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We redesigned our new construction home to fit our needs and we are so happy with how it has turned out. Check out the changes we made!

I am so excited to share the final floor plan of our new construction home, I don’t even know where to begin! We have been searching for the perfect house for years, but never found the right one at the right time. Last year we thought we had found the perfect house, but unfortunately it was about $100,000 over budget. YIKES! It was a new construction, so we knew that someday we could build it but in the meantime, we would find an ideal “stepping stone” home that we could sell later (if we still wanted to) and buy that dream home.

After establishing that 5 year plan, we began our search all over again, readjusted our budget, keeping in mind that we might be purchasing a fixer upper and would need extra income each month to spend on projects. I talked in this post about how we narrowed down our search area. After we decided on where the best place for our family to settled down was, we began our search. After looking at about 14-15 different homes we came across a new construction development that was within our budget!Originally, the house was priced at $339,000, but after upgrades and out of pocket expenditures, we are up to $370,000. Some might think it’s odd to share the numbers, but I had a hard time finding straightforward, no bologna information about the actual cost of a new construction home. When we entered the process, I had no idea how much the price of the house would balloon up, so this is for all you home buyers that want the same, upfront, no bologna info.

Though we are still within budget, there are a lot of things we weren’t able to upgrade to because there were so many hidden costs we didn’t see coming. As far as our upgrades are concerned, we stayed as close to builders grade as possible, only opting to upgrade things that we had originally been looking for when shopping for a house, or things we knew would end up costing a lot more if we waited. We are going to be brand new home owners, so almost anything will be an upgrade from what we currently have. 🙂




 

Here is what our original floor plan looks like:

floor plan exterior

Exterior

floor plan first floor

First Floor

floor plan second floor

Second Floor

 

We made these upgrades:

Paved Driveway: $4,500

Gas Fireplace With Granite Surround: $4,500

Modified Front Of House: $5,200

Laundry To Second Floor: $500

Shutters: $750.00

Termite Pre-Treatment: $600

Change Shower To Tub In Master Bath: $250

Composite Decking And Columns On Front Porch: $2,500

Wire For Ceiling Fans: $625

Recessed Lights In The Kitchen: $500

Garage Door Openers: $800

Garage Doors Windows: $800

Upgrade to 40 Gallon Propane Hot Water Heater: $1,500

Connection For Ice Maker In Kitchen: $125

Add 2 Windows and Walkout Garage Door: $2,550.00

House Base Price: $339,900

Total House Price: $365,000

 

And this is what it looks like after we adjusted the floor plan to fit our needs:

 

final floor plan exterior

Exterior

final floor plan first floor

First Floor

final floor plan second floor

Second Floor

A few of those upgrades we expected, but the others, we didn’t but knew we wanted/needed (like a paved driveway!). We added a two foot bump out to the front of the house to make space for double vanities in both of the upstairs bathrooms. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like fighting over the sink to brush my teeth. 😉 This also made it possible to move the laundry to the second floor and gave us room for lots of extra storage downstairs. To give our house an even more unique look, we changed out the window style on a few windows (this actually helped us save money on our shutters!)




 

At this point, including out of pocket expenses, our total expenditures come to about $370,000. This is a huge jump from the original list price of $339,900, right? We knew that we were going to encounter some extra costs when it came to purchasing a new home, but we were still surprised at the grand total. Luckily, we are still within budget and the house is coming along beautifully! I have more progress pictures in my next post, but if you follow me on instagram, you can get a sneak peek now. 🙂

Have you ever purchased a new home? What unexpected expenses did you encounter? Let me know in the comments below.

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