The Average Bungalow Building Costs

Whether you’ve already decided to build a bungalow or are just contemplating it, it’s a good idea to know what types of costs are involved in the construction of this type of home. Let’s take a look at how the features which define bungalows can affect the cost of building one of your own.

Low pitched roof

With a low pitch, the roof of a bungalow requires less material than a higher roof on a home of a different style (assuming the same footprint). Fewer materials mean lower costs, and with less construction involved, the price of labor for the roofer should fall accordingly.

Porches

Bungalows are usually small homes, with square footage at a premium. Porches open up the living area, allowing it to flow easily into the outdoors and bringing more space into the home. If you consider the porch as an expansion of the living quarters, it comes at a fantastic value.

Porch columns

The typical porch column on a bungalow is not typical at all. Rather than taking on the shape of the porch rail that occupies so many other designs, the bungalow porch column is a thick stance of stone, brick or wood. Normally, the bottom half is stone or brick with the remainder made from carved wood. This is obviously more expensive than the average rail-type column, but the columns on the porches are not without aesthetic value. Bungalows often have heavy overhangs jutting from the rooftop, and these thicker columns offer a visual balance. This particular style of column, also found in the Craftsman style, is one of the things that make bungalows so immediately recognizable to even the casual observer.

Simple windows

Windows are considerably less efficient than solid wall, and they are more expensive than walls as well. Rather than vast expanses of glass or huge, costly versions, bungalows tend to have small, neatly tucked windows. These charming little windows are cheaper to purchase and install, and their small size makes it more affordable to purchase high-efficiency options which help to maintain a low cost of ownership long after the construction is finished.

Open floor plans

Not surprisingly, a bungalow’s open floor plan has fewer interior walls, allowing for some savings on construction costs.

Fewer bathrooms

Fewer bathrooms may not be a bungalow’s most redeeming quality, but it does save on construction costs. While many homes from other architectural genres will have as many – or more – bathrooms as there are bedrooms, it’s not uncommon to find two or three bedrooms clustered around one bathroom in this style of home. You’ll save thousands of dollars for every bathroom that you don’t build, so the savings quickly adds up.

Perhaps the most significant factor in the cost of a bungalow home is that every square foot is designed to be part of the livable space. Your 1400 square foot bungalow is likely to have just as much useable space as a 1700 floor plan of a less efficient style, and in that other home, you’ll pay for all of that wasted room. In that sense, there may be no better value for your dollar than putting it toward a bungalow home.