What New Construction Buyers in Northwest Arkansas Are Upgrading the Moment They Close
Bentonville, AR | Serving Centerton, Cave Springs, Bella Vista, Pea Ridge & Surrounding NWA Communities
If you've bought a new construction home in Bentonville, Centerton, Cave Springs, or any of the developments going up across Northwest Arkansas in the past few years, you probably know what the builder-standard flooring looks like. It's not bad. It's just the minimum. The LVP is thin, the carpet is builder-grade, and the tile is whatever was cheapest to specify at volume.
The upgrade conversation — what to replace immediately and what to live with — is one Abbey Carpet & Floor has constantly with new construction buyers across the region.
Here's an honest breakdown.
The First Thing to Replace: Main Level LVP
Builder-grade LVP typically comes in at 4mm to 6mm total thickness with a 6-mil wear layer. It looks fine in an empty house during the walk-through. After six months of real use in a Northwest Arkansas family home — with the foot traffic, the pets, the kids dragging furniture across it — the wear layer shows. Scratches, compression marks, and dulling of the finish are all accelerated in thin LVP.
The upgrade is straightforward: 8mm to 12mm SPC core LVP with a 12-mil or 20-mil wear layer. It costs more per square foot, it installs the same way, and it performs dramatically better over a 10-year horizon. This is the upgrade most new construction buyers wish they'd specified before closing.
Carpet in the Bedrooms: Worth Upgrading
Builder-grade carpet is usually a 24-ounce face weight or lower with a minimal pad. It's soft enough to pass the model home test and not much beyond that. Within two or three years in a Centerton or Cave Springs family home with kids, it starts showing its limitations.
Upgrading to a 40-ounce or higher nylon or triexta carpet with a quality 8-pound pad is a meaningful quality-of-life improvement. The floor feels completely different underfoot, it holds up longer, and it maintains its appearance through real household use. Abbey carries the full range — come feel the difference in person.
Primary Bathroom Tile: The Upgrade That Changes the Room
Builder bathroom tile is almost always a standard 12x12 or 18x18 in a basic off-white or beige. It's inoffensive and completely forgettable. The upgrade to large-format porcelain, a statement floor tile, or handmade-look wall tile in the shower is the single highest-visibility bathroom improvement available to a new construction buyer.
New construction buyers in Bella Vista and Pea Ridge have access to a blank-slate bathroom — the plumbing is right, the layout is right — and all it takes to transform it is a product upgrade. Abbey Carpet & Floor can handle the full tile installation and help you design something beautiful that you’ll love for years to come.
The Phased Approach
You don't have to upgrade everything at once. Most Abbey clients in new construction situations prioritize the main level LVP first, do the primary bath tile within a year, and upgrade the carpet when it shows enough wear to justify it. We'll help you build a phased plan that matches your budget and timeline. Come talk to us in Bentonville.
At Abbey Carpet & Floor in Bentonville, we are committed to providing excellent customer service with a focus on exceeding expectations and have been doing it for over 26 years.
Our flooring specialists are here to help you make the best flooring choices for years to come.