Both building choices would be a 30 square house.
We have children under 5 years old but we never plan to sell this house or move as the land costs at least double the building amount.
We cannot decide, has anyone built one and regretted it?
Would You Build a Single Story or Double Story for a Similar Price?
Tomstars241 on 06/01/2020 - 13:58
Last edited 06/01/2020 - 14:59 by 1 other user
Last edited 06/01/2020 - 14:59 by 1 other user
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Sorry square house haha. We just purchased the block.
Yeh… No thanks. You'd need the blokes who worked at Chernobyl to come in with their hazmat suits to decontaminate the entire home every morning after my post-coffee loo routine.
depends on how big your land is…
for 30 squares
- if single, I would want at least 650 Sqm of land
- if double, no smaller than 450 Sqm of land
This is certainly a prime consideration.
The children will probably only use the outside for another 10 years or so, but different people have different preferences for outdoor space. Is a pool in the future plans, or perhaps gardening is more of a preference?absolutely,
600 sqm
what about street frontage
The nature strip? That’s 2 meters wide then there is a foot path.
How big is the land? If you can build upwards and allow future subdivision, you'd be foolish not to.
I could build 2 small townhouses but we currently live in a townhouse and hate the small space with no yard. So we are definitely sticking to one big house.
Your requirements do not contradict the smart option available to you.
One big double storey house built to allow a second big house later. You get a big house and a big yard and when the kids are out of the house, you can build a second house and sell both. Use the proceeds to buy another place where you can have a more ideal set up.
Opportunities like these aren't available for everyone - they're worth a few hundred thousand dollars. Think about what you're forfeiting.
The owners who sold the house had plans draw up to build 2 town houses. They are small, a bit bigger than own townhouse which is something we definitely don’t want. If that was the case we would just stay here. The council doesn’t allow more than 2 houses on a 600sqm block. Also stupid rules about leaving 40-50% land not covered.
@Tomstars241: You could always push for bigger build up. Building a single dwelling on land priced for two is a very very expensive affair.
Build up.. leave room at back for future granny flat.
We don’t want the MIL at the back haha
Double storey - I've just finished an upper floor extension and now that the kids are older it's nice for them to have space. If the kids' bedrooms are upstairs it's good for them to have a bath on the same floor as their bedrooms - it just makes it all easier. More room in the backyard too.
Depends on what you mean by 'never' sell. Eventually people get to an age or have medical conditions where a single story is advantageous. If your block of land is small enough then it may be worth just having a provision for a future lift in 30-40 years time and going double story anyway.
We never plan to sell it as I don’t think we would ever make our money back. The land was expensive as it’s one of those areas which developers put townhouses on it which pumps up the land value if that makes sense. We don’t want to build a small house townhouse and keep the backyard free. We currently live in a small double story townhouse and hate it.
I've had both single and double storey homes built to live in.
From my perspective, both have their pros and cons depending on what your focus is - happy to elaborate on my experience, but would prefer to see what you're after before just dumping a heap of feedback.
But, sounds like you and your wife need to clarify what you want to achieve from the home. Place for kids now vs potentially adult kids needs later vs maximum space vs retirement vs finances and future development etc etc.
Single storey home was perfect for us 2.5 years ago, but within that small amount of time, our needs changed such that we intentionally went two storey but also to accommodate dual occupancy (two two-storey homes) on the land.
Single story home sounds perfect for us at the moment as the stairs are driving us crazy with a baby and child. Once the kids are older I’m sure double story would be good for them but once we age I don’t think we can get up the stairs. Most people are saying double story that’s why we are doubting our decision on a one story home. I would appreciate hearing the pros and cons. We don’t want to subdivide the land as we already live in a townhouse and hate it.
More space/bedrooms in any home will tend to increase it's value - there's no doubting that. But we've also been in a situation where the upper floor was never used and was simply empty/vacant (as we didn't have the family to fill it out at the time).
My current situation is that I went two-storey because I wanted two houses on this block - it was financially driven, not living need. Otherwise, my preference would be a well designed single storey.
Right now, we carry our son up and down the stairs and as you've pointed out, it's annoying and I've sometimes nearly lost my balance when holding him and three-quarters asleep just to get something on the ground floor for him in the middle of the night. Our master bedroom is on the ground floor and it's the only bedroom there, so we've relocated to one of the upper floors to be closer to him. He's now too old to be sleeping in the same room with us.
Below are only my pain points (first world problems) for two-storey:
stairs (as mentioned above)
we have a central stairwell near to our kitchen, and with open plan living any cooking odours/fragrance travels and lingers in the upper floor.
babies/toddlers love stairs, and since our son has started walking, there are gates at both ends of the stairs which is just another obstacle when walking up/down.
harder to clean the house both inside and outside (eg. upper windows and under eaves)
harder for me to develop/improve the house. In previous houses, I'd simply go into the roof cavity for wiring purposes or check up on things, but I can't do that now for the ground floor and the upper floor cavity is only crawling space at best.
I do see benefit in this situation when (again as you've pointed out) when my son and any of his siblings are older and want their own personal space away from the parents. At that stage, I could happily live on the ground floor only and on the basis that they take care/clean upstairs.
However, I believe a well designed (even single storey) house can achieve the above benefits, and again, is something I would have done for this site if not financially influenced.
But it's not a similar price is it? I thought double story always cost quite a bit more than single story.
We are going for the premium single story or lower range double story. It’s about a 50k difference.
Yeah well that's not really similar then is it… I'd take the premium single story myself. But there are pros/cons to both, as others have already pointed out.
It’s a similar price since we are spending close to a million for just the land. The total price percentage becomes not much different if you know what I mean.
Double storey with masters, study and living downstairs and the kids can have the run of the upstairs.This is the only way to have some peace and quiet in the house. Learn from my experience as a father of MULTIPLE children ;)
This.
I dont know why would you want a single if you can do double.
I would always prefer doubleWe are living in a double story townhouse at the moment and it’s been hell with a baby up and down the stairs. Especially when we need to make formula 2am downstairs.
Arthritis.
Because single story houses offer more benefits if you have the land and sleek modern designed single stories look much more appealing. I just bought 1.2ha (75m frontage) on a mountain overlooking Noosa and the ocean on the sunshine coast and I'll be building a single story home for the sleek, modern look which also takes advantage of the panoramic views.
double
keeps privacy upstairs
more entertaining space (inside and out) downstairsDouble-storey reserve living! Put all your living and master bedroom upstairs and stick the kids downstairs with a media. Give yourself the views :)
Long term when the kids are over 12 I think this is a good idea but they are babies now and one day we will be so old that I don’t think we can do stairs!
Where is the kitchen? Up or down?
Parents have main living space upstairs. View is better but the living area is hotter and carting all food etc up the stairs isn’t great. Nor is carting everything back down for a backyard BBQ.
Can I ask what builder is quoting the same price for a double and single storey with the same squares and finishes. I'm genuinely curious as I'm in the same boat. All the doubles we looked at are WAY more expensive.
The top 3 builders are quoting similar amounts for a premium single story or a lower range double story. It’s still around 50k more. You can PM me.
I would go with single Storey with 4-5 bedrooms so that when kids get older they have their own rooms…Friend of us has double storey town house and has two kids…its hell for him and wife to run up and down with kids…..
I've lived in both and prefer single if all things are even. I'm still relatively young and active but I found the stairs annoying within a year. Of course if there was limited land then I would go double to maximise future growth.
Lived in both. Prefer not to have stairs, but two storey gives you more space both inside and outside at the same time. Overall preference is depending on the actual block, potential view, and a bunch of other factors.
Make sure your kitchen and living areas are easiest to access for visitors and bringing the groceries in and taking stuff outside for a BBQ
Plan it do you can install a stair lift or elevator when you get old. They should be cheap enough by then.
Definitely Single if you plan to be old there, just makes more sense from a living point of view. We went single with 700+ sqm block and it still has decent yard space for play, but not a massive backyard that would be hard to maintain in later years.
If you do go for Double, make sure that you kit the downstairs with a bedroom so that you could feasibly live mostly on the lower level once you get older. Upstairs could then be for kids that refuse to move, guests, or even borders. :(
30sqm? Are you living in a cubby house?
Do you already own the land?