StreamHome Construction Podcast

Building Smart: Where to Invest and Where to Save

• Alex Kosley • Episode 10

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What Materials Are Worth Splurging On, And Where Can I Save Money Without Regrets? 

Making smart material choices can dramatically impact both your construction budget and your long-term satisfaction with your space. Licensed General Contractor Alex Kosley dives into the strategic decisions that maximize value in ADU and residential construction projects throughout Colorado Springs.

The episode reveals a powerful guiding principle: "splurge where you touch daily." This approach prioritizes quality for elements you interact with frequently—like faucets, cabinet hardware, and flooring—while finding sensible savings elsewhere. Alex explains why Luxury Vinyl Plank flooring offers the perfect balance of durability and budget-friendliness, particularly for Colorado's climate challenges. You'll discover why investing in high-quality paint can save thousands over a decade, doubling the time between repainting cycles.

Looking to cut costs without cutting corners? Alex identifies strategic opportunities for savings, from light fixtures to closet systems to backsplash selections. Perhaps most surprisingly, the biggest cost factor might not be materials at all—it's design complexity. The episode reveals how simple rectangular structures with minimal roof planes dramatically reduce construction expenses before material selection even begins.

For Colorado homeowners specifically, Alex shares climate-adapted material recommendations that protect against hail, intense sun exposure, and freeze-thaw cycles. The conversation also touches on StreamHome Construction's unique selection process that empowers clients with real-time budget tracking as they make material choices.

Whether you're planning an ADU, renovation, or curious about construction best practices, this episode delivers practical wisdom that balances immediate budget concerns with long-term value. Ready to apply these insights to your project? Visit our website at www.Yourstreamhome.com or call us at 719-644-6777 for a free consultation.

To learn more about StreamHome Construction visit:
https://www.YourStreamHome.com
StreamHome Construction
719-644-6777

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Stream Home Construction Podcast, where we take your project from conception to completion. Hosted by Licensed General Contractor Alex Kozley, we cover everything from accessory dwelling units to commercial construction in the greater Colorado Springs area. Whether you're dreaming of a new ADU, planning an office upgrade or tackling a major renovation project, we've got the expertise to guide you through it. Let's get building.

Speaker 2:

Not every part of your building needs a big price tag. Here's where it makes sense to invest and where you can cut costs smartly without sacrificing quality. Welcome back everyone, tony Hill's co-host producer, back in the studio with licensed general contractor Alex Cozley. Alex, how's it going?

Speaker 3:

I'm doing great. How are you doing today?

Speaker 2:

Awesome, it's good to see you again. Alex, tell us what materials are worth splurging on and where can I save money without regrets.

Speaker 3:

Tony, this is a great question, something that we guide our clients through every day and we really have found smart material choices can make all the difference in your long-term return and in your daily enjoyment of your ADU. So kind of our first rule we like to use is splurge where you touch and use daily. So if it's something you're going to interact with, often don't go cheap. For example, faucets and cabinet hardware. You touch them all the time and cheap ones just feel flimsy. A good faucet upgrades a small price for long-term durability and experience. Just one example there In regards to flooring, we almost always recommend LVP or luxury vinyl plank Water resistant, scratch resistant and budget friendly.

Speaker 3:

You see it very commonly in new construction today. Hardwood is beautiful but not ideal for our slab built ADUs and in our climate or our budget targets. It typically is a little more expensive, but you get that same look with the LVP material and some of the added benefits as well with that. Regarding countertops, solid surface is an option that many of our clients choose as an alternative to quartz or granite. Still looks nice, looks similar to a solid stone, but it's low maintenance and it's really easy to repair while still feeling high end. So this is a great value add, especially for long-term or mid-term rentals, where durability really matters.

Speaker 3:

One recommendation we have with paint is don't skimp on paint. A high-quality paint job with the right prep can last 10 years. Exterior paint in our climate, even through sun, hail and freeze thaw cycles that's serious ROI. But you could save a few hundred dollars in paint material and have to repaint every five years instead of 10, just not worth it. So buy a high quality paint. We only use high quality paint so that we don't give someone a structure that they're going to have to make repairs on the paint within the first few years. Another area is to save without any regrets. Saving money doesn't mean cutting corners, and we're always looking out for our clients. We always want to balance what's the best value. We don't want to blow budgets out of the water, but we don't want people to be feeling like they didn't quite get what they wanted something quality.

Speaker 3:

In regards to light fixtures, these are style pieces. Trends change fast. There's great looking options at affordable prices. You can spend a bunch of money on lighting fixtures, but you can also spend very little money and it won't make a huge difference in the end result. One thing we recommend maybe get one nice piece above an island or something, a nice pendant light or chandelier, and keep everything else relatively basic throughout the structure. Interior doors and closet systems can always be upgraded later. We typically recommend for people looking to get, you know, maximize ROI. You know hollow core doors, you know kind of basic closet systems. It's definitely an area you can spend a lot of money on. Typically one area that we're putting in something relatively budget-friendly up front With tile and backsplashes again we like to use them in high impact areas if the client wants one.

Speaker 3:

Typically we just run a four-inch countertop backsplashes Again we like to use them in high impact areas. If the client wants one, typically just run a four inch countertop backsplash that matches the same as the countertop to keep costs down in a nice coherent look. But you can use even basic tile. Laidwell still looks great. Tile can cost a lot of money to get tile materials. Some specific types can go, you know, 10, 20, 30, 40 plus dollars per square foot just in materials. But we found you can find alternatives around $5 a square foot that typically have a similar look and can get the same effect and save hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Speaker 3:

I do want to reemphasize. One of the best ways to save money on a project is before you even get to the material selections. It's just how you design your structure. One principle is just simple shapes Rectangles are the most cost-effective footprint design for an ADU or any structure. We typically want to have only one or two roof planes, either like a shed roof or a gable roof, with only two planes. As soon as you start adding little bump outs, you end up with multiple roof planes and that just becomes really pricey in framing and materials and mostly in labor and expertise required to execute. So one of the best ways to keep a project budget friendly is to just design the footprint of it to be rectangular and not have bump outs and multiple roof lines from the beginning. So I think it's worth mentioning in this conversation that that's kind of one of the biggest hidden costs that people don't realize. You can spend a lot of money before you even start choosing materials just by choosing a design. So that's something we always coach our clients through and that's why we're building our model ADUs to be all rectangle. They're all on two and four foot dimensions minimized waste.

Speaker 3:

We want to take all those things into consideration when designing a structure before we get to the material selections, and you know keeping that simple means we have more money that we can redirect from your budget towards things that you'll actually feel, use and appreciate. So your insulation, siding, countertops, upgraded shingles. On that front, we do want to talk about a little bit of some weather resistance, but kind of specific to our Colorado climate, and what kind of things are worth investing in to help protect from hailstorms, a lot of sunshine and then our snow and freeze and thaw cycles. So investing in things like class four shingles, this is only a few hundred dollars extra on a whole project but can save you money on insurance. You'll get typically a reduction on your insurance premium and it's going to last longer and be more resistant to hail, so you're going to have less insurance claims.

Speaker 3:

We typically recommend LP Smart Siding with a good coat of quality paint. It's a budget-friendly material with a good warranty, durable, looks great. But also another item from Hardy manufacturer could be pre-colored fiber cement. This is definitely like a premium kind of upgrade, but the warranty on these is 15 years against any fading. So you know you might spend some more up front and that's one thing we always want to. You know, talk our clients through as well. You may pay more up front, but you're going to pay less over 10, 20 years when making certain choices. So stucco or this pre-colored cement board siding is one way to spend some more up front, but you're going to reduce your long-term costs by making those kinds of decisions. So sort of a rabbit trail.

Speaker 3:

But while we're just kind of talking about spending money and finishing your ADU structure, I just want to talk about furniture for a furnished midterm rental or a short-term rental. Remember durability matters. We don't recommend buying a $200 bunk bed. If you're going to have a short-term rental and there's going to be four kids climbing all over it every day, you're going to need to replace that thing every few weeks, or repair it at least. So definitely recommend getting some furniture that's solid wood. It's going to last a lot longer. And also, just think about colors and things like that. Don't buy a white couch for your short-term rental or mid-term rental.

Speaker 3:

Another thing I want to mention when talking about materials and budgets. One of the things that our clients at Stream Home Construction love most is our selection process, and we give each client a table with every selection that needs to be made on the project and we also give them an allowance. So we say, yep, your project price is X if you spend these allowances. Now the client can in real time make those changes and choose a new material and update the tracker and they will tell them like what the effect on the bottom line of their project is right there. So that way it's just really clear. You know, when you're making a bunch of decisions at once, what's the aggregate effect of all these decisions. If I upgrade this and upgrade that, how much is that going to cost? And then they can choose to maybe downgrade a couple other materials to keep their project on budget. So we do like that and our clients love that tool so that they can really know what each of their decision, how it affects their bottom line. Yeah, so this tool, you know, customizable and really empowers our clients to ensure they spend money where it matters most to them. So really, to sum it up, I haven't kind of covered a broad range of topics here.

Speaker 3:

But we really recommend a splurge on flooring, faucets, paint, insulation, roofing, anything that's really subject to the climate and anything that you're going to be touching regularly. And then we recommend saving on flashier aesthetic choices, anything that's easy to upgrade later as well and that could be an accent wall, could be lighting fixtures, that kind of thing. Designing smart is really one of the best ways to keep project budgets in check. That's simple shapes and clean roof lines and then so essentially, yeah, we just want to make sure our clients know the full range of options and what each of those choices is going to have an effect on, and we love walking people through each of those choices in the long-term kind of cost-benefit ratios. You spend a little bit more upfront to save some money. In the long run you want to spend less upfront and plan to replace some things down the road in a few years those kinds of conversations we love having with our clients to make sure they're really getting the best value from their ADU.

Speaker 2:

Okay, well, thanks for joining us today, alex. We look forward to hearing more from you in the next episode. Have a great day.

Speaker 3:

You too. Thanks, tony, see you next time.

Speaker 1:

That's a wrap for this episode of the stream home construction podcast. Ready to bring your vision to life? Snag a free onsite consultation by visiting our website at wwwyourstreamhomecom, or call or text us at 719-644-6777. Until next time, let's keep building your residential and commercial dream in the greater Colorado Springs area.