What to Expect at Your Design Center Appointment

Signing your purchase agreement is exciting. The Design Center appointment is where that excitement turns into decisions — cabinets, counters, flooring, fixtures, lighting, and the exterior elevation that greets you every time you pull into the driveway.

A Design Center appointment takes time, because you're making a lot of choices. Here's how to make the time count.

Before You Arrive

• Save a folder of inspiration photos — rooms you love, not just single products.
• Know your options budget and how much of it you want to spend on structural upgrades before you get to finishes.
• Walk a model home in your community one more time, and take photos of anything you want to replicate.
• Decide who is coming with you. Two decision-makers is productive. Five is not.

What You'll Choose, in Order

Your consultant works from the outside in, and from permanent to changeable. That order exists for a reason: the choices that are hardest to change later get your freshest attention.

1. Exterior elevation, brick or stone, and roof color.
2. Structural options — extended patios, additional bedrooms, or a flex-room conversion.
3. Kitchen: cabinet style and finish, countertop, backsplash, appliance package.
4. Flooring throughout, then bath tile and vanity tops.
5. Lighting, plumbing fixtures, and hardware finishes.
6. Paint, trim, and the last round of small details.

The Questions Worth Asking

Your consultant has walked hundreds of buyers through this. Use them. The four questions that save people the most regret:

• Which of these can I change myself after closing, and which are effectively permanent?
• What does this upgrade cost now versus what a contractor would charge later?
• What do buyers in this community most often wish they had added?
• Does this selection affect my build timeline?

After the Appointment

You'll get a written selection sheet listing everything you chose and what it costs. Read it the same day, while the appointment is fresh. There's a short window to adjust before your selections are released to the field, and it's much easier to catch a mistake on paper than after the cabinets are hung.