What home upgrades increase value? With low housing inventory affecting much of the nation, new construction might be the best option for many home buyers. It allows you to choose your lot, select preferred finishes, and consider various add-ons to avoid the hidden issues often found in older homes. However, building new can become costly if you're not careful with upgrade choices. It's essential to know which home upgrades increase value and which may be best after move-in date.
While the base price of a home may fit your budget, it can quickly escalate with additional upgrades. Remember, each upgrade increases the total price, affecting taxes and your mortgage. By minimizing upgrades, you can strategically keep costs low. If you have savings, consider tackling projects after closing to enjoy the best of both worlds. However, some upgrades are more cost-effective during construction. Timing is important, so to help you decide which upgrades to prioritize and which to delay, as well as what extras to ask for when buying a new build house, we've compiled the following list.
Timeline for Selecting Upgrades in New Construction Homes
When purchasing a new construction home, the upgrade selection timeline starts immediately after signing the contract. Early engagement is crucial for structural modifications, as these decisions affect building permits and the construction schedule.
Typically, within two to three weeks, buyers attend a design center appointment to choose interior finishes and fixtures. Arriving with design preferences and a clear budget ensures selections match personal taste and financial goals, leading to a smoother construction experience and a home that reflects their lifestyle.
Essential Home Features to Request
These high-ROI new construction upgrades significantly enhance your home's value. By investing in features like energy-efficient appliances and smart home technology, you ensure both immediate comfort and long-term appeal.
1. Flooring Upgrades
Wood floors offer timeless elegance and durability, enhancing your home’s value and appeal. Their classic look suits various design styles, making them a wise investment for aesthetics and resale potential. Typically, carpet is standard except in kitchens, bathrooms, entryways, and hallways, but many homeowners prefer the seamless appearance of hardwood or laminate throughout the first floor.
For a high-end upgrade, luxury tile offers both durability and sophistication. Porcelain or natural stone tiles provide a refined aesthetic while being highly resistant to moisture, making them ideal for kitchens, bathrooms, and even main living areas. Modern tile options can replicate the warmth of wood or the elegance of marble, allowing homeowners to achieve a premium look with superior longevity and easy maintenance. Heated tile floors add an extra layer of comfort, making them a luxurious and practical choice for year-round warmth.
2. Roughed-In Plumbing
Investing in roughed-in plumbing during new construction is essential for seamless integration and cost efficiency. It prepares your home for future expansions, enhancing both functionality and value.
Structural Integration: Install supply and waste lines early to ensure seamless integration and avoid costly modifications later.
Cost Efficiency: Address plumbing needs before finishing materials to reduce expenses and labor compared to post-construction changes.
Future-Proofing: Plan for future fixtures like bathrooms or utility sinks to enhance flexibility, functionality, and home value.
Prioritizing roughed-in plumbing ensures a well-integrated, cost-effective, and adaptable system for current and future needs.
3. Electrical Upgrades
Pre-wiring for smart home technology, security systems, and integrated sound saves time and money compared to retrofitting. Ensuring ample outlets and strategically placed lighting enhances convenience and prepares your home for future technological advancements.
Upgraded Electrical Panel:
Increasing your home's electrical capacity is crucial for safely supporting modern appliances and future additions. This upgrade ensures your system can handle high-demand devices like smart technology, enhancing safety and allowing for future technological advancements.
Additional Electrical Outlets and USB Ports:
Convenient Charging Stations: Incorporating outlets with built-in USB ports in areas like kitchens, bedrooms, and home offices accommodates the growing number of electronic devices.
Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Station:
Garage Charging Points: Installing a dedicated circuit for EV chargers prepares your home for the increasing popularity of electric vehicles.
4. Basement Upgrades
When planning your new construction home’s basement, consider these three essential upgrades:
Increased Ceiling Height: Opting for a deeper basement during construction enhances the space’s openness and usability, making it more comfortable and versatile for future finishing projects.
Egress Windows: Installing egress windows not only brings natural light into the basement but also meets safety codes, especially if you plan to add bedrooms. These windows provide essential emergency exits and can significantly enhance the basement’s appeal and functionality.
Enhanced Insulation and Moisture Control: Utilizing moisture-resistant insulation materials, such as spray foam or extruded polystyrene (XPS) foam boards, helps prevent energy inefficiency and mold growth, ensuring a comfortable and healthy environment.
Incorporating these upgrades during the construction phase not only improves immediate functionality but also adds long-term value to your home.
5. Enhanced Kitchen Design
Upgrading kitchen elements such as countertops, cabinetry, and appliances significantly enhances both functionality and aesthetics. High-quality materials and modern appliances not only improve daily cooking experiences but also add a touch of elegance and efficiency to the space.
A well-designed kitchen serves as the heart of the home, fostering family gatherings and social interactions. Additionally, it acts as a key selling point for future buyers, potentially increasing the home's market value and appeal. Investing in a stylish and functional kitchen is a wise decision that benefits both current enjoyment and future resale potential.
6. Outdoor Living Spaces
Designing functional outdoor areas, such as patios, decks, or screened-in porches, extends your living space and expands entertainment spaces, providing additional areas for relaxation and social gatherings.
Key features like comfortable seating, outdoor kitchens, and ambient lighting can transform these spaces into inviting retreats. Well-planned outdoor spaces enhance your home’s appeal and usability, offering a seamless blend of indoor and outdoor living.
Planning Post-Move-In Upgrades to Personalize Your New Home
When planning your new construction home, it’s important to recognize that while custom builders may offer a wide array of personalized upgrades, larger production builders often provide limited options. This limitation necessitates proactive planning to identify and prioritize the enhancements you wish to implement post-move-in, transforming your new house into a personalized and comfortable home.
By thoughtfully considering and planning for these post-move-in upgrades, you can effectively tailor your new construction home to reflect your personal style and meet your specific needs, ensuring it becomes a true sanctuary that offers both comfort and functionality. In the list of must-haves are the following.
Towel Warmers
Incorporating a towel warmer into your new build is a strategic upgrade that enhances daily comfort and adds value to your home. While builders may not offer towel warmers as standard, replacing the builder-grade towel bar with an electric towel warmer is a straightforward enhancement.
Electric towel warmers ensure that towels dry quickly and effectively, preventing the accumulation of bacteria and germs that thrive in damp conditions. This promotes a cleaner and healthier bathroom environment.
For resale purposes, towel warmers serve as a “wow factor.” As discerning buyers increasingly prioritize comfort and convenience, the presence of a towel warmer can make your property more attractive, potentially resulting in a higher resale value.
Considering these benefits, integrating a towel warmer during the planning stages of your new build is a worthwhile investment that combines luxury, health benefits, and increased property appeal.
Radiant floor heating
By planning post-move-in upgrades, you can tailor your home to your style and needs. Radiant floor heating is a must-have, offering consistent warmth and energy efficiency for enhanced comfort and functionality.
Benefits of Electric Radiant Floor Heating:
Consistent Warmth: Installing electric radiant floor heating system ensures a uniformly warm floor surface, eliminating the discomfort of cold spots and enhancing overall comfort.
Energy Efficiency: These systems are designed to be energy-efficient, providing warmth directly to the floor surface and reducing the need for additional heating sources.
Cost-Effective Installation: Incorporating electric floor heating during a bathroom remodel is cost-effective, as it utilizes the conductive properties of existing flooring materials, leading to efficient heat distribution.
By integrating electric floor heating during your bathroom remodel, you can transform the space into a spa-like oasis, providing luxurious comfort and eliminating the chill of cold floors.
Conclusion
Choosing a new-construction home can be overwhelming due to the numerous options available, including various add-ons. It's important to focus on upgrades and amenities that add value while avoiding unnecessary additions. By carefully selecting upgrades, you can keep the base price low and ensure future projects remain manageable and convenient.
Interested in learning more about how much a floor heating system would cost for an upcoming project? Use our Quote Builder to get an quick estimate!
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Thank you very much for your post. I am in the process of completing my design appointment and fortunately did these steps but it felt nice to be vindicated for choosing and leaving things for the right reasons. Going to get the owner's bath upgrade done.
This article is really helpful! Thank you :)
Thank you so much! We're glad to hear that the post was useful!
thank you for all this information
Wonderful! Thanks for reading!
My appointment at the design center is next week. Thank you for these informative suggestions! I'll be taking them with me!
Awesome! Hope all goes well and don't hesitate to give us a call (1-800-875-5285) if you or your designer have any follow up questions!
what about smooth ceilings ?
That's a great question! Converting a textured ceiling to a smooth ceiling can definitely be a high-ROI remodeling project that modernizes the look of your project for relatively little upfront cost. However, that cost can increase significantly if the ceiling is damaged during the scraping process and requires repair or if the ceiling material is hazardous (like asbestos) which would require replacement. It's also worth keeping in mind that a smooth ceiling will show blemishes more readily and that smooth ceilings don't suppress sound transfer as well as textured ones do.
What about the kitchen Cabinets? Is it worth paying for the upgraded cabinets? There is a range from included to about 5 different grades. My feeling is upgrade to level 2 or 3. @ level 4 they Jump in price... Thoughts? Effects on resale value?
Cabinets definitely play a crucial role in the "first impression" for many potential homebuyers as they will visually dominate much of the space in a kitchen or even a bathroom. But I think that we would still rank upgrading cabinets in our "New Construction Upgrades to Avoid" list as the cost for upgraded options can quickly outpace the increase in resale value that they'll provide.
What about upgrading the kitchen/bathroom countertop from laminate to granite/quartz? and upgrading stair from carpet to hardwood?
Those are great questions. I think that upgrading your stairs from carpet to hardwood would be a good, high ROI project to take on, particularly if you're already updating other surfaces with hardwood. Upgrading the countertops to granite/quartz on the other hand might not result in as high of an ROI given the cost increase in switching materials vs. the gains you'll get in resale value. That being said, a countertop made of granite or quartz is almost always a thing of beauty and if it brings you happiness, we'd highly recommend it (along with a countertop heater to take the chill off!).
If you have like a certain house say 400k starting price. How much is the usual money or percentage allowance should i prepare?
That's a good question but unfortunately there's no real "rule of thumb" for how much allowance for repairs or projects you should account for when buying or selling a home. The most important thing is to be clear-eyed about how much each new project will ultimately cost so that you have the most accurate picture possible when you're considering the sale (from either the buyer or the seller's perspective).
Do you have to pay anything at the design center?
Hi there and thanks for the question! Unfortunately we can't really provide an answer for you as fees will depend on the design center you go to. But in our experience, most of our customers report that working with a design center has been worth every penny! Hope that helps.
Does worth upgrade in dinning room ceiling to tray ceiling when you buy a new house?
In our opinion, a tray ceiling can be a worthwhile investment in a new home's dining room if one of your concerns is that the room seems "too small". The tray ceiling will give the appearance of more room which can definitely add more re-sale value. However, if the room doesn't seem "too small", the addition of a tray ceiling will likely have minimal impact on re-sale value and could be an ineffective use of your budget.
As for the person asking about cabinets. We got CUSTOM built white, shaker cabinets from a local craftsman for several thousand cheaper than Lowe's or other box stores AND helped the local businessman.
That's excellent! Not only did you get a great deal (and I assume great cabinets) but you were able to support a local craftsman!
Is Asphalt Paved driveway worth the upgrade as to the standard gravel driveway?
That's a great question and the short answer is yes, that upgrading your driveway from gravel to asphalt will almost always increase the resale value for a home. There are of course variables that could change that (for example, if you have an extremely long driveway, the cost of getting it paved could be prohibitive). But you always need to keep in mind how important first impressions are on potential homebuyers in the future and a nice asphalt driveway (that can last between 20 and 25 years) will definitely make a good impression. Also, you can get a snow melting system from WarmlyYours installed in your new asphalt driveway to keep it free of snow and ice (which is another huge selling point for potential buyers). Learn more about a heated driveway here: https://www.warmlyyours.com/snow-melting/driveway
Appreciate your quick response, another questions, should I get fence from them (roughly 250ft) ?
If you feel like you'd appreciate the benefits of a fence (increased privacy/security and if you own pets you can let them roam around), then it might be worth it. But, generally speaking, fences are not typically considered a high-return investment if you're purely considering resale value. The money you'd spend on a fence could instead be put towards improving the home in other areas that will yield a higher return-on-investment. But there are variables that can impact this (maybe the house is located near a busy road so a fence would help in a number of ways).
Thank you from your northern neighbour.
You're very welcome and I'm glad we could be of some help!
Should I add a light above the shower after the build or now before it is complete.
If you know it's something you want and that will improve the usefulness of the shower, it's best to incorporate the light now so that any framing/electrical issues can be resolved without worrying too much about marring the finished shower surfaces.
How much value vs. cost by adding a full bath during the construction? Thank you!
There's of course a lot of things to consider about the specific situation when answering this question. For example, how many bathrooms does the home already have? So while the cost of the remodel might remain constant no matter how many bathrooms there are, the impact on the resale value will change. If it's a fairly large house with 3 bathrooms already, adding a 4th probably isn't going to increase the resale value too much. On the other hand, if it's a 1 bathroom home, adding a second bathroom will have a much larger impact on the overall value of the home. One thing to keep in mind though is that a bathroom remodel is still a pricey project so it's unlikely that you're going to recoup the cost with your increased resale value, but that's somewhat offset by the fact that you'd be adding it during the construction process when it's easiest to make those sorts of changes. Hope that helps!
Is it worth upgrading 2nd floor to 9' ceiling and/or smooth ceiling (with $6k cost or more)? the bedrooms are pretty big like 13'x16' or more
The answer to this is largely dependent on the overall design of the home in question but you could boil it down to this: does the second story feel cramped as it is? If not, raising ceiling will be unlikely to have a significant impact on the resale value. Generally speaking, that $6K could probably be put to more efficient use in the home in terms of increasing resale value.
Hello, what is your opinion on cabinet upgrades in a new construction home? The standard cabinets offered with our new home aren't quite the look I am wanting but will the extra cost be justified? There are 2 other levels of cabinets I can chose from. Level 2 is an additional $3000 and Level 3 is an additional $6650. The level differences aren't just color and style but also a visible quality upgrade. As a side note, I have been price comparing the appliances they offer to the cost of purchasing them after the sale. They are offering brands that we prefer at a price lower than we can purchase on our own so I'm thinking their pricing is not too far off base.
That's a great question as cabinets are a huge part of any "first impression" that a potential homebuyer will have. However, in this specific scenario, it's unlikely that you'll see much, if any, return on investment for going with the upgraded cabinets. In a remodel, this might be completely different but because this is a new construction home, the differences between new standard cabinets and new upgraded cabinets is going to be pretty negligible regarding their impact on resale value when it comes time to sell. But if you think the standard cabinets will have some issues with longevity (if they're lower quality and made out of less wear-resistant materials than the upgraded options) and you're expecting to hold onto this house for a couple of years, then it might very well make sense to opt for the longer lasting option. Hope that helps!
Thanks for your post. The builder is offering us 3 styles of hood fan and we do not like any of these after looking at reviews. What do you think? Is this something one can opt to install by themselves?
Installing the range hood (and its incorporated fan) is a bit more complicated of a DIY-project but it is absolutely something that a handy homeowner can undertake. There's plenty of useful videos and resources online and installing it yourself will make sure you have time to find the right range hood for your kitchen. Hope that helps!
The builder wants $6,300 for a fireplace is that a worth it upgrade?
This question is a bit more difficult to answer because it depends on so many variables. The cost you mentioned does seem a bit high but a fireplace can serve as a focal point for a living room's design so its inclusion might have a significant impact on a potential homebuyer. Without any additional information about your specific project, I would think that the $6,300 could be invested in other improvements that would have a higher ROI. If warmth in that room is a concern, additional supplemental heat can always be added by a radiant panel heater or even a floor heating system.
Do you have any thoughts concerning electric fireplace inserts? If they are something worth considering, would you suggest adding one during or after a new build.
An electric fireplace insert does have some benefits (some allow you to use them with and without heat so they can be used throughout the year) and they are safer than traditional fireplaces. However, they aren't as effective at heating nor as flexible as radiant panel heaters like the ones we offer so you should look into those too if you're just looking for a stylish element to add supplemental heat to a room. Radiant panel heaters would also be easier to remove if a potential buyer isn't interested in supplemental heat sources (or they want to put in their own). Returning to your question: it would be cheaper to have the electric fireplace insert incorporated into the new build and it does leave more options for the design if it's incorporated then. Hope that helps!
The builder charges $13k for a sunroom. Is this upgrade worth it?
A lot of experts estimate that installing a sunroom (assuming it's an addition and not a conversion of an existing room which would be cheaper but it also wouldn't add any floor space to the home) will add between 3% and 4% to your home's resale value. So from a purely financial perspective, $13K might be a bit steep (unless you have a high value home). However, with all of that said, another huge component is whether or not the sunroom improves your enjoyment of your home which certainly has value, too.
New Construction 430K HOME - Is it worth it in the appraisal to upgrade the stairs and loft to have iron rails? Thanks for sharing information.
We don't know the cost of the upgrade so it makes it difficult to say for sure but, generally speaking, it's likely that this upgrade will cost more than it adds to resale value.
I know someone that is buying a house that is not built yet in FL. She is about 4'7" tall a senior and has low vision, etc. She found the upper kitchen cabinets are going to be installed 18" above the counter. This height makes the upper cabinets useless for her use. Should she lower them after moving in? Is there a law for handicapped people to get the builder install the upper cabinets installed about 12" above the counter for her? The builder doesn't want to bother doing this, only what he is doing on all his houses.
I'm sorry that this person is encountering such difficulties with their builder (and given the crunch on available builders and housing units right now it's difficult to say that she'd be able to find a different builder/available home). The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) does provide some guidance about how fixtures, like cabinets, need to be installed and there are some lawyers who specialize in that field but I would suspect that if the builder is installing the cabinets similarly in all of his homes they're probably being installed according to code and are probably ADA compliant. If this person can afford it, it might be worthwhile to talk to a custom cabinet builder to see what they can do. That way you could talk to the builder to see if he can just omit the cabinets all together in her unit. Otherwise, some custom cabinet shops can demo those before they put in the new ones but that is of course an added cost. I hope everything works out!