Which Lombardo Homes Floor Plan is Right for You?

Selecting the best floor plan is a pivotal step in the homebuying process. As you consider your desired floor plan, you’ll want to ensure it fits your tastes and lifestyle, both today and in the future. Our experienced sales team are knowledgeable in discerning how your life, goals, and values impact what you want and need out of your home, and you can trust them to help you find the plan that works best if you’re unsure of what you want. That said, you might actually already know more than you realize when it comes to the floor plan of your dreams.

Access Your Lifestyle Needs

What does your life currently look like? What do you anticipate for your future? Your lifestyle needs will help you narrow down what functional spaces you might want to prioritize in your home. If you work from home or need a place to study for classes in peace, prioritizing plans that include a home office, or study, will be a good idea. Homebuyers who entertain frequently will enjoy our open-concept designs and guest suite options, as well as the ability to add more rooms in some homes. Those with kids will appreciate the spacious bedrooms and loft spaces available as included features or additional options in many floor plans. You’ll want to consider whether the plans you’re looking at offer the aesthetic you’re after, as well. Do you want a modern design, or a contemporary look? These aspects and more will impact which style of home you’re considering.

Determine Your “Must-Haves”

Identify which features—if any—you won’t compromise on. If you love cooking and know you need a lot of space, you might consider a plan with a more spacious kitchen, the ability to upgrade to a larger design, or one of our homes with a prep kitchen. Holiday hosts might know they need a formal dining room with space to fit everyone, or additional living space in a hearth room. Larger families might want to ensure each child has their own bathroom to avoid morning wait-times on busy school days. Perhaps you need a home with garage-extension options, allowing for multiple vehicles with room for your gardening equipment.

In your current home, catalogue your household’s daily activities and habits. Are you noticing anything lacking that can be fixed in your future home, or anything that is working well now that you know you want to keep? If you or your family have any specialized needs, what you’re looking for in a floor plan may change. You might want a wider plan or need fewer stairs. Plans with larger closets to store equipment, or a laundry room closer to your bedrooms to avoid strain on muscles moving clothing around. Determining these needs will help you narrow down which floor plans are compatible with what you really want.

Figure Out Future Needs Now

Whether you anticipate living in your Lombardo home for the foreseeable future or see it as a temporary step in your life’s journey, you’ll want to take how transitional the floor plan is into account. Will you need the ability to easily convert spaces into something else as time passes? Are there any parts of the plan that would increase the property value for you or your family should you sell sometime down the road? Thinking through this will help you keep your home functional throughout the years.

Settle on the Right Location

Some plans are exclusive to certain communities, such as our condominiums and townhomes. Many larger plans are only available in neighborhoods where the homesite sizes can accommodate them. A narrower lot in the city will need a plan that makes good use of vertical space, such as our City Homes series in Michigan. Meanwhile, a larger homesite can allow for wider ranch floor plans to sprawl out.

Moreover, certain homesites and communities may have lot restrictions or build requirements due to different factors, including lot size. Your homesite, and sometimes community, may impact how close you are to neighbors, where the home is positioned, what views you’ll have of the surrounding areas, and what basement type you’ll have. These factors could possibly impact the plan you choose and the positioning of the home on the lot itself. For example, you may wish to have south-facing windows to provide warm, natural light throughout the day, reducing your need for artificial light and electricity use. The combination of your plan and homesite might impact smaller layout decisions like this.

Lombardo Homes also has a monotony rule to decrease the risk of repetitive homes in a section of the community. Having your options ready ahead of time can potentially help you avoid running into any hiccups in the homebuying process.

Be Realistic Based on Budget

This crucial factor will be one of the main factors in your floor plan choice. Remember, cost goes beyond the price of the home itself. In the short-term, your home’s cost might impact the features and finishes you have access to and whether some options are added at the time of building or become a future project later on. In the long-term, what you spend on the home will impact the cost of maintenance, utilities, taxes, and renovations. A realistic budget will help homebuyers avoid falling in love with a floor plan that is financially out of reach.

If you’re interested in getting a feel for the layout of our different floor plans, we have many options available to help you get started:

• Visit one of our models in Michigan or Missouri
• Self-tour one of our properties on your own time
• Try our interactive design tool on our community pages
• View virtual tours and photos of our currently available plans

Choosing the right house plan requires careful consideration of your lifestyle, future needs, budget, and the unique characteristics of your homesite. By prioritizing your must-haves, evaluating functionality, and consulting with professionals, you can find a thoughtfully-designed floor plan that not only meets your current needs, but adapts to your future lifestyle as well. With the right floor plan, you’ll build a home that’s comfortable, functional, and a true reflection of your personal style. The Lombardo Homes team can guide you in creating a home that will bring you one step closer to building the home of your dreams.