A ranch home has only one story–that’s why we love it! Here in NC it may also have a bonus room (or FROG “finished room over garage”). These homes are very popular – we live in a ranch ourselves (see photo below). The single-level house plans today are open, casual and inviting.
The pros: no stairs! Of course, we aging baby-boomers much prefer one-level living, but younger folks sometimes do, too. Especially with a split floor plan (master on one side and secondary bedrooms on the other side), children are on the same level as parents but with the living space in between. The ranch style today has a design that is appealing in our marketplace compared to the long, narrow ranches of the past. Todays’ single level homes lend themselves to a more detailed roof pattern, i.e hip roof, which has a more desirable appearance than the strict gables of former ranch homes.
It’s easy to put a nice patio or other entertainment area off a single level home – with a two-story home, you often have upper level decks with another set of stairs. We love that it’s a lot easier to clean the windows in our ranch home than our former two-story home (no ladders necessary). Another advantage of a single level home is that it doesn’t have heat collecting upstairs in hot, summer months.
Ranches can be smaller, and we often hear our clients wanting to “downsize” from a two-story to a smaller ranch. That’s what we did when we moved into our current home. Ranches, like ours, have varying ceiling heights, which is not very practical with a traditional 2-story home.
The cons: one story floor plans are often more expensive to build than two story homes. Why? Think of it this way: a 3,000 sf home built on one story has a 3,000 sf foundation and the roof is 3,000 sf also, compared to a two story home of 1,500 sf stacked over 1,500 sf (or 1,000 sf over 2,000 sf—you get the picture). A larger foundation and a bigger roof adds cost to a ranch home construction.
Ranch home plans need a property large enough and wide enough for the house to fit. This might mean a more expensive property (and maybe more expensive taxes).
A ranch home can be built on a crawlspace foundation or a slab, with the slab being less expensive than the crawlspace, given a flat lot. A crawlspace allows for great storage here in NC where we don’t have many basement homes.