About Your Land Type

Land Rising

Hi, I’m Phil Malcolm, the senior and most experienced Storybook team member. I’ve always loved homes that you look up to, they seem to draw your eye to them, however, when you are building, and the rise is more than just a gentle slope a series of problems arise.

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The first is vehicle access. Before Storybook designers can begin the actual home design they must first decide where to put the cars. Often this decision goes hand in hand with driveway design which must be practical, that is, easy to negotiate in and out. Homes that have difficult vehicle access can cause considerable frustration for owners and visitors and will absolutely reduce resale value. As the land becomes steeper it becomes more difficult to maintain a comfortable angle for access. This should never exceed 14 degrees, so on very steep sites the driveway design might even call for a series of turns, snaking up the hill with a level area and reversing bay at the top. Whatever the access problem the Storybook designers will solve it. Whether the best considered location for cars is, in front of, under or behind the house the decision will have been made in order to achieve practical and affordable access that remains consistent with allowing an optimum home design to be achieved within your budget.

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The second is how to enter the home. It is very common with rising land to have views toward the front and the higher we go the better. For this reason, our clients often prefer the living upstairs with covered decks and balconies. Storybook call this type of architecture Tri level, that’s where we have two storeys at the front and single / and or two storeys at the rear. It is always preferable to enter a home on the living room level which means in this case further up the block. As the building projects towards the rear the upstairs living room level can end up at ground level enabling easy access to the main area of the home without stairs providing the car accommodation is at the rear. This is often a preferred Storybook option and we have hundreds of such designs to show you. When there is too much fall or not enough room to comfortably access the rear with vehicles the car accommodation is usually designed to be free standing in front of or under the house with an entry at that level and a staircase up.

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The third is how to control costs. This is where Storybook excel, by sculpting the home to flow with the topography Storybook have devised numerous ways over the years to make this complicated type of architecture cost effective. All Storybook designs are affordable for their size and are practical and creative in both layout and appearance. If your land rises steeply up from the road it doesn’t mean you have to settle for anything less than a fantastic character home just because it’s hard to find someone who can help solve the problem. If you are reading this, you’ve found us! Make your free appointment today with your nearest Storybook Consultant and start the ball rolling. You won’t regret it.