Floor plans

Start from a layout that already works, or start from a blank page. Either way the plan gets adjusted to your lot, your grade, and the way you actually move through a house.

From our plan library

Our 6 most recent plans

These are working drawings, not renderings from a plan catalog. Every one of them gets changed before it becomes yours.

Main floor plan of a 2,734 square foot ranch with great room, vaulted master bedroom, nook, dining and piano room — **2,734 sq ft ranch**
76' × 54'
Main level
Vaulted master
Deep garage
Three ceiling heights across the main level — 9'1" in the nook, 10'1" in the dining, 11'1" in the piano room — so the rooms read as separate without walls between them. Master suite sits on its own wing under a vault. Covered deck off the great room, open deck beyond it. The garage runs 34'6" deep down the whole west side.

Main level plan of a split-bedroom ranch with tray ceilings, master suite, two bedrooms and an oversized two car garage — **Split-bedroom ranch**
60' × 56'6"
3 bed
2x6 walls
Oversized 2-car
Master suite at one end, bedrooms two and three at the other, living space between them. Tray ceilings at 11 feet in both the living room and the master. Walk-in closet opens to the laundry. Framed with 2x6 exterior walls, which buys you a deeper insulation cavity for an Iowa winter.

Main and upper level plans of a 26 foot wide two story home with three bedrooms and upstairs laundry — **Narrow-lot two-story**
26' × 36'
3 bed
2.5 bath
21' × 23' garage
Twenty-six feet wide, which is what makes it work on a tight metro lot. Kitchen, dining and living run the full depth of the main floor. All three bedrooms upstairs along with the laundry, and a 11' × 12' deck off the upper level.

Ranch floor plan with a vaulted living room with timber beams, dedicated office, master suite and covered patio — **Ranch with a home office**
10' ceilings
Vaulted living
Office
2-car
Ten-foot ceilings across the main level, with the living room vaulted and carried on decorative timber beams. The office sits off the foyer with its own door, away from the kitchen. Mudroom and pantry share one room between the garage and the kitchen. Covered patio vaulted to match the living room.

Large ranch floor plan with separate family and living rooms, butler pantry, 16 by 16 primary bedroom and oversized garage — **Two-living-space ranch**
66' × 36'
Butler's pantry
16' × 16' primary
24' × 28' garage
The largest of the six. A family room and a living room at opposite ends so the house has somewhere to send the noise. Butler's pantry between the kitchen and the family room. Primary bedroom is 16 by 16 with a 10' × 10'6" walk-in. The garage is 24 by 28 with a sloped slab and a floor drain.

Compact 40 foot wide ranch plan with vaulted great room, kitchen and dining, split bedrooms and stairs to a lower level — **Compact ranch, lower level**
40' × 54'
3 bed
Vaulted great room
Stairs down
A 40-foot footprint that still gets a vault, carried continuously across the great room, kitchen and dining. Primary suite on one side, two bedrooms and a second bath on the other. The stair to the lower level has open railing to the great room, so finishing that level later adds space without closing the main floor in.

Click any drawing to open it full size. Square footage, room sizes and elevations all change with your lot and budget — these are starting points, not a catalog.

Home styles

Which shape fits your lot?

The plan type is usually decided by the ground before it is decided by taste.

Ranch

Everything on one level, usually over a full or walkout basement. The most requested plan we build in Central Iowa and the easiest to age into. Wants a wider lot — good fit for newer phases in Ankeny, Grimes and Waukee.

Typical: 1,600–2,400 sq ft main level, 3–4 bed

Story and a half

Main-floor primary suite with bedrooms and a loft upstairs. Gives you the volume of a two-story great room without putting the owners' bedroom on the second floor.

Typical: 2,200–3,200 sq ft, 4–5 bed

Two-story

The most square footage per dollar and per foot of lot width. Good fit for tighter metro lots and for families who want the bedrooms together.

Typical: 2,400–3,600 sq ft, 4–5 bed

Acreage & walkout

Built into grade, with a finished lower level that opens to the yard. If your lot slopes, a walkout turns a basement into the best room in the house — at roughly 40 percent less per foot than the main level.

Typical: 2,000–3,000 sq ft main + finished lower

Design notes

Layout decisions that matter in Iowa

Some of these are regional. A plan drawn for Phoenix or Atlanta gets a few things wrong here.

A real mudroom, not a hook by the door. Six months of boots, coats and sports gear need a bench, lockers and a surface that does not mind a puddle.
Garage depth over garage width. Three extra feet of depth buys a snowblower, a workbench and open truck doors.
Windows on the south, shade on the west. Free heat in January, and a great room that is not 84 degrees at 6pm in July.
Laundry near the bedrooms. The single most common regret we hear about people's previous house.
Plan the basement stair now. Where it lands decides whether a future finished lower level is easy or awkward.
Decide on the walkout before you buy the lot. It is the one thing on this list you cannot change later.

Custom mudroom lockers with a bench, cubbies and hooks in a Central Iowa custom home by Stone + Timber Homes

A real mudroom: bench, cubbies, hooks and a shelf tower. Six months of boots and coats have somewhere to go.

Have a plan you already like?

Send it over — a builder's plan book, a Pinterest board, a sketch on notebook paper. We will tell you what it costs to build here, what we would change for your lot, and what it would take to make it yours.

Send us your plan