I've been in my Emery since last year. But I didn't spend too much at the design center.... Honestly majority of the things you can do after for cheaper and a lot you just do not need...
Here's what I got:
* Doorway to garage... trust me let them do it. Don't do it after.. its not much cheaper doing it after and you could mess up your foundation. Also based on your elevation, it may be cheaper than what the book states... mine was $300 cheaper because they never noticed its an actual step down from the main floor and not on level with it, so it was cheaper.
* 1st tier kitchen upgrade... I cannot remember the name. it cost like $400 maybe less but it adds deep upper cabinets above the fridge, valance, and a board separating the fridge from the counter which make it look as if the fridge is apart of the cabinetry... help with the deep uppers as well but it really makes the kitchen look great cause that fridge for 1 is too small for the space they give you so it looks like an eye sore in my opinion without this option... worth it..
* Re-loacate laundry downstairs. If you ever plan to do your basement.. could be worth it to re-locate.. i did for more room. You lose the 4th bathroom rough-in but do you really need it in a townhome with 3 bathrooms already? doubt it. gives your basement a bigger feel thats for sure
* Cat-5 jack... honestly i don't even use it!!! mattamy ran the cabling, but I am too lazy to add jacks to the line and re-terminate it.. Plus after i decided to make that room a spare bedroom and move the office to the other room and just went wireless with everything.. I have zero problems with 802.11N wireless through out the house. so that was a waste of $$$ for me
* Split windows in the great room. The way i was setting it up i was going to mount the TV between the windows and put a fireplace below it or just a TV stand.. which ended up happening. This way I get no sun glare from the bay windows or split windows to my TV since its on that wall
* TV mount wall with conduit. I put that between the split windows and it comes with a nifty conduit that runs behind the wall so u can hide your cabling and make it look really nice!
What I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND:
This is just my opinion... living int he house a year and based on what I have noticed with friends and others that have the same modem or similar...
* 200 AMP upgrade. NOT WORTH IT. you get 100 amp. I have countless appliances, a power-hog PC, laptop, 2 TV's running almost always at the same-time... zero power problems. All old houses come with 60.. which is plenty.. we get 100 as standard... that's more than enough for everything you could possibly need and more. Don;t upgrade this.
* Glass Shower door. NOT WORTH IT. Mattamy installs these flimsy cheap ones... I've seen em and opted out. I got a nice thick glass one that's very sturdy for $150 and installed myself in 30 minutes. Mattamy charges pretty steep for the flimsy ones they install. Do it yourself after.
* Alternate kitchen layout.... meh i opted out of spending almost $1500 for this. Saw Emery's that have it... to me it looks like it takes away from the whole "open concept" Sure you have maybe a foot more talking space between the counter-tops end and the wall, but now you closed up the kitchen a bit from the great room.... Its a matter of personal preference... not worth the $$$ IMO but hey everyone is different
* Raised breakfast bar... Again matter of preference.. you get plenty of space to fit 3 people comfortably at the breakfast bar... maybe even 4. But if you raise it you do 2 things. A) block off the view from the living room... so when you enter the house instead of seeing your beautiful kitchen and its open space, you get this raise bar blocking half of it... and B) now you have a lot less space to put your plates, pots and pants, whatever your gonna place on the counter to serve food out of.. AND its a foot and a half below you and not on the same level as say a dinner table... not for me IMO due to space. You want to try and maximize space and keep its "open concept" design.
* Hardwood floors. This is up to you.. why spend $5,000 to do your main floor which is only like what 800 SQ FT and only 400 of it out can put hardwood on if you do not include the tiled kitchen and tiled front doorway with the cheap tier 1 wood. It's cheap, dents easy and you spend a buttload on it. Go to home depot.. you can get very nice hardwood for $2-$3 a sq foot... heck even if you opted for the more expensive stuff between $5-$7 per SQ/ft, its still cheaper and better quality than mattamy's. Also installation is so easy... they are like lego's these days. Snap them in, use a rented nail gun to nail em in and away you go. It can be done in an afternoon. Again this is a personal preference to people but if your like me and trying to get the best bang for your buck and you can wait... do it after..
* under padding the carpet... Good good what an expensive thing to do. A friend of mine just did his upstairs.. cost $500... i feel no extra padding or difference to mine which does not have it. and if later you want hardwood up there... you just blew away money you could of put towards said flooring
Anyways I could go on and on but there's a lot to say! but this is just my opinion... I am very happy with my house! I love it in fact!
If you need to see any visuals i got lots of pics, PM me and I can send you anything your curious about!