Smooth. No texture.

smooth. no texture. builder will tell you it costs more ...

Yeah, smooth is what we want to. But have to keep the overages in check. Any idea how much more it will cost for a 5500 sq ft home? We were told orange peel is also an upgrade. Is that so?

I'm not sure where you are building, but the drywall texture was kind of important to me. I've lived with various textures, and loved the smoother walls! Ceilings are just as important, imo. So it was something I asked for right up front when we were meeting with builders.

Some builders wanted to charge a lot more (almost twice as much), but the builder we ended up choosing actually ONLY does a smooth (or nearly smooth, troweled) finish on all his homes. He doesn't charge more for it and his drywall line item was considerably less than all the other builders. He also has a great reputation all over town, so I know he's not a shady, fly by night guy (you never know when the prices are that drastically different). But for us there was no up charge at all.

From what I can tell, it really depends on whether the GC has his own crew to do the drywall or if he needs to sub it out. If he has to sub it out it will likely cost more and the price will fluctuate more with the market. I started calling up the drywall subs myself to get an accurate number. Around here it's about a 10-20% "upgrade" if you work with an outside company. Possibly more with tall ceilings.

You can get an "Old World" finish that approximates smooth as far as most people will be concerned. There are some variants of Old World that have more noticeable imperfections than others so specify the smoother variety and be sure to approve a sample before they begin the whole house. If you're trying to save a few bucks this is a good way. Save the level 5 smooth finish for areas that must be perfect (e.g. paneled ceiling details).