I am not the type of person who can now sit still and relax. There are things to do!!!! Some people may be asking what the in the World there could be tackle at this point right smack dab in the middle of my celebrating. Well, there's plenty. Today the family and I tackled the following tasks:
- sealed the travertine in the entire master bath
- sealed grout in secondary bathrooms with ceramic tile (still need to finish)
- wiped all counters (bathroom and kitchen)
- filled jetted tub with water and disinfectant and ran jets (suggested to be performed monthly if you use it infrequently)
- dusted the ENTIRE house (all corners, lighting fixtures, shelves (storage closets, pantry, bedroom closets), above cabinets, ledges)
- sprayed more bug spray (never too much)
- programmed garage door openers
- created code for keypad for garage
- cleaned bathroom toilets
- hung temporary blinds (yes, the cheap Redishades) in Master bedroom
- cleaned some of the hardwood floors with Bona Hardwood cleaning system
- waaaaay too much flooring to clean it all - have no clue how I will do this long term
But wait!!! There is still a lot left to do. We will not be moving into our new home for several weeks so we have the following lined up prior to bringing our belongings from our current home:
- meeting with a designer for ideas on how to tie in the great room and kitchen/breakfast area and also how to dress up my current sectional to match the style of the new house
- getting an estimate from painter for painting kitchen/breakfast area, kids bedrooms and possibly master bedroom and part of great room
- taking things from current home to new home once or twice during the week
- serves 2 purposes - de-clutters current home which is better for showings AND decreases the amount of things needing to be moved by movers
- finalizing plantation shutters and meeting the shutter person to hang temporary shades
- researching how to clean marble flooring and then actually do it
- researching best way to protect hardwood and marble flooring during moving
- continue to keep our current home in 'showing condition' at all times - we want it to sell!
A LOT going on, but at least it does not involve submitting documents and/or getting quotes from too many companies. :-)
Congrats!! Great Blog and very informative for any new home process, but especially if your going through Toll.
ReplyDeleteWhooooooohooooooo!!! Looks GREAT!!!! Cannot wait to come visit!!!!!
ReplyDelete-Amber-
Your blog is the best. Perfect timing ofr us, we are thinking of building the same design at another Master planned community. A great walk through the whole process My wife loves this. Is there a chance she could get in touch with you
ReplyDeleteI have been completely AWOL from my blog since closing. Have you all started building with Toll Already?
DeleteDee, we re going to sign the agreement to sale tmrw and we are still torn between the vallagio and Maltese. what was the deal breaker for you on vallagio.
DeleteThere is quite a difference in the sizes of the Maltese and the Vallagio. I happen to like them both. I met someone who built a Maltese and love some of the features. The Maltese has more of a traditional elevation in that you have a sidewalk leading up to the front door and a true front yard. Also front loading garages as opposed to split garages allow the front of the home to be closer to the street and therefore allow larger backyards.
DeleteI liked the location of the powder room better in the Maltese.
What really sold me on the Vallagio were the two circular staircases. I didn't want the double staircases because I felt it was too grand. But, with the Vallagio I could still have two spiral staircases.
Thanks for the blog, good luck on your new home!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYou've answered some really great questions I've had about TB on this blog but one thing sticks out in my mind. I love your design center upgrades, how much do they all cost relative to the home. I guess my overall question is how much over the base price of the home is your final closing cost? A percentage of the price would be great.
ReplyDeleteFinally do you think having a realtor changed your experience? Was it beneficial and would you choose having a realtor again?
Hello Naveed. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog.
DeleteI was really surprised at the total from my design center options. I just looked at my documents and it totaled approximately 8.6% of the base price. Luckily for me I had the $20k credit for visiting the design center on a designated date AND the incentives from the National Sales Event.
The tile was the most expensive by far.
Don't hesitate to ask me any more questions you may have!
Now that things are settled a bit I'll be posting more.
Oh yeah...regarding the Realtor. It was nice having someone there to read the documents with me and to come up with a list of questions to ask at contract signing and before.
DeleteAlso towards closing time it was nice to have someone to remind me about deadlines. And also there's no reason NOT to have a Realtor. Toll will not credit you the commission if you don't use a Realtor.
Dee how much did hard wood flooring cost ?,see you have hardwood in the great room, kitchen and dinning, Heard people just get standard carpet with home, then contract to lowe/home depot. think cheaper by any chance
DeleteHello David,
DeleteYou must be excited about signing tomorrow!!
I have hardwood in the study, dining room, breakfast room, kitchen and service hall. It totaled $9442.
My neighbor had their builder (Partners in building) install carpet EVERYWHERE, including the kitchen, where he would later install hardwood after closing. That was really smart on his part because the standard carpet is cheaper than the standard tile AND easier to tear up!
I never got any quotes for hardwood installation so I cannot say whether it is cheaper to do it after closing with another company. I just did not feel like coordinating everything after closing
we reall love the vallagio, and the maltese is cute. we will have to make a choice tonight. TB are taking out national sales event, so less incentives.
Deletefor flooring what really comes standard in the vallagio?
The standards were a little sad. Level ONE tile was included in the foyer, kitchen, breakfast room, laundry room and all bathrooms. After we signed they were nice enough to give us Level two tile because they had just changed the standards a little.
DeleteTo give you an idea, the marble is a level 17 tile. The level two tile is really, really basic.
Level two carpet comes in the great room, bedrooms, dining room and service hall (I believe).
I would ask for the specifications sheet for your community. I'm sure they vary.
I found your blog yesterday and have been reading through each of the steps since last night. lol.
ReplyDeleteI've been looking for more information in the home building process specifically with Toll Brothers and your blog is the only one I've found that breaks down everything. I too would like to know how much extras you paid in incentives.
For the Vallagio plan I want to add the extended shower, great room, kitchen, and master as well as add a playroom and extra bath upstairs(sacrificing the two story great room). I've been studying online but I haven't been to the toll brothers office yet.
Hello there. I'm sure that upgrade prices vary by location but I can tell you that the extended shower here would have been $5900. $9500 for expanded kitchen. $6900 for expanded great room. $7900 for grand master suite. $18900 for playroom. $8900 for additional bath.
DeleteHope that helped!
hi dee how much did the iron doors cost from the standard provided.?
ReplyDeleteSuper late - but for general knowledge - in my community, iron doors are not standard. There are double wooden doors and you can choose your stain color. I believe the iron doors were several thousand dollars.
DeleteDouble iron doors are approximately $ 6900.00 - not sure about single iron doors.
Deletehi dee we are building a vallagio same as yours, we are torn on type of fireplace. what type did u select. also did u do the kitchen cabinet lighting.? we miss reading from you on this blog
ReplyDeleteHello!
DeleteYou all have likely already chosen your fireplace. As the saying goes, you always want what you don't have. I chose the corner fireplace, but at times I wish I had chosen the standard fireplace with windows flanking it. The corner fireplace dictates furniture placement a bit more - in my opinion. But it's good either way!
Hi, my significant other and I have been thinking heavily about going with Toll Brothers to build our forever home in a few years. I would like to ask you, and I hope you don't mind, how much did this whole process cost from start to finish? I know that there is the "flat rate" shown on their website but we have been trying to get a better understanding on what the whole thing would cost, upgrades included. Since your blog on the whole process was so thorough (and fun to read, by the way!) I thought that asking you this question would give us the most accurate number for when we are ready to begin ourselves.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't feel comfortable disclosing this on your blog, feel free to e-mail us at J.Dintruff@yahoo.com
dee do u mind sharing the contact of the designer your used, Thanks
ReplyDeleteHello and thanks for visiting my little blog. Are you referring to the designer at the Design Center? Her name was Ashley Winningham and she was one of the designers at the Wisenbaker design center here in Houston. She was very helpful in determining your style and suggesting current trends.
DeleteDee:
ReplyDeleteHow is your house holding up so far? Any major problems that need warranty work?
Please let us know. I am torn between Toll and Darling Homes.
Hello MooncakeMama! My house has actually been holding up very well. There were a couple of repairs made in the first year within warranty (Front door trim repaired), Study door replaced, water heater thermostat replacement, touch up paint on outside - very minor issues). I cannot complain about the quality of my Toll Brothers home at all. No plumbing or electrical issues, flooring is fine, appliances have warranties from manufacturer. Can't think of anything!
DeleteHi Dee:
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I want to say your blog is the best, most comprehensive ever. I am amazed you were able to blog all that during the crazy building process. Thank you for that :)
My next questions:
1. I just rec'd the contract and of course I read through it like 1000 times and the infamous "Arbitration Clause" is right there, and the famous "NOTE" which is Promissory Note. Did you sign the Arbitration clause? or you managed to opt out?
2. If you can share the name of the inspectors you hired, that would be awesome. The subdivision I am interested in is in Riverstone, Sugar Land, Tx. Pecan Ridge.
3. Could you share the name of the wonderful project manager? Hopefully it will be the same as the ones in Pecan Ridge....if you are not comfortable stating it here, can you please send me an email to dutseal168@gmail.com.
Thank You soooo much in advance.
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ReplyDelete