sarah that really depends on the situation. At our camp up in Elk county we had one try to come into the cabin at about 3am. it was spring time and it must have been hungry. I was about 10 years old and remember clearly when we opened the wooden door. The bear stood up on its back legs. Its head was even with the top of the door. I screamed like a little girl and ran. LOL There was a line of trash scattered all over the place.

Thanks for the responses, guys! @herbflavor You're right, the dark wood cabinets is not an inferior look, I just don't love it. I've attached a picture of the sample. If we go with standard cabinets to free up the budget, the quartz countertop for the island ALONE is $6K. I didn't even ask about upgrading the perimeter counters after that. Also, the budget is somewhat loose; there's room to grow but mentally I don't want to spend over a certain threshold. Do you think there would be any problems painting the dark cabinets if it's not specifically "paint grade"? I don't want to risk the time and money to take the kitchen apart sometime in the future and end up with splotchy or easily chipped cabinets. @blfenton Thank you for confirming that fear. I really don't want to end up with a brownish/yellow-toned kitchen. All of the pictures that I've looked up of white cabinets and giallo ornamental make the granite look boldly yellow. There's ONE exception but we can't pick our own slab so I don't want to risk it. Would you mind sharing a picture of your kitchen? Right now, we are leaning toward the New Caledonia. It's grey and black with taupe-ish(?) flecks. Hopefully neutral enough, any idea? @cpartist We'll be getting a quote from an independent contractor about the floors. If there's a significant difference, we may do that. We would probably have to live with the standard flooring for a while to not void our warranty. One concern -- I've read that vinyl can be hard to rip up, is that true? The standard vinyl is throughout the home: kitchen, pantry, 3.5 bathrooms, laundry. @Amber That's an interesting idea. I have seen a lot of soapstone in white kitchens. I've also looked up pictures of honed uba tuba, which leans mottled-blackish, definitely not an "absolute black" look. Do you happen to have a link to that thread? Thanks!

@Brittany Kesler. Have you figured out how much these extras will cost you in your monthly mortgage payment? Are you getting a 30 year mortgage? Will you still qualify if you get the wood stairs, the shower door and your other selections? Once you move in, you probably won’t want the mess and the risk of having your own contractor come in and make a mess in your new house. The shower guy you hire might crack a tile or not be able to cover up the hole that the screw from the framed shower leaves. Letting the builder add the shower (etc) now may cost you very little per month at today’s low interest rates. If you can afford these extra upgrades and still pay the rest of your bills and put a bit into savings each month for retirement and emergencies etc, do as much as you can before you move in if you plan to do them at all. I’m in the process of building now. It amazes me how sloppy some of the contractors are. They’ve left fingerprints and marks on the wall, cracked a tile, etc. Because the builder was overseeing it all, he‘s had things fixed and repainted. The builder has more clout to get a Contractor to fix things than you will because the builder hires the same companies over and over. If the subcontractor doesn’t fix the problem, he won’t get to work on the next job. If you hire a shower guy, and he scratches you walls or breaks a tile, good luck getting him to fix it. He might —- but he might just disappear.

Such great advice given to you!!! We are also very familiar with Charleston and Mount Pleasant. Have a daughter and son-in-law living in Park West, Mt. Pleasant. And we have been vacationing in Wild Dunes for many years. My parents have owned property there, as well. I feel like you are getting a decent deal with your house especially with the construction material rises, the square footage of your new home, and the fact that your lot is surrounded and protecting by woods and wetlands. Just a couple of observations to point out. All areas of the country, all subs, builders, etc. are not equal. Upgrades sometimes carry a premium when they are actually overpriced where the builder gets a cut. Talk to your subs before work begins and get everything in writing from your builder!!! We text and email a lot with our builder. These have become useful for us both when work was not done to specification. Threw in the garage door openers (n=2) which is normally a $1,000 option That's sounds bit high. Our Hormann are suppose to be among the very best garage door openers. Very quiet and run smoothly. Two at $241.46 each - Total $482.92. These included exterior garage door keypads. Tile work is expensive! It seems every bit of tile work we wanted done other than a standard 6x6 had an additional cost related to it. Once I understood that I was able to make better decisions on which layouts were important to me and which I could live without I guess this can go with any building process, depending on the area, but our tile work was bid on, and under contract, before any tile selections were even made! No extra cost for different sizes or patterns. - Be ready to spend $$$ on electrical upgrades. It's not glamorous but necessary. We walked the house with our electrician for about 6 hours. We added about an extra 9k to our build, 2k was an additional electrical panel needed for our induction stovetop, the rest was extra outlets, switched plugs, recessed lighting, speaker wiring, etc. Take time in this area So true!!! There will be all kinds of upgrade surprises. And most allowances are never enough!!!