Eddie, we have learned some of the same things about HD and Lowes. Forget buying carpet there, they sell it by the foot. We have never paid even $20 a yard for carpet, and don't plan to spend any more than that, and hopefully less.
They didn't have any wood floors we were interested in, and we weren't happy with anything other than solid hardwood that could be finished to our specs. Worried about possible moisture problems on the slab, but everyone assures us that the way its done will be fine.
About 20 years ago I bought some cheap tile at Payless and layed it myself. It was shiny white ceramic tile, and after a while it started turning pink. When I went to replace some of it I found it was an odd size and thickness, and not white after all. I found the Daltile to be much higher in quality. We have seen tumbled stone at big tile outlets for as little as $4 a foot, whereas we are being quoted $7 and up, but I was just worried about the quality of the tile. The guy that bid the labor is coming tomorrow and is willing to lay any tile we choose and will make suggestions and will get us the Daltile at his cost, which he claims is way off what they mark it, as little has half. Keep in mind however that he charges about $6.50 for wall tile and $2.50 up to $3.50 for the floor tile. Plus, he is charging for installing the concrete backer board and underlayment for the bath upstairs. He suggests we get cheap floor tile for the mudroom as we were even considering just leaving it concrete. I've done it in the past but there is more to laying tile than getting it straight, there is an art to it, in making it look good, and thus why you pay a professional who can picture the finished product. I've seen some very straight tile jobs that looked like crap.
During he framing stage I took our bills and shopped both HD and Lowes and found that Foxworth, who furnished our materials, was considerably less on most items. Marvin windows, well you can only get them from the manufacturer's rep, and the price we paid was considerably less than most I found on the internet were paying. We are getting granite in the kitchen, real marble in the master bath, and laminate in the utility/mudroom for $3200, which I thought was a good deal. Total roofing labor and materials were less than $5000, bricklaying was less than I expected. Cultured stone for the fireplace was $1000 because of hearthstones, delivery and sales tax, which was more than I expected. A 150 sq foot concrete slab 10 feet in the air on the back of the house inaccessible by the cement truck (who only brought 1.5 yards of lightweight concrete) was only $650. The contractor got the cement up there with his front end loader and 5-gallon buckets. Pretty good deal. The metal pan under the concrete cost more, and the railing will cost even more. Strange. I spent $16,785 for two Trane HVAC systems with return air in every room, 16 SEER 2-stage units (16i) with variable speed air handlers. Also included an energy recovery ventilation system and auxilliary minisplit a/c unit in the master bedroom. Could have had 3 x 2-ton Rheem 13-SEER standard units with ERV and no minisplit for $13,500. I thought the $3000+ was worth the difference in quality and energy efficiency. Could have insulated the whole house for $3000 with fiberglass but used mostly foam for $8600. Tankless water heater and related propane mechanical, etc etc. Just some thoughts on why this dang thing cost $20,000 more than we figured......
I think part of our costs relate to some special features, the upstairs balcony we decked with metal covered by concrete so it would never leak, some engineering headscratchers that cost extra framing labor (framer said he didnt' charge us for the engineering), and the fact that my friend underestimated the selections we would make along the way when we first did the budget. While not elaborate or pretentious as everyone can tell from the pics, there were some selections of high quality materials and building methods that really added to the cost, but we felt like we needed. The open design of the house required some expensive custom glue-lam beams and custom web trusses, all of which increased materials and labor. We put in 320-amp electrical service and the electrician said he has never used as much "2-way" or "3-way" wiring in a house. Miles of copper but we don't have far to go to turn out any lights.
One thing that shocked me is the front door. I was not comfortable bricking in a door that would sag, leak, or not hold up. So we went with Thermatru. The fiberglass door with no sidelights and no transom was almost $1500. It looks very little better to me than the $300 Masonite exterior fiberglass doors in other parts of the house (by the way we have 9 exterior doors for 2 people???). We spent $2300 on the Andersen french doors and they are 10 times more substantial and attractive than the front door. Andersen does not even make front entry doors for some reason.
The only thing I regret about the whole project is lack of planning for specific items ahead of time, then scrambling around trying to fit stuff into the expanding budget. If I ever build another house, every detail down to the window treatments will be spec'd in advance. Too many decisions under too much pressure otherwise.
Tomorrow we go for light fixtures, mostly these are ceiling fans. Anyone have opinions on the quality of fixtures from Lowes? At this point I am thinking about soldering some light bulbs from the exposed wires.......
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