Upgrade or not to upgrade

[bcdfgh]

I plan to have a house built next year. The master bathroom will have a tub and a separate shower. However I'll be using the other bathroom instead of this one. So for the master bathromm, I was thinking about getting a garden tub and a standard fiberglass shower instead of upgrading to a whirlpool tub and a glass/tile shower. Since I don't use it I thought it's better to spend money somewhere else. I don't know what kind of upgrades are in the neighborhood but from the outside it looks mix. On a scale of 1-10 where 10 is high end with lots of upgrades, I would say 30% of those where home values are 5-6 and the rest are up to 9. My current home was built 13 years ago and during those years I never use the master bathroom. The garden tub still has the approval stamp from the county during the construction. If you are not going to use this bathroom would you get standard materials or upgrades?

[yogiii]

We don't use our jetted tub much but my little kids will get in bathing suits and have fun in it like it's a pool during the cold winter months. 

So if it were me, I'd do a fiberglass shower but depending on the price difference, might spring for the jetted tub.  It is nice.

[TheHaitian]

Why have something you will not use?

Save your money

[taz157]

I'd rather have the whirlpool tub and glass/tile shower in a master bathroom.  The guest bathrooms can have the standard fiberglass shower and garden tub.

Also, why don't you use the master bathroom assuming you already use the master bedroom?

[zibazinski]

I wouldn't do a jetted tub but I wouldn't cheap out on the master in any way. I always think of resale and that's a huge turn off. Like one sink in the master bath, you just don't do it.

[Gardening Grandma]

When we built our house, the rule of thumb on upgrades was "How much would it cost later?" and "Will it affect resale value"?

We did a jetted tub in the master bathroom, but rarely use it (jets are in the wrong place); I do like that it is large and deep - nice for soaking.  We did a fiberglass shower pan with tile on two sides  and glass on the other two.  It was much less expensive than a fully tiled floor, but looks very nice.

[ArchietheDragon]

Dec 30, 2015 11:45:13 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Why have something you will not use?

Save your money

But she may or may not lose some undetermined amount of money, or not, at some unknown length of time in the future.    Better just to spend the money now to be sure. 

[bcdfgh]

I don't use the master bedroom. Guests will use it since there are a few of them visiting at the same time so they need more space. Also, I like the standard tub in the other bathroom.

[gooddecisions]

I had to remodel my master bathroom to get rid of the gross 36"x 34" fiber glass shower and huge corner tub. I never used the bath because it was gross and I hated the shower because it was too small. Even though the corner tub was huge, it was too small to put legs down straight in either direction which made baths very uncomfortable.

We built a beautiful fully tiled-in large neo corner shower with custom glass door, two 48" single sink vanities with 6 drawers each and under sink cabinet space, and a rectangular, deep jetted tub. The two 48" vanities replaced the double sink 58" vanity that had no counter space and no drawers. Seriously, there was no place to even set a blow dryer down except in the sink.

I went from hating my bathroom to loving it. The kids and I get in the jetted tub almost every week. There is a handheld in that one to make baths even easier. My shower experiences is amazing because there is plenty of room, body jets, a bench, a handheld and rain head. We made sure to build large his and her niches for plenty of bottles. I don't bump my head on the wall every time I bend forward to shave. We actually barely use the hall bath since it's much easier to bathe or shower them in the master bath. 

I'm honestly pissed at the original owners for designing such a horrible bathroom. But, I'll take ownership in getting impatient with finding the right home.

[Gardening Grandma]

Is this your "forever" home? Or do you plan to sell down the road? If the latter, I'd factor in resale.  People tend to have expectations of what a master bed/bath should have.

[Lizard Queen]

My preference would be garden tub and glass shower.  Fiberglass just seems so cheap to me, looks and quality-wise.

[bcdfgh]

It's not my forever home but I plan to stay there 15-20 yrs.

[gooddecisions]

Dec 30, 2015 12:09:50 GMT -5 bcdfgh said:

I don't use the master bedroom. Guests will use it since there are a few of them visiting at the same time so they need more space. Also, I like the standard tub in the other bathroom.

Why don't you use the master bedroom? What do you prefer about the other bedroom and bathroom that you don't get in your master bedroom and bathroom? Do you have a lot of guests that visit frequently?

[gooddecisions]

My in laws made some horrible choices in the home they just built last year. In addition to going very cheap on the bathrooms, they made some very specific designs that only work for them; for example a 3 car garage with a single door. There is no entry way, so the front door opens right into the back of the couch. The hall bath adjacent to the family room has a pocket door, which is super annoying and not very private. I don't know what they were thinking.

Now they are talking about selling it in 5 years and moving to Florida. But, even their architect son says it's a tear-down. There is no chance they are getting back the money they put into it.

[phil5185]

The garden tub still has the approval

What's a garden tub?

[justme]

Dec 30, 2015 12:47:33 GMT -5 phil5185 said:

The garden tub still has the approval

What's a garden tub?

It's bigger than a standard tub. Wider and could be a bit deeper, but not jetted. Less claustrophobic feeling for an adult but the one in my place isn't any deeper so it doesn't greatly improve the soaking experience for a tall adult.

[bcdfgh]

Guests coming 2-3 times a year for about a week each time. I don't like moving from 1 bedroom to another every year. The other bedroom works just fine for me. It's small and cozy. I use the tub/shower combo to wash my long hair daily.

[justme]

As for the question, I'm not sure why I'd build a house with a master bedroom I'd never use?

[Tiny]

Dec 30, 2015 12:09:50 GMT -5 bcdfgh said:

I don't use the master bedroom. Guests will use it since there are a few of them visiting at the same time so they need more space. Also, I like the standard tub in the other bathroom.

Don't know what you should do... but if it was me, I'd consider how hard to keep clean whatever I put in the little used master bath was... If I had hired help to keep things tidy - it wouldn't matter. But if it was me doing the upkeep, I'd want something I didn't have to spend a lot of time/effort/maintenance on.

[bcdfgh]

That can be an option.  Just set aside enough space with rough-in for plumbing and whoever buy it later can always install what they want.

[Tiny]

Dec 30, 2015 12:33:50 GMT -5 bcdfgh said:

It's not my forever home but I plan to stay there 15-20 yrs.

Then what ever you are doing isn't going to effect 'resale' value much.   In 5 to 10 years everything you started with will be dated and or 'worn' in some way.

I'd do what makes you happy or gives you the biggest bang for your buck.   

[Deleted]

I would do a soaker tub and nice tile shower. 

[Tiny]

Dec 30, 2015 13:04:16 GMT -5 bcdfgh said:

That can be an option.  Just set aside enough space with rough-in for plumbing and whoever buy it later can always install what they want.

Yeah, that's an option - or doing something not 'cheap' but inexpensive/nice enough  (so maybe a white toilet/tub with neutral colored vanity/cabinets  instead of the more price custom colored ones  I'm not really suggesting white - just not going with some expensive finish or custom color or theme where you need 'designer/high end' stuff for the room) - while making sure that the 'foundation' stuff is there for whatever future renovations gets done.

FWIW:  A friend has a 5K 'French' style sink and vanity in her main floor powder room - it wasn't the right color so it was custom painted to match her décor.  That's what I'm talking about avoiding.     

[Tiny]

Dec 30, 2015 12:44:16 GMT -5 gooddecisions said:

My in laws made some horrible choices in the home they just built last year. In addition to going very cheap on the bathrooms, they made some very specific designs that only work for them; for example a 3 car garage with a single door. There is no entry way, so the front door opens right into the back of the couch. The hall bath adjacent to the family room has a pocket door, which is super annoying and not very private. I don't know what they were thinking.

Now they are talking about selling it in 5 years and moving to Florida. But, even their architect son says it's a tear-down. There is no chance they are getting back the money they put into it.

I'm curious about the term "building a house" - I always thought that meant either choosing from a handful of different floor plans being built by a builder in a new subdivision and then getting to choose the different levels of 'finishing' - so what kind of flooring, what kind of tub, what appliances, etc.      I don't think there's much customization that can be done to the actual 'floor plan' of the house. 

I don't know anyone who's hired an architect to design their house.         I do know a couple of people who purchased the floor plan/materials list on line and then had an architect (or they themselves) made some changes.

I don't know anyone who sat down with 'paper and pen' and started drawing out their house... my brother built a pretty fancy shed that way - but I don't think people do that for their own homes   do they?

 

   

[justme]

They do, it's just not as common. Probably because I would think it's a bit expensive.

My parents looked at some designs, drew up what they wanted, and had an architect clean it up into viable plans if I'm remembering what they told me correctly.

[Gardening Grandma]

When we were building, we knew a couple that opted for the cheap wall heaters and used the money saved for laminate flooring! 

We saw some VERY strange designs people had so customized things I doubt they'll ever be able to sell.  Even though we consider this our "forever" home, we don't rule out the possibility that we may want to sell some day.  

My sis had a similar quandry and solved it quite nicely.  They remodeled their master bath.  Her  hubby wanted a big shower but thought they should put in a tub for resale value.  She didn't want a tub, but did want a makeup area.  They solved it by roughing in the plumbing for a tub and installing a makeup area topped with a pretty piece of stone.  It's the right size for a soaking tub so could be easily converted.

[Gardening Grandma]

Dec 30, 2015 13:18:11 GMT -5 Tiny said:

Dec 30, 2015 12:44:16 GMT -5 gooddecisions said:

My in laws made some horrible choices in the home they just built last year. In addition to going very cheap on the bathrooms, they made some very specific designs that only work for them; for example a 3 car garage with a single door. There is no entry way, so the front door opens right into the back of the couch. The hall bath adjacent to the family room has a pocket door, which is super annoying and not very private. I don't know what they were thinking.

Now they are talking about selling it in 5 years and moving to Florida. But, even their architect son says it's a tear-down. There is no chance they are getting back the money they put into it.

I'm curious about the term "building a house" - I always thought that meant either choosing from a handful of different floor plans being built by a builder in a new subdivision and then getting to choose the different levels of 'finishing' - so what kind of flooring, what kind of tub, what appliances, etc.      I don't think there's much customization that can be done to the actual 'floor plan' of the house. 

I don't know anyone who's hired an architect to design their house.         I do know a couple of people who purchased the floor plan/materials list on line and then had an architect (or they themselves) made some changes.

I don't know anyone who sat down with 'paper and pen' and started drawing out their house... my brother built a pretty fancy shed that way - but I don't think people do that for their own homes   do they?

We did - sorta.  We sketched out what we wanted. (We had some very specific "musts").  Then we went to a builder and used their in-house designer to draw up plans.  Once she had plans we liked, they gave us a bid to build.  We weren't charged for the designer.  They made their money on the build.

During the process, they gave us addresses where they were building and we visited the sites.  It helped us visualize various finishes and options.   It's also where we saw some very (and expensive) things being done.

[tcu2003]

I'd probably do a garden tub and a tiled shower. The tile is easy to clean, especially if it isn't used often.

[bcdfgh]

What you described is very common in my area and I think it's called tract homes.
I coudln't find any floor plans I like so I hire an architect to create a house plan. It costs extra going this way.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to respond. I'll probably get a garden tub with a nice shower.

[TheOtherMe]

Where I live, everybody has the fiberglass surround tubs and showers.  The one thing I do want to do someday is make the bathroom have double sinks.  The counter is long enough, but the builder didn't put the plumbing in for two sinks.  $$$$

These houses now sell for around $160K so they are not fancy.