If you’ve ever looked into buying a house that was never significantly renovated (or have thought about building a new house from the ground up), you’re probably familiar with the terms “builder grade” or “contractor grade.” While these terms were originally intended to imply decent quality—the idea being that if these materials were good enough for professional home builders, they were solid and dependable—over time they’ve come to imply cheap, basic stuff. Calling something “builder grade” is not a compliment.
That’s led to an assumption that all builder-grade stuff in your house must be upgraded, sooner rather than later. If you’re actively building a home, your builder is probably encouraging this, as they make a pretty good profit upselling you—but even if you’ve bought a gently used home that still has a lot of basic, builder-grade stuff in it, you’re likely feeling pressure to upgrade everything. Some builder-grade stuff, like windows, insulation, or roofing, should be upgraded if you have the option, because it can negatively impact the comfort, safety, and longevity of the home. And if you have the resources there’s no reason not to upgrade stuff that you don’t like. But don’t give in to the belief that you have to upgrade all that stuff. Some of the builder-grade materials in your home are just fine.
Cabinets
Kitchen and bathroom cabinetry are about form and function. Most people consider builder-grade cabinets to be pretty ugly, as they’re usually made from cheaper materials like plywood or MDF. That’s all true, but that doesn’t mean those cabinets won’t do their jobs admirably enough or last for many years with basic maintenance and care.
Instead of going through the expense and trouble of tearing out those cabinets, you can easily do some very basic upgrades. New pulls are easy to install, and if your definition of classy cabinets is the soft-close type, you can pretty easily add that feature to any cabinet in existence for just a few bucks. Cabinets can also be painted or wrapped to give them a more luxe look.
Countertops
The countertops in a kitchen are one of the first things people think to upgrade. And if your countertops are made of cheap laminate, it’s probably a good idea to ditch the builder-grade and move up a few notches.
But if the countertops are natural stone like granite, well, builder-grade granite is still, you know, granite. As long as you like the look of them, it’s not necessary to upgrade them in any way even if they were part of the basic package for the house build. Of course, if you hate them, go ahead and switch them out—but don’t feel like it’s a rule to do so.
Faucets and fixtures
The thing about builder-grade stuff is that it may not be top-of-the-line, but it meets all the basic requirements. Builder-grade faucets and other fixtures probably come in a limited range of styles and won’t offer fancy features like touch activation, but they will work perfectly well for a very long time. Unless you think they’re absolutely hideous (or they’re leaking or otherwise malfunctioning, of course) you could better spend your money elsewhere.
Appliances
Appliances are a weird flex; some folks insist on a chef’s kitchen even though they haven’t cooked a meal in years, and eat every dinner out of an Uber Eats bag in the living room. Builder-grade appliances won’t be fancy, but they will be functional. Unless you have a specific need for something fancy in your appliances, you’ll live a perfectly good life using the basic fridge and stove the builder has provided. And if your sole complaint is that the appliances look builder-grade, consider a simple glow-up.
Tile
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with builder-grade tile (most commonly ceramic tile, which is very durable) in your bathroom or your kitchen’s backsplash. It might lack a certain style, but it will perform just fine, and if kept clean will look pretty good for years to come. Upgrading the tile on your bathroom floors or your walls is almost always going to be an aesthetic choice more than anything else. Certainly if you have the money to splash out on something luxe, you should go for it, but it’s never going to be a necessary upgrade.
Lighting
Finally, the lighting fixtures that a builder installs in your home will be fairly basic, but they will get the job of lighting up your house done. Usually lighting problems are due more to a lack of wired lighting fixtures than the fixtures themselves—if the builder didn’t install enough lighting and your house is dim, changing out the fixtures won’t accomplish much. Again, if it’s the aesthetics of your lights that you want to change, go for it—but the builder-grade lights don’t need to be changed.
Upgrading your home can be fun and satisfying. But a lot of the basic stuff builders include in a home are functional, durable, and perfectly usable as-is, no upgrades needed.