Whether the paint spec should be the same in a 180k house and a 340k house

I've been comparing two finished cosmetic flips in the same metro, different price bands, and the material specs were nearly identical. Same builder white on the walls, same LVP, same brushed nickel package, same quartz remnant counters. One sold in 11 days, one sat 68 and took a price cut.

So the question I can't resolve is whether the standard flip package is a discipline or a trap.

The argument for one spec across everything is real. You buy in volume, your crew installs the same product every time with no learning curve, and your estimating gets accurate because the line items never change. Scope control is the main defense of margin at 25 percent gross returns, and a fixed spec is scope control in physical form. Every deviation is a decision, and decisions are where budgets go.

The argument against is that the buyer at 340 is comparing you to other renovated inventory and can see that your finishes are the entry-level version of everything. At 180 you're the nicest house they've looked at all weekend. Same package, two completely different competitive positions. The counter-argument to that is nobody buys a house for the faucet, and the 68 day listing probably sat because of layout or price rather than hardware.

I don't have enough deals to know which effect is bigger, and I'd rather hear it from people who have specced up and been paid for it or not.