Ranch Style Home Plans

Ranch style homes or one story homes are ideal for homeowners who do not like to use stairs. Retirees and seniors are likely to find ranch style homes more appealing than homes with two or more stories. Compare to 2-story home, ranch home usually requires more floor space as well as larger roof and foundation.

Home Plan Finders offers some tips on building a ranch style home:

"One-story home plans have the living and sleeping space on the same floor. These types of floor plans are ideal for people who don't want to climb stairs. It usually costs more to build a 1-story home than a 2-story home with the same square footage because a 1-story home needs a larger roof and foundation. Also, you usually need more land to build a one-story home plan.
1-story house plans usually cost more to heat and cool because they have more exterior surface area. The roof of a 1-story home might have twice the surface area of a 2-story home with the same square footage. In addition, bedrooms on the ground floor may have less privacy. If you have a walkout basement you may want to place your first floor bedrooms on the same side as the walkout door so they’ll be higher off the ground and provide more privacy."

Home Plan Finder: One Story House Plans

If you are interested in building a ranch style home and at the same time work as your own contractor, Owner Builder Construction Loan can save you some money. The "ULTIMATE Construction LoanTM" lets YOU be the general contractor even without a builder's license...