Q: I’ve heard it’s less expensive to build a two-story home than a one-story. Is that true? I’d like to know the most cost-effective home to build per square foot.
Peter B., Cincinnati

A: Well, Peter, there’s been a myth floating around for years that two-story houses are less expensive to build, but it’s simply not true. This myth no doubt has been promoted by people not in the construction industry or by homeowners using their own logic not supported by fact.

The support for this misconception comes from the fact that a two-story home has a smaller foundation and a smaller roof, each of which costs less to build than a larger roof and foundation over a one-story house the same size. True, but that’s where the savings end and additional costs begin. On average, about half the cost of building a new home is materials and half is labor. The taller the building subcontractors are working on, the higher their labor costs will be. Time is money and working off scaffolding, ladders and such is much slower. This affects such tradesmen as framers, masons, painters, roofers, soffit/facia contractors, siding contractors and any other tradesman that works on the exterior of the home. As labor costs go up, so do insurance costs for Workers Compensation and General Liability coverage.

Another cost consideration is that a stairway in a two-story home requires about 125 square feet of space for landings at the top and bottom and the stairway. And, with hardwood treads and risers, the total cost of the stairway may be as much as $10,000, adding $5.00 per square foot to the cost of a 2,000 square foot home without the added benefit of additional livable square footage.

Two-story homes require either a zone heating and air conditioning system or two separate systems for comfort control, either of which will add several thousand dollars in costs. Consider that the framing labor and materials and floor trusses required to build a subfloor system for the second story is usually equal to the cost savings of the smaller foundation on a two-story home. In other you are building two floor systems in a two-story home. Add in the cost of an insulation package for sound control which will cost up to $1,000 or more for the second floor.

The average cost difference in a one-story and a two-story home is about 5 - 7%, and can be as much as 15% more on a two-story home that is brick veneer. An easy test is to check out all of the speculative homes (houses built by builders for sale versus on-your-lot custom homes) in your area. How many are two-story? One-story? Believe me, if it were less expensive to build a two-story home, builders would be building them for profit instead of one-story homes. Probably close to 80% of all spec homes are one-story.
Do remember, however, that as buildable lots get smaller and smaller, more homes will be two-story out of necessity, but not because they’re less expensive to build.

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