Featured on Redfin: Which New Construction Upgrades Are Actually Worth the Cost?

Redfin published a guide on September 16, 2026 asking builders, real estate agents, and home inspectors around the country a simple question: out of everything a builder's design center will try to sell you, which new construction upgrades are actually worth the money? Above and Beyond Home Solutions was one of the companies asked to weigh in, alongside custom home builders and agents from the Carolinas, the Mid-Atlantic, and the Southwest. The consensus across every expert quoted was the same, and it lines up with what we see on inspections every week: spend your upgrade budget on the things that are difficult or expensive to add once the house is finished, and leave the cosmetic choices for later.

Our contribution covered the upgrade we recommend first for anyone buying new construction in Southwest Florida, and it is not one that shows up in a glossy design center brochure. It is a full gutter system. Here is the quote as it ran in the article: "If you're buying new construction in Southwest Florida, a gutter system is the first upgrade I'd spend money on. When I perform home inspections, most builders only run gutters across the front of the house since that's the side buyers look at, skipping the rear and sides completely. Florida code doesn't require them on a typical home, so nobody's forcing the issue. But with over 50 inches of rain a year here, every bare roof line dumps water right at the foundation."

Why Gutters Are the First Upgrade We Recommend in Southwest Florida

A partial gutter run is one of the most consistent findings we document on newly built homes from Port Charlotte to Cape Coral. The front elevation gets gutters because it is the elevation buyers photograph, and the rest of the roof drains straight onto the ground. In a drier climate that is a minor issue. Here it is not. Southwest Florida takes well over 50 inches of rain a year, most of it in concentrated summer downpours, and an unguttered roof line concentrates all of that water into a narrow strip of soil a few inches from the slab. Over time that shows up as eroded mulch beds and washed out grade, soil that stays saturated against the foundation, splash staining and premature wear on stucco and paint, water finding its way under door thresholds and lanai slabs, and settlement cracking where the soil under the edge of the slab repeatedly saturates and dries. Adding gutters to the remaining elevations while the builder is still on site costs a fraction of what it costs to hire a contractor later, and nothing close to what regrading or foundation repair costs.

The Bigger Lesson: Buy What You Cannot Easily Add Later

The rest of the Redfin article makes the same argument applied to different parts of the house. Extra square footage, upgraded insulation, additional electrical outlets and recessed lighting, prewiring for technology and EV charging, and plumbing rough-ins all landed on the worth it side, because each one either lives behind drywall or changes the footprint of the home. Paint, cabinet hardware, mirrors, light fixtures, and some flooring landed on the wait side, because you can change any of them on a weekend without opening a wall. Drainage belongs firmly in the first category. It is exterior work, so it is easy to assume you can handle it whenever you get around to it, but the damage it prevents starts accumulating the first rainy season you own the house. A drainage problem is cheap to prevent, moderately expensive to fix, and genuinely expensive to ignore.

If you are buying or building new construction in Southwest Florida, an independent inspection is how you find out what the builder left incomplete before you sign for the house. Above and Beyond Home Solutions performs new construction inspections, pre-drywall phase inspections, and final walk-through inspections throughout Sarasota, Charlotte, and Lee counties, including North Port, Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, Venice, Englewood, Sarasota, Fort Myers, and Lehigh Acres. We are InterNACHI certified and based in North Port, FL 34287. Call (239) 416-3505 to schedule, and we will tell you exactly which elevations are missing gutters before you close.

Read the full Redfin article: 8 New Construction Home Upgrades: Which Are Worth the Cost?