Single Story House Plans:
Learn about special considerations.

Single story house plans offer homeowners a few advantages over multi-level designs. As a potential new homeowner, you really want to give some serious consideration to whether a single story house will meet your needs, a whether you need a multi-floor design.

One of the first things to consider is what your needs are going to be. Families with young children or elderly members should give some thought to the safety concerns that come with stairs. Many home injuries come from falls that occur on stairs.

Design Considerations
The size of your building lot is something to take into consideration. You need to take into account all of your setbacks so that the footprint of your house (including any garage) will fit within the setbacks. This will be a big factor in determining the overall square footage of your home.

Following are some photos to give you inspiration, plus a plan for a single-story home.

The floor plan for this house appears below:

Want to learn more about this plan?

Another consideration is your neighborhood's homeowners association ("HOA") regulations. In certain neighborhoods, there are certain height regulations that will dictate if a one-story design will be acceptable.

A single-story plan can also affect your cost of construction. There will be two areas that will be affected the most. One is the foundation. In order to get the same square footage of a two-story home, you need to have a foundation footprint that is much larger.

The other biggest change is roofing cost. If the house is longer and wider it will require a larger roof. If you compare these costs to a somewhat stronger structure for a two-story plan (second story floor joists, and a slightly stronger foundation) it will give you some insight into this cost difference.

Another difference is the cost of stairs. This can be very small for a plain pine staircase. The opposite end of this is a house that is built around a grand staircase. This will drastically change design and cost.

A single story plan can be a great way to get the dream home that you've always wanted. Just make sure that you do your homework in terms of your needs, budget, lot, and local regulations.

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