Browse Forums Building A New House 1 May 12, 2012 7:49 pm I'm not sure if I'm the only one who thinks about alternative options to standard builder's inclusions even though ours are pretty decent, however we're not sure if we should go one step up. One of such things are kitchen/ensuite/laundry benchtops. If builder includes Freestyle Laminex Benchtops in their build but charges $3000-4000 to upgrade to stone benchtops (such as EssaStone, CaesarStone or QuantumQuartz) would you upgrade or go with included Freestyle? I know Freestyle is better than regular laminated benchtops but does stone benchtop upgrade really worth 3-4k? As far as I can see there are just a couple of pros for Freestyle: no joints and 39mm thickness vs 20/30mm and joints on longer stone benches. What would you do in this situation? I would like to post more upgrade options for people's suggestion later. Re: Would you take standard inclusions or go for an upgrade? 2May 12, 2012 10:42 pm IMHO it's one of those "it depends" situations. When you've owned the house for 5 years the cost of replacing just the benchtops, or even the kitchen-cupboard doors as well as the benchtops, will seem pretty irrelevant compared to the mortage &/or what you paid for the house. I guess the very specific question is how much better CaesarStone is than Freestyle, rather than the generic question about inclusions ... we installed a piece of Ikea kitchen 7yrs ago when we moved into the house we're currently in, and even though the laminate benchtop is now scuffed & scratched I don't think CaesarStone would've made me any happier (it'd have been thrown away now like the laminate stuff is going to be). As for the overall question, I guess ~$3k is also irrelevant now compared to the house price ... but how many ~$3k chunks of "upgrade" are possible? They all add up. It's probably like packing your bag for a long trip overseas; initially you want every extra inclusion, but write them all down & do some critical culling to get to the real stuff you want. Well, IMHO. What would I do in this situation? Not knowing why the CaesarStone is supposed to be better, I s'pose first research that & consider whether my usage would mean damage to the FreeStyle. If it would, then how much would that bother me ... would I just shrug & consider it normal wear & tear, or would I wring my hands with annoyance & wish I'd paid the extra cash initially? Re: Would you take standard inclusions or go for an upgrade? 3May 12, 2012 11:02 pm If on a budget (as most home builders are) I would go for upgrades that couldn't be done/would be difficult to do after handover. For example increasing ceiling height. Otherwise, as Forg says, make a list of all the possible upgrades & their costs and prioritise the ones you really want/need & can afford. Thanks. There are plenty of builders around my suburb. I'll make sure to do some door-to-door knocking, or note their building details on the temp fence. 4 4674 Bought in Nov 21 at the height of the market (classic). Good area, atrocious floor plan. BUT has land out to the left-hand side that we can extend out on (see second… 0 8727 Thanks mate. Yeah good points! Leaning towards Option 3 to get a bit extra space in the cabinets but not going too crazy high (and expensive). Would require a mini… 13 39262 |