The Oakside Model
As mentioned earlier, we purchased our house from a floorplan since the model home was not yet constructed. As such, we did not have an opportunity to walk through a model to see what changes we wanted to make. After we moved into our home, we found a number of design flaws as well as things we would have changed had we walked through a model. Here are a few observations of what we see as design flaws as well as suggestions for changes:
- There is a light switch for the back hallway at the entrance from the garage, but no light switch at the other end of the hallway. So you come in from the garage, turn on the hall light, walk to the end of the hall, and there is no way to turn off the hall light without going back down, turning it off at the garage door, and walking back in the dark.
- The switch for the light in the walk-in closet off the master bedroom bathroom is hidden behind the door. You have to enter the closet and close the door in order to turn on the light!
- There is absolutely no place in the master bedroom bathroom for a bath towel rack. You must purchase an over-the-door towel rack and hang it over the wall of the shower enclosure.
- The electrical outlet in the front of the house is located at the front door on the opposite side from the porch. This outlet should have been located beneath the front windows in the center of the porch. As it stands now, if you wish to use any electrical appliance while sitting on the front porch, you need to run an extension cord across the walkway in front of the door - a real hazzard!
- The kitchen island counter has an outlet on either end (required by local ordinance). Unfortunately Kolter installed single socket outlets rather than standard 2-gang outlets.
- The kitchen cabinets' shelves are not adjustable. They appear to be, but in reality they are not.
- The floodlight that should have been located on the back corner of the house is located on the front corner of the house. The front of the house has carriage lights on either side of the garage, plus porch lights, and the street light is alongside our driveway, so a floodlight in the front of the house is useless and asinine. It is needed in the dark back yard. Kolter refused to acknowledge their mistake or to offer to install a floodlight in the back where it belongs. Kolter insisted that this was not a mistake
on their part, and yet, all new homes built in the subsequent phases do indeed have their outdoor floodlight in the rear, not the front. A reputable builder would have offered to install a floodlight in the rear, especially given all of the hassles Kolter put us through and the shoddy quality of their finish work.
- We had a door added from the laundry room into the master bedroom walk-in closet so that we don't have to drag laundry throughout the house! We highly recommend this modification.
- A home security system comes with the house and the monitoring fee is included in the monthly HOA fees. Do yourself a favor and simply accept the basic system provided by Kolter. If you are interested in adding security cameras, video doorbell, and other security and home automation, you can get far superior equipment and a much lower cost, especially if you are a do-it-yourself kind of person!