When excavating for a ranch style home, you are digging a hole



for living space all on one floor. Let's say the square footage

of this ranch is 2,000 sq. ft. If this house has a full basement

that's a lot of dirt to be removed to accomodate a foundation. A

two story home such as a Colonial or Georgian style with the same

square footage will require half as much excavation. These style

of homes usually have close to equal the amount of square feet on

both floors. For this phase of construction a single story home

requires twice the labor and twice the material to be removed for

the foundation. After backfilling the foundation, any extra dirt

that can't be spread about the lot, has to be hauled away. This

could be a sizable burden to your construction budget.

The foundation is another place to save money on your

construction costs. Using the same 2000 sq. ft. house as an

example, footings and foundation walls must be poured to support

2000 sq. ft. of deck for the living space. A two story would only

require enough walls and footings for a 1000 sq.ft. as the second

floor would be stacked on top of the first floor and utilizing

the same foundation walls. If both style homes have a full

basement its easy to see that the ranch is going to cost double

to pour a concrete floor. this cost is usually figured by the

square foot.

The third major cost saving phase is the roof system. A two story

home has half the roof. This means cutting the amount of lumber

in half. If the rafters for this structure are 2x10 or 2x12, this

can be quite a savings. Add in for the longer lumber lengths

needed for steeper pitched roofs like a 10/12 or 12/12 and the

savings become even more substantial. Also, when building this

type of home, only half as much plywood is needed to cover our

framing. With the rising costs of lumber, this is another good

reason to go with a two story home. The roofing materials used

is also affected. Again. only half the materials are needed to do

the job. This is another task that is figured by the square foot.

There are many ways to save money when building your own home.

These three parts of constructing a home are the major ways to

save. If you want more bang for your buck, consider a two story

home.

(c) Mike Merisko 2006 www.sawkerfs.com