When we bought our Taylor Morrison home in Holly Springs this year, and saw the “standard” lighting that was provided, we were disappointed. To us, the quality of lighting and fixtures in a home mean everything as far as the aesthetics and perception of value. In our former home, we invested about 14 thousand dollars and delivered them to our builder for them to install. It made a huge difference and our neighbors and visitors always were impressed at how our choice of lighting really dressed up our home. When we sold that house, we received numerous compliments from EVERY potential buyer on how awesome our house looked when we put it up for sale. We know we made a good investment when we chose the lighting we installed.
When we bought our Taylor Morrison (TM) home, we did not have any say at all on the lighting, nor the option to purchase (on our own dime) and deliver our own lights to Taylor Morrison to install. The “standard” lights provided are so lack luster and do absolutely nothing to add additional perceived value to the house. I get it – they want to install the cheapest possible lighting to maximize bottom line, and it really shows. In this type of seller-controlled market, they can surely get away with that. It seems these heavy-handed decisions come down from the TM “mothership”. The TM people we dealt with were very nice to us, but their hands were tied, and they hadn’t the power to accommodate our wish for swapping out with higher quality lighting. This is INFURIATING, especially since we had the means to purchase what we wanted outright and deliver to the builder to install. The standard issue “boob lights” are aweful, and the choice in foyer light and dining room chandelier leave a lot to be desired. They just look like cheap big box store mass-produced communist garbage.
Compared to better options for room lighting that better “dress up” a room: (the light below was a room light at our beloved former home in MA)
Our el-cheapo communist-looking dining room chandelier at our TM home:
And in our former dining room in our MA home:
Here’s how we “dressed up” our front foyer in our MA home – style and quality are EVERYTHING, they’re what make your home special:
So, the reason for my rant on TM provided lighting today, is because in an attempt to try to ELEVATE our lighting (starting with replacing these cheap and horrible LED downlights, in favor of flush-mount LED downlights):
I purchased these lights on Amazon to replace the TM provided downlights for a better look, but quickly realized that installing them is going to be a real pain because the wiring box would need to be pulled out to allow for the power unit to be wired and placed up in the ceiling (like most decent lights of these kind do when installed):
This means you are STUCK using these aweful lights. Most LED low profile downlights do not install this way but rather:
TM obviously chose these Kichler model 43846WHLED27 lights because they wire directly to the AC line without the small power unit and are likely quicker for their contractors to install. They are certainly higher in price – which I don’t understand considering you can’t adjust the color temperature! The lights I purchased to attempt to replace these TM ones are about $10/unit (a 3rd of the price!) and allow for adjustment in color temperature. The Ensenior brand I sourced on Amazon also looks a LOT nicer on the ceiling where they are flush and flat with the ceiling surface, and more aesthetically pleasing.
I will note, that if you look at the TM clubhouse and the Amenity Center – notice how TM “upspent” and installed more luxurious looking lighting. Go take a look for yourself. If you pay attention, you can see where they had desire for higher quality lighting/fixtures and how they dress up their model home and clubhouse. My message to TM: not happy with the rock bottom selection of garbage lighting you put in our home, nor allowing me to select my own lighting and pay out of pocket upfront. You’re taking advantage of a market situation and throwing your weight around and it’s not appreciated.
