://209.81.0.2/pktemp/upperview.jpg http://209.81.0.2/pktemp/peekafalls.jpg

id liek to see some sites with the worlds most luxurious mansions, interior + exterior.

browsing now.

:thumbsup Nothing beats being your own boss!

PK, I have a cousin that has a home very similar looking to yours in GigHarbor. (he posted here as "Diabetic Rage")

Beautiful to say the least!

The greenary is awsome!!

Unfortunatly Tualatin is not as green. Its more like subdivision of homes rather than a private tuck away in the quiet hills and lake areas. I just love that gig harbor feel. Looks like you have that.

Amazing.

That's a big trailer. Gotta get me one of those!

:glugglug

What's a "KB"??


And yeah it seemed like everything was an option or an upgrade. However the "standard" items that came with the home were nice as well, we just wanted upgrades is all.

An example would be the wood. Oak hardwoods were standard.
Nothing wrong with oak, it was very nice. We just wanted a darker wood. Cherry. Fucking expensive. Naturally they give you a credit on the oak to upgrade to the Brazillian cherry, but fuck cherry was expensive. And naturally the oak was standard only in certain parts of the home. We wanted hardwoods more or less throughout.

Same with the cabinents. Oak was standard. It was an extra 3 grand to move up to Brazilian Cherry for the cabinents.:( fuckers

The tub in the master was a soaking tub with jets, very nice for a standard.. We paid a whole 2.5 grand more and got the best tub we could find. Hydromax with all the extras. Fucking raped us.

Kitchen had granite tile as standard fo the island. We wanted granite slab on the island and on the counters, and on the backslab. Fuckin got raped!!!

Tile comes standard around the herth and fireplace. We made it granite. $$ ouch.

Upgraded even little things from sinks to doors all bling bling. :mad:

We paid extra for an upgrade on a roof. Why I dont know.
The father inlaw seemed to think we needed a better roof. Fuck, this aint the street of dreams I thought. WHo cares about roofs.

I even paid an extra 250.00 to put this ethernet thing in the house I have no idea what it is or does!! I know the wiring is like a cat 5 wiring system and all the wiring is networked and shit, but I have no idea what that means. Theres some modem network shit in this one room I paid for and I dont even know what it is!!

I mean shit. All this and I still dont have a backyard.....
FUCK

what the fuck is it with you and tgps? :eek7

Bone, pay for it out of your business account, and have the contractors say it was an office addition.

Write the shit off.

:glugglug

then after you moved in the wife will feel that you need
to buy completely new furnitures to go with the new house
...
my wife has bought new furnitures in every single room
and that my friend is also costing you a fortune

Should live in Czech, they would landscape half the country for that money.

But what amamzes me is they charge that then three illegal Mexicans turn up on minimum wage, can't speak English and don't know the difference between a fork and a hoe.

We moved into the new house two weeks ago, still unpacking. :(

You have to consider though, that's pretty much for life.. It's a one-time investment that turns into equity and highly increases the resale value of your home. You have to put out to earn, sometimes :)

I laid out $40 k on just the main living floor of my house here in the philly burbs last year. At the time, I was NUTS that I laid out that much cash, but, it is really nice to have your pad all tricked out the way YOU want it.

Last night we got invited over to the neighbors across the way from us, they saw our job and then redid their entire 1st floor (rec room, powder room, laundry, mud, and storage rooms)

My Mrs started when we got home with the "we really oughta think of updating ours as well.......)

I have to get a designer to lay this out since my office is here. My biggest concern is should I run the ethernet in the walls or just get a really nice wire rack behind all my shit so its still accessable and I dont have to worry about ripping a wall out over a few dollar ethernet cable. Also, then there are power concerns, I have 200amp service, I was pondering a kick ass power set up where there isnt a lot of drain and its all balanced out nicely.

What y'all thoughts on this one? I know that this remodel is goona be like $30k JUST for basic stuff, prolly another 10 on little things. (we have all the furniture and shit for here, its the getting rid of the 1970's look and updating to modern style............

The previous owner of my house (who had it custom built) was a nut and thanks to him I now have 4 CAT5s and 4 RG6's to every room in my house (bathrooms excluded of course). And there is speaker wire (and flush mount ceiling speakers) in many of the rooms. All controlled by these boxes (this is the one in the garage, hence the unfinished wall):

http://www.visomedia.com/gfy/controller.jpg

If you're going to do wiring do it now. Like Herb pointed out, it's much easier to do now than after your walls are finished. And there is a lot you can do with it later on. The upgrades NEVER end :)

All you NJ/NY/PA people better be coming to our get together:

www.redpartners.com/party/index.html

You know my landscaper??? :winkwink:

If you didn't already pay, I can give you some advice about wood!

#1 Oak is a hardwood... It's strong as fuck... I'm sure your cherry is very beautiful (I'm a huge fan of wood myself), but don't fucking forget that the color of the wood is all about the stain that you use! Also notice that your Brazillian Cherry will change color over a period of 6 months (it will get darker) so keep that in mind when you buy furniture, etc. *Make sure* you use an OIL based stain -- and ask to choose the stain -- take a sample of the wood and stain it yourself to see how it looks with different color stains... also it's best if you do this test on a piece of wood that was not freshly cut -- as the fresh cut wood will have a lighter color. If I was you, I would ask them not to coat the wood with a gloss finish... it looks more natural and you can see and feel the grain with you hands (yumm) -- usually they will spray or brush on some glossy shit but this takes away the natural beauty of the wood -- and also over time (unless they use DEFT) the gloss will yellow and haze and your wood will look like shit... If you really want a glossy look that won't fade, ONLY use DEFT Clear Wood Finish, Semi-Gloss -- but I recommend against any gloss.

You *could* get oak to be exactly the same color as cherry with stain -- the only difference will be the grain, and only a wood expert would notice the difference...

MAKE SURE you take part in the staining process... the finish of the wood is really important and even some really good carpentry can look like crap if they don't pay attention to the finish...

Read this site or do some more research. Looks like Brazillian cherry is even more durable than oak so your shit will have really crisp edges if you go with this cherry... but like I said before Oak is a hardwood also and is very beautiful if stained the color that you want. If it's really the color that you want -- don't let them trick you into thinking that oak can't be darker. But anyway if you can afford it -- I'm sure the cherry will be magnificent...

http://www.wflooring.com/Technical_I..._brazilian.htm

Brazilian Cherry, when first milled is a tan/salmon color w/black striping which turns a rich deep red color over time. This species is the most popular imported species given its inherent beauty, rich coloring and superior hardness.


Color Range & Color Change:

Color Range: Brazilian Cherry varies from yellowish hues to pink/reds to dark reds with black striping. Quartered selection yields the most uniform look/color range.

Color Change: Like domestic cherry, Brazilian Cherry will change dramatically over time from the yellow/tan/salmon color when freshly milled into a deep rich reddish color. In direct sunlight, the color change will occur within a few days. Out of sunlight, it will oxidize slowly over six months. Water based finishes tend to retard the color change while oil based finishes enhance it.

I don't want to scare you about the staining process... It's easy as fuck. Basically after all the carpentry is finished you get the finest sandpaper grit you can buy in the hardware store and lightly wipe off all the hand jam and dirt with it... (just don't sand the edges or corners off :) then just get a rag and wipe on the stain... this is really fun and your eyes will pop out of your head when you see how pretty it will look... This is the most fun part of any wood project... I'd even recommend telling them not to treat the wood at all so you can wipe on the stain yourself -- it's really fun to do... and you can't fuck anything up... maybe they will even take off some of the expense if you tell them you will stain the wood yourself...

Pete is Like Jesus!!
A true Carpender!

This info you gave me is pretty helpful.
I had no idea this kind of cherry was sooo hard!
I know oak is a nice very hard wood. Had no idea that Brazilian cherry was so much harder!!

COOL!

That's because God is Brazilian!

Hey Jer... how "hard" is your wood? :1orglaugh

I'll say just that my wood is Brazilian :Graucho

I didnt know they had cherry trees in Brazil???
Are they pretty popular and common?

Don't feel too bad I have spent more than twice that in remodeling an older home.

boneprone, they aren't popular and common. But we have the best ones :Graucho

Actually Boneprone, Brazil is a HUGE fucking country... look on the map it takes up a large part of south america... lots of jungles! Hehe... I remember reading that if you live in Brazil you can get some sweet furniture made from exotic woods.

BP, the builders will make up the money they under quoted for the home build in upgrades, try to have a 3rd party do the upgrades during the build and contract them yourself.

I was crazy when posted this. Yesterday I realized that "brazilian cherry" is what we call here "cerejeira"... but if I'm not mistaken they're not the cherry (fruit) threes. They're VERY popular and commom here. Lots of furniture made with brazilian cherry. At home we have some!

So brazilian cherry is one of the most popular woods for good quality furnitures.

So true!

I'm searching for an apartament to rent in Fortaleza, CE, Brazil (where I'm right now) but it's very hard to find one the way my fiancée and I wants. I'll be here till 4/23 so I gotta rent the apartament and buy the furniture before going back to São Paulo.

Why I posted this? :helpme

boneprone,

Welcome to a world of hurt.Just went through the same.

Then I said to the wife "We could also have a pool built"

""from 30,000"" the brochure said."From" is the bitch.

Naw ended up about 65k :(