What typically costs more to build - 2 story or 1 story?

[gcberry]

Our house is being built on a slope. The lower is a full basement and a walkout, and it also houses the garage, since I wanted to save on the expense of a separate structure for the garage. The upper level is the main floor. I believe we saved money this way. I think I would have preferred to have the garage as a separate building with a breezeway but it just wasn't financially in the cards, plus I didn't want to use up more land. The upper floor is 1000 sq. feet, 2 bd 1 bath. The lower will house the garage, a future bedroom/study, a future bathroom, utility room and root cellar/storage room. I also liked the fact that the basement could be finished at a later date to nearly double the size of the house, without impacting or inconveniencing our living there meanwhile, should that be a possibility in the future. I put the washing machine on the main (upper) level, and in fact geared the plan towards aging in place and being senior-friendly. It will also have an serious mudroom. We kept it small to keep maintenance as well as property tax down. Where I didn't save money is in the energy-efficient systems, because thinking ahead, we figured we'd be living on social security and wouldn't have the money to pay for heat, or anything beyond standard maintenance. So we're putting in good insulation, fiber cement siding on the exterior, and will be having concrete floors (with radiant hydronic heat), solar, a woodstove, and a propane generator as backup. A metal roof. Good windows and southern exposure for passive solar. It's money up front with hopes that it will be money saved in the future. I'm also hoping to plant apple trees and do some beekeeping. The idea is to think ahead and become moderately less dependent/more self-sufficient. Hopefully our experiment will be successful. Building should be done by autumn...

[JC3]

Simplest way to find out the correct answer....have a builder (if you are having one do the building) price up a 1 floor and a 2 floor home. All things being equal as to what you want in the home and heating systems. Have it done with full basement, slab..etc. They will price it out and then you can decide. They will also be able to tell you what it will cost to put in radiant, geothermal..etc. What you have for design may not be conducive to a certain heating system and may not be the best bang for the buck.

We all have our own unique ideas as to what is best and what is the correct way to go. One person's opinion does not mean that it is the only opinion or even will fit they needs of the type of house you are building. It's great to get ideas here and to see what works for others but the bottom line, it's your investment and no one is more qualified to tell you exactly what it will cost than the person doing the building. If you are building yourself, then some detailed homework needs to be done and good luck figuring costs.