Ordering a TT, to get what I want?

We bought our first TT from the dealer lot. Spent over two hours negotiating the price down to what we were satisfied with.

Our 5th wheel we ordered new at the dealer and then went to the factory to watch it being built. Again we spent time negotiating the price, this time between two dealers. The dealer with the lowest price got our deal. We were able to customize the 5th wheel to meet our needs. We are still using it 24 years later.

I would offer a slightly different perspective. A unit sitting on the lot has already had some wear due to time, weather, sun, people walking in and out, maybe it has been to a show, etc... Similarly, a built-to-spec rig will include additional paperwork and management from the dealer to get the right details in, make sure it comes off the line correctly, and more.

From both these perspectives, a built-to-spec rig might be considered a higher value (and thus more expensive) than a general floorplan rig.

All in all, like DTR, we ordered our last one (actually caught one just getting built for the dealer and had it customized), and we expcted that the price would be no higher or lower than a new model year on the lot, which was exactly our experience.

We have ordered our last two TT's. (Komfort and Arctic Fox). Got just what we wanted, factory fresh. Had to wait a while, but it was worth it. The price was the price. We negotiated and were happy with it all.

May not apply in FL. because you are able to camp year around. However I ordered my unit in December during the slow period when sales where hard to come by. I got a good deal and my unit arrived in February.
As the OP alluded to I was able to get the unit I wanted equipped the way I wanted, with the options and colors I selected at a very competitive price.

Gosh, in 2010 you updated your profile to indicate you are shopping for a trailer for you and your wife. It is now 9 years later. You sure are hard to please! LOL!
Just poking fun.

To answer your question, dealers often use borrowed money to pay for their inventory, which is called a floor plan. Once a unit is shipped, almost always, the dealer has to pay for the unit, so it is then "floor planned" or put in his inventory. Once the buyer's financing is sold to a lending institution, or the buyer pays cash, the floor plan is paid off, and any difference between the floor plan pay off and the amount the dealer collected for the sale of the trailer is gross profit. Subtracted from that gross profit is sales commissions, costs to prepare the trailer for sale, any give aways such as battery or starter kits, and overhead costs such as insurance, electricity, support personnel salaries, property taxes, etc. The result is the net profit which may be surprisingly small.

Therefore, expect little to no difference in pricing from an ordered unit to a unit purchased from inventory.