There are a variety of ways to compare the advantages of a one-story vs two-story modular home. In part your choice will depend on your personal taste as well as your local real estate market. But you will likely also consider the distinct advantages of each. Here’s a list of the advantages most often mentioned by my customers.
One-Story Benefits
- More living space
- You don’t need to use square footage for a staircase to the second floor, although you will need one to the basement
- You might need fewer bathrooms
- More attic space for storage
- More basement space for storage
- More convenience
- You don’t need to run up and down stairs to cook, clean, keep an eye on your children, do the laundry, or get a snack
- Safer for younger children and easier for older/mobility challenged individuals
- You can “age in place” more easily and affordably
- Easier to evacuate in case of a fire
- Less noise transmission, since sound does not travel through the walls of multiple rooms on the same floor as well as it travels between floors
- TV or stereo on either floor
- Foot traffic on the second floor
- Stair traffic
- Easier – and cheaper – to heat and cool.
- More consistent temperature zones, since all rooms flow into each other
- Trees can provide more shade
- Second story rooms easier to heat, since heat rises
Two-Story Benefits
- Greater separation of public and private spaces
- More privacy for second story bedrooms, which is especially valued by parents and older children
- Bigger yard
- Can build a bigger home on a smaller lot
- Easier to deliver modules down narrow streets and onto a small, tight lot, since each module can be half the length to create the same square footage as needed for a one-story
- Safer to open second story windows at night
- Smaller roof to maintain
- More expansive views from second-story
- Good exercise using the stairs everyday
- Better for the environment, since less land is disturbed during construction
