Well, we meet with the 2nd builder option yesterday. Numbers came back, well, a lot, better. We look to be able to stay about 25-30 grand under my top limit, price wise and still check all the boxes I wanted. The garage ceiling is a bit of a sticking point as there are some catches with the layout of the house, but what we decided on is a tray ceiling for the middle 20' of the garage where the lift will sit which will raise clearance to >10' which will be sufficient for my needs.
I was able to get 9' ceilings in the rest of the house, tile shower in the master bath, my ceramic in the master bath and kitchen, upgraded cabinets, granite counters in the kitchen, upgraded front door, upgraded stone and finish on the facade and lots of other little things. After some discussion I'm going to use vinyl plank in the lower half bath, foyer and laundry room. It's commercial grade and after some discussion with the builder and my father-in-law, who knows way more about this than I do, I think it's a good fit. It's a lot more expensive than old-school vinyl, but it's commercial grade wear wise, and looks really nice. Not doing any laminate in the house due to some annoyances I had with it at my current house. Looking to do dual A/C units to separate the 2nd floor to keep cooling controlled, was my Father-In-Laws suggestion and seems to be a good one.
Beyond that, nothing too fancy. Floorplan looks basically like the one I posted a couple days ago, only tweak being a second door to the kitchen that I had previously deleted (builder made some good points about keeping it).
New question is just schedule. I am trying to pull together a few things to sign contracts in the next month or so, which would have it done in the fall, but if that falls through I should still be able to start in the later summer/early fall and be complete by this time next year, which would be fine as well. Trying to balance selling the current house with financing for the new one. Stressful, I don't like dealing with large sums of money and balancing it all out. Supposed to meet with a mortgage broker that the builder recommended in the next week or so to see what we can get rolling.
Hopefully at some point in the (somewhat) near future I'll have some lot/construction photos.
