Many a new home buyer has comparison shopped. If you are one of them, you may have shopped the "price per square foot" for several builders' homes, compared what "included" features came with the new home, and even sized up the bonds, homeowner's fees, or compared financing programs offered by each builder's preferred lender. Then, you may finally have decided, "this is it!". The next step is to sign on the dotted line. But what about the upgrades on a production home? Can you comparison shop for carpet, tile, hardwood, Corian counters and a central vacuum system? Well, you could, but what good would it do you if the builder, because of liability and scheduling issues, won't permit you to have anyone else put these gorgeous upgrades in? Are you stuck with the builder's price, even if it seems to be a bit higher? The only other option would be to have the builder install all the "standard" stuff and then have it all removed in favor of a more reasonably priced product installed by another contractor after you move in. But are there consequences to that decision that you may not have considered?

Let's look at the big picture. New homes usually come with a new home warranty. The number of years covering the structural integrity of house (usually the longest part of the warranty other than, perhaps, a "lifetime" tile roof) can vary from state to state, but can be 7 - 10 years in most locales. This covers all kinds of major items, kind of like the power train warranty on a car. Foundation and framing are the core of your new home, and the builder is held to a standardized code for these important elements, with city inspector sign-offs required at different stages of construction. Foundations can be of the slab-on grade variety or raised off the surface with wood framed construction. Whichever it is, this is the basic surface beneath all that fancy granite tile, gleaming hardwood, or cushy berber carpet.

Let's say, for example, you have been living in the home for 5 years (or within your warranty period) and you are standing in your entry hall and you have this sinking feeling that one of your feet is on higher ground than the other. So, you get down on your hands and knees and feel around to see if the floor was really level, and maybe you just had too much to drink. But, you discover that there is, indeed, an apparent unevenness, in the floor surface. You roll back the carpet and pad, and there you see a huge crack in your cement slab, with a separation big enough to stick a book into. The horror of this sight may be more than you can take, so you instantly look up your new home warranty number and dial it to tell them about your discovery. They'll send someone out to inspect it, because you are well within your new home warranty period for the structural portion.

When the customer service person arrives, they notice that your carpet is not the variety indicated in their records. Yes, you acknowledge you had the standard carpet rolled up, sold it for a great price to an apartment complex, and had this fancy berber carpet installed instead. The inspection eventually results in the builder agreeing to call back the cement sub-contractor and have him fix the slab, so you are relieved. Of course, the carpet should be replaced as well. After all, you didn't create this problem. Wrong!. Your builder would be under no obligation to replace your expensive carpeting.

You negated the new home warranty by installing your own flooring. It'll be up to you to replace it. Does this carpet still exist? What if it will necessitate entire rooms of new carpeting just to make it look right again? Imagine the expense of this happening in other rooms, where the flooring surfaces are not so easily removed, like tile on your kitchen and bathroom area floors, or hardwood in your family room. The disastrous possibilities could give you a headache. And all because you violated the terms of the warranty by installing your own stuff and (thought) you were saving some money.

If you had opted for the builder's flooring options, though a bit pricier, they would have had to replace it with the same or equivalent flooring at their expense, because it was all connected to their new home structural warranty, through all their own sub-contractors' installations.

I think you can see the point here. Think long and hard about "shining on" the builder's available upgrades and contracted tradesmen merely because you might save a few bucks. It could cost you big time in the long run during the warranty period, and create a lot more hassle than it was worth. It may be better to let the warranty run its course and let the builder and its subs back up their products and workmanship than risk the alternative after all.

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