House Building - Bungalow vs Two Story
 

We are in the process of putting some floor plans and initial budgeting together.

The house will be a partially raised bungalow to allow some natural light into some of the basement, or it will be a partially raised two story, to allow the same light into a basement rec room.

Assuming all things being as equal as possible with a fully finished basement, what would most likely cost more?

A 2700 sq ft bungalow with a fully finished basement (5400 sq ft total) or a 2000 sq ft main floor two story with 6000 sq ft of living space, living room open to the 2nd level and a couple bedrooms above a portion of the garage.

Thanks for the feedback.

Bungalow for sure, more expensive.

And the prices between Alberta and Ontario are probably alot different.

Depending on your age and how long you gonna own. As age sets in 2 story not easy. Less stairs the better. 13 stairs to basement and 13 up to 2nd story. Will keep you in shape but when that arthritis crap happens, you gonna wish you had no stairs. If you go with a 2 story put a laundry shute in from top to bottom. Wife will love it. I have one and you can run your central vac tubes in there also

No way. Put the laundry upstairs with all the bedrooms.

The bungalow with a bigger footprint would require more excavation, trucking of the additional surplus soil, more foundation wall and more basement slab. Going to a second floor would cost less based on the relatively low cost of lumber.

And more roof/shingles on a bungalow.

Think of it this way, in a 2 storey, half the square footage is built without a foundation, where as in a bungalow, all your area is built on foundation, meaning bungalow substantially higher costs/area.

Stackable appliances fit nicely into small spaces, so yea, upstairs could work well.

Bingo!!!


We have a bungalow now that we intentionally bought as a bungalow for retirement and our last place was too but that was just the house was in the right location. Had a number of 2 story and split levels over the years. Older I get, the more I like the bungalow. Everything including laundry, freezers, pantry etc is on the main floor level. Basement contains guest bedrooms, storage and my hobby spaces so no need to go down there every day except for the hobbies.

Definitely a Bungalow costs more, not only foundation, but foot per foot, you need more shingles, soffit, eaves and, of course, potentially a bigger lot.

The advantage of a Bungalow is there are no stairs to climb and as you age, this could be a factor.

A few years ago construction costs for a Bunglalow versus 2 story (both worth roughly 4000 ft of living space were $200/ft2 for the Bunglalow and $150/ft2 for the 2 story.

I'm sure the $/ft have changed since then, but the ratio of 25% less in construction cost per ft2 should roughly be the same.

this also applys to if you have a bad hangover.. less chance of rolling down the stairs , and space usage it more efficent in a bungalow

Bungalow. Lived in a couple of styles of houses and prefer bungalows.

2700 square feet is a big house. We are in a 2000 square foot bungalow with a walk out basement now. Family of four and too much room overall. We didn't build, the overall location and yard were the biggest reason to buy it. House was set up well, two steps to get in. Good for us as we get older, great for getting my mobility limited mother in.

Attached garage turns into extra storage. We have spare fridge and many other household items stored for easy access. Whatever you decide to do make a bigger garage than you think. Can never have enough storage space.

Just sold our 2 story. Will be looking for a bungalow on the island

Bilevel is the cheapest cost /sq foot. Basements are very expensive, bilevel only requires 4 foot concrete wall then very low cost 2x6 pony walls. You also end up with big lower floor windows. The two story next cheapest then bungalow most expensive.

This whole building cost discussion to me is a red herring. Yes bungalows cost more to build, they also sell for more money and sell far faster than 2 storey homes. Given a choice, same living space, most people prefer a bungalow if they can get one. Single biggest issue building bungalows these days is the small lot sizes in many neighbourhoods.

What you spend upfront you make back on resale. If you end up spending 100,000 more to build a bungalow and never resell it but live there for 35 years, is the price difference really of any consequence. There WILL come a time where you have to sell your two story and that will usually be long before you need to sell a bungalow. To me the choice is all about utility and how long you are going to live there. From the time I was 25 until about the time I was 50 we rarely lived in a house for more than a year or two, then it was all about location, and ease of resale. The last house we bought was all about where we wanted to lvie and utility of the house for the next 20 years.

My suggestion is to carefully consider how long you will be there, resale if it is short to medium term, can you buy existing houses for a lot less than building, we bought and sold many houses and never once was it cheaper to build than to buy existing, will you be in the house when you are 75, do you have kids that are close to moving out. To me these are what determines the right house, not cost.

discussion
 

Yes, bungalows are more expensive in ontario and Alberta.

Bungalow all the way. Forget about getting old and immobile. Break a leg anytime and you will see how much stairs can be a problem. Speaking from experience

That's why I built and live in one. :D

Grizz