Save Money! Best New Home Construction Partial Upgrades!

Partial upgrades are a great way to save money on new home construction!  A partial upgrade lets you prepare for future upgrades and bypass paying for the full upgrade now. You can make the full upgrade a future DIY project, or you can hire someone to do the job. You may also save money by preparing for future additions that require electrical, plumbing or gas hookups.

For an abbreviated version, check out our video for the 10 Best Partial Upgrades to Save Money on New Home Construction.

In this article, I’ll share the full list of the best partial upgrades to save money, and issues for your consideration when planning future upgrades for your new home.

Best Partial Upgrades to Save Money

on New Home Construction!

Please recognize that this isn’t a Do’s and Don’ts List! This article contains information to help you make cost-effective decisions during new home construction.  My husband and I are building a new construction custom home now. We made some of these partial upgrades for various reasons such as: to save money on the total cost of the build; to make cost-effective decisions about what we chose to include in the cost of the new home; and to divert money to get other upgrades we wanted.  For ease of reading, I have broken the partial upgrades into three categories: Structural, Electrical, and Other.

Save Money on New Home Construction Partial Upgrades: Structural

Structural upgrades are the big ticket items that significantly impact the floor plan designs and likewise impact the price of the new home.  Check out our article 12 Best Structural Upgrades You Should Do With the Builder for more information! You can save money by skipping some of these upgrades now, and leaving space to do them later. It can also be cost effective do so some partial structural upgrades during new home construction. Especially  if you plan on making certain improvements to your home later.

1. The builder may charge additional money to add a mud bench/mudroom. If so, skip adding the mud bench. Ask the builder to leave the space for you to DIY a mud bench later. We skipped the mud bench and didn’t ask the builder to leave room for us to do one later. We decided we didn’t want a mud bench at all.
2. Want an additional bedroom without paying the additional bedroom price? Does your floor plan include a separate dining room or office? Consider adding a closet and one window that opens (you can add doors later) to a dining room or office, to add another bedroom to your home. Where we are building, if you add a closet and one window that can open to a room that is within a certain proximity of a bathroom, it can count as a bedroom. We converted rooms that we will use as offices into 2 extra bedrooms by doing this. Check with your builder and realtor for code requirements and appraisal requirements for your area.
3. Skip finishing the laundry room and save money on cabinets, countertops and paying for a sink. If you want a sink in your laundry room, pre-plumb for the future utility sink. We finished our laundry/utility room because the builder included most of the costs as standard.
4. Pre-plumb for future outdoor kitchens or pools. Doing this during your new construction build will save you the expense of doing it after the home is done. We did this, and don’t know when we will get around to doing the outdoor kitchen or pool, but we know it is expensive to get electricity, gas or waterlines run outside later.
5. Pre-plumb to put your fridge in the pantry (if you have the space) or in the laundry room instead of in the garage. Garages tend to be hotter or colder than your home’s interior. The garage fridge will be working overtime and cost you more money in energy costs. We turned our pantry into a combo pantry/butler’s pantry and put the space for the extra fridge in there.
6. Skip paying extra for the butler’s pantry. Ask the builder to leave the space for you to DIY the cabinets, shelves and countertop later.
7. Add a door to the garage so you can access the back of your house. If you need to access the backyard from the garage, adding the door during new home construction will be less expensive than adding one later.
8. If you have a basement, you can leave it unfinished or partially finished and complete the job later. No basement in Texas where we live, so this never came up.
9. Pre-plumb for a water softener if you live in a place that has hard water. I never heard of hard water until I moved to Texas. Apparently hard water is a “thing” and it is a thing that will dry out your skin and your hair,  and jack up your plumbing and appliances that use water. You can buy the water softener system when you are ready to move into your new home.
10. Oh yea, and if you don’t want to drink hard water, pre-plumb for a reverse osmosis system that you can also buy later.

Save Money on New Home Construction Partial Upgrades: Electrical

Electrical and low voltage upgrades make a significant difference in the use and enjoyment of your new construction home.  However, it tends to be an afterthought. Many people don’t really think about their electrical and low voltage upgrade choices until they are already at the design center. Check out our article 14 Must Have Lighting and Low Voltage Ideas for New Construction for more information.

1. Pre-wire for specialty electrical items like sconce lights, pendant lights, heavy chandeliers, or ceiling fans, and don’t buy some or any of the lights or fans from the builder. Most (but not all) of the time you will save money by buying these items after your new home is done. However, be sure to tell the builder where you plan to put fans to ensure the can handle the ceiling is prepped to handle the weight of a fan. We chose to get the heavier lights through the builder (we wanted the builder to be responsible for those) and will get the rest of the lights and all the fans ourselves.
2. If you like to hang holiday lights, adding soffit outlets make it much easier to plug in Holiday Lighting later. This isn’t exactly a money saver- but it sure is a time and sweat equity saver so we did it!
3. Outlets in the ceiling to make it easier to install ceiling LED lights. I like the look of LED lights around the perimeter of the ceiling or under cabinets. I don’t like the builder’s price to install them. You can save money by adding the outlets now, and DIY the LED lights later like we did.
4. Outlets under or over cabinets also to make it easier to install LED lights later. We did this too.
5. Pre-wire for security systems, media rooms or speakers and buy the system later. However, resist the urge to go overboard. Most builders offer some kind of package standard and then charge upgrade fees for add-ons. We skipped the cable installation (we don’t have cable, we use streaming services ) and got Cat 6 wiring, and skipped the whole house sound system which was an upgrade.

Save Money on New Home Construction with Other Partial Upgrades and Money Saving Considerations

1. Less cabinets and more shelves in your kitchen. Cabinets are a large expense when building a new construction home. Save money by installing shelves instead of cabinets where you can. I know many people are concerned about storage, but my husband and I never use anything in those top kitchen cabinets anyway (especially the dreaded cabinet over the fridge).
2. Less cabinets and more shelves in the laundry room (if you choose to finish the laundry room). We eliminated some of the cabinets under the countertop in the laundry room. We can use that space to put laundry baskets and the cleaning robot I intend to buy.
3. Plan patio space and configuration if you plan to install remote screens. I love those remote control patio screens that keep you shaded and protected from the elements! If you plan to put them on your patio, make sure you ask your builder to consider the size and shape of your patio so that you know the screens will fit, and won’t cost you extra money later.
4. Solar panels: Consider whether you want solar panels in the future and keep that in mind when choosing roof style, and position of your house. Ask your builder and a solar energy professional how much roof space will be needed for your home. We plan to eventually get enough solar panels to power the house and our future pool.
5. Electric vehicle? If you plan to get one in the future, pre-wire it for a charging station. We plan to have an electric vehicle so we pre-wired for a charging station in the garage.
6. We saved money by choosing electric fireplaces rather than gas – we saved money on the cost of the gas hookup.
7. Some people intend to upgrade bath fixtures later which can be a money saver. You can upgrade to a better brand or to a different finish (like gold or matte black) and save money by doing it later. However, in the event you are considering upgrading the faucet configuration (e.g. single faucet, cluster faucet, widespread faucet), consider the size and amount of holes cut out of the countertop during new construction, and whether your planned future upgrade will require cutting out additional holes, leave you with holes in your countertop that go unused, or require you to replace your countertop.
8. Save on flooring costs by not upgrading carpets and ask for better padding under the carpet that comes with your new construction home standard. We saved money on flooring costs by getting stained concrete instead of carpet, luxury vinyl plank or tile in most areas. We only got floor tile in the bathrooms.
9. The builder will include either one or two paint colors standard. You can save money by not paying the builder to do feature walls (and DIY those), or interior painting. As an alternative, if you don’t want to DIY the feature wall, you could pay the builder to make the feature wall, and then do the painting later.

There you have it!  The Best Partial Upgrades to Save Money on New Home Construction!

We hope this information helps you decide which partial upgrades to consider to save money during your new home construction project. Subscribe for more new construction home building information, and to follow our new home building journey!

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