We're in the same situation, but we chose not to upgrade the bedrooms flooring. We kinda think we can do it in the future and save money, but we also worry about new hardwood won't match what we have exactly. (Our house is almost done so it's what it is now)
The thing is, all those upgrades are so expensive to do through the builder, so we did the things we really want now, and things involving electrical work and plumbing work.

they are expensive. they know you, the buyers, just want your new house done and over with, so they charge you through the nose for that convenience. and since it's tagged on the mortgage, you don't really notice it! It's ridiculous what they charge you for 'upgraded granite'. the stuff they present is lower end seconds a lot of the times. If buyers only knew how much money they could really save on kitchens/baths/floorings, they'd gasp.

just out of curiosity, what are they charging you for the upgraded flooring option for the two bedrooms? what would carpet cost and what would your better quality wood cost?

What is the basic hardwood flooring? If it is classic solid 2 1/4 oak, I would go for it. It has been around for over 100 years and is in many elegant homes. It is still available today and will be tomorrow if you need to repair an area or change a layout. It is a "forever" floor - able to be refinished many times. Most of the pre-finished newer style hardwoods have a 18 to 24 month availability time - then they are discontinued. The guys on This Old House always try to save classic oak floors when they have them in a home, and since they usually work on old homes, they are often refinishing and repairing them. It is not a trendy floor, but it is timeless.

jhmarie, there is no way they're going to offer a rift cut 2 1/4 natural oak that needs to be stained. If anything they would do a engineered oak w/that cheap looking top coat finish. the stuff that costs them $1 sq ft and they charge the buyer $7 w/install.

@Beth, our standard hardwood package offered by the builder was what jhmarie described, but it's only standard for dining room, kitchen, stairs, powder room. So we included other areas (we included bedrooms at first) we wanted to upgrade to hardwood, and put this in our p&s along with other some other small upgrades when we made the offer (we offered the asking price). The builder didn't accept the offer and we dropped a few upgrades and then he did.

If it is actual site finished solid 3/4 inch oak it is a traditional wood floor, which at least would be easy to match down the road if you want to do bedrooms later.

Beth you are correct that it is probably not rift cut - probably plain sawn and possibly red oak rather than white, but a good looking timeless floor still.

The prefinished wide plank floors can get really expensive.

yes they can. well if they offer the stain on site option w/that size as described, that's pretty good. just know that red oak can look 'pink' w/the lighter stains.

I'm just thinking that that particular flooring is easy enough to get after market. Perhaps you could even get the floor finisher to out after the fact if you go w/after market flooring to match. At least find out what stain he uses.

For an upgrade I would do a white oak over the red oak, especially if you want a lighter stain. if you are going dark, then the red is fine.

If I had my druthers I'd do a wide plank fumed oak, or french oak finish. They make beautiful floors. those you can get after market for about $7 a sq foot. something like I did on my ceiling. (i found this for half price on Craigslist! lady bought too much of it and couldn't return it. $8.50 a sq ft retail)

Sigh I wish I had done more research and homework before everything. We upgraded to wider planks, but we chose to go dark (medium-dark brown), it looks good but I wish I had thought about the difference between red and white oak (call us stupid, we really didn't know white oak is considered better, we just thought oak floors cool!) I've seen a lot of pictures of white oak floors with a very light/natural stain... ahhh so beautiful!

Also to the op, I think bedrooms can wait, unless you really really want hardwood in them now. We're in Boston area so carpets in bedrooms is quite normal here, so in the end we decided to not spend extra money on them now. Op, from my own experience, do research, price out things you want to upgrade, and you'll know better what you wanna do

Mira - with the darker stain, the red oak is just fine and I bet your floors are lovely. The lighter floors are only just now becoming popular again. It is unfortunate that we have gotten to the point that a beautiful floor is ever considered "in" or "out" based on what someone on HGTV says. I have heard two brothers call 2 1/4 oak floors "dated" when these floors are not. How can something that has been around over a hundred years and is the flooring of many an elegant home be "dated" - but they don't want to repair the floors when they take down walls, so they have to convince the homeowner it should be replaced - often with a "sexier" but less long lasting flooring.