From Carpet to Hardwood - The Beginning of our Flooring Saga
When we met with our Taylor Morrison (TM) Designer in November ‘20 to review interior finish, fixture, and appliance selections for the new house we had a list of three requests that would require a little flexibility from the builder. At the very top of this list was the request to have no carpet in the house, and instead, have TM install whatever hardwood selection we made throughout the house. We were already paying a premium cost for the finishes we selected and thought that if we were willing to pay for the additional material and labor, that they would approve it.
Image: 3rd Floor Hallway - During Construction, “Sub-floor” Phase
As part of TM’s “Premium Package” offering, the house would have engineered hardwood planks on the first floor (den and entry way) and second floor (living, dining, kitchen), but carpet on the staircases and third floor (bedrooms). We knew, from the beginning, that we really wanted hardwood throughout and thought having TM install it instead of the carpet would be easier, more efficient, and quite frankly, better for the environment.
Unfortunately, they denied our request, leaving us to figure out how to swap out the carpet for hardwood for ourselves. Below are more images from the Sub-Floor Phase of the construction process; our primary bedroom, the third floor hall facing the stairs, and the first of two guest bedrooms (from top to bottom).
I wasn’t sure where to start, so I reached out to the superintendent (let’s call him Paul); he was in charge of overseeing the construction of all the homes and condos at the time. Paul told me that we would have to wait until the close of escrow and that we’d have to purchase the wood from the same company that supplied it to the entire TM complex. This was because the finish on the wood was proprietary to them. Additionally, we would want it to be from the same dye lot as the wood being used in the rest of the house, if possible. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this kind of placed us in a corner when it came time to get a quote for materials + labor, because we could only use one supplier and had absolutely no negotiating power.
Despite all this, I was grateful to Paul for walking us through how we could get hardwood throughout the house, and offering to help us along the way. Unfortunately for us…he got taken off the house projects to focus on the condos and the recreational center — so after this, we got little help from TM.
Jumping to present day, we are getting ready to close on our house this Friday, and will be having the carpet removed and replaced soon after. I’ll cover the “in-between” part of what has definitely been a saga over the next few weeks. Follow along here and on My IG to see how everything unfolds.
