subject: Designing A House [print this page] The rush of being a homeowner in todays climate is a truly exhilarating experience, considering that the success that it represents is more difficult than ever to obtain in a world that is much more competitive and much less generous than it has ever been. Owning a home is thus partly a smart investment and partly a mark of accomplishment. As such, many people are falling all over themselves to get their resources together to become homeowners. Some make do with owning titles to or renting apartments or condominiums, while others are not content with this and would rather set up homes in the traditional manner by working to afford parcels of land and building a house their family will own in perpetuity.
Those seeking to establish homes for their families must, of course, first find a parcel of land that is available at a reasonable rate. This is in and of itself a somewhat trying and challenging step, as availability and affordability are factors that are rarely in concert. Sometimes, the only available and affordable lot of land in a good neighborhood will be on a hillside or otherwise slanted chunk of land, which could result in additional expenses if you decide to burrow into the slanted piece of land and built your house within it. Even without doing this and even when you decide to go with a more straightforward design, building on a sloping piece of land is simply going to be more expensive than building on a flat piece of land.
In many cases, however, all it takes to make the most of such a parcel of land is a talented designer and architect, and a competent developer. Building on a sloping block can have such practical benefits as giving you the option of under-house car parking, which in turn would allow you to devote all of the floor area to living quarters. It can also save you the cost of excavation, and the additional headache of dealing with sewage, drainage disturbance, and so on that comes with excavation.
Sloping block house designs offer a great deal of flexibility with regard to where to put the various parts of a house, as well as how to make the most of a parcel of land that is out of the ordinary. Not having a traditionally-shaped lot need not be a barrier to designing, building and living in a great house.
