Plan 51772HZ Reviewed: A Functional 1,988 Sq Ft Modern Farmhouse with Flexible Bonus Space

Contents

• Floor Plan Analysis
• Exterior: Materials, Proportions, and the Rear Porch Program
• What This Plan Gets Right
• Points to Consider Before You Buy
• Which Facade Variation Fits Your Site
• Who This Plan Is For, and Who It Isn't
• What It Costs to Build: Regional Estimates
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Sources & Further Reading
• The Short Verdict

Floor Plan Analysis

Main Level

Bonus Level

Basement Stair Location

2-Car Front Garage Option

Unfinished Basement

The plan runs a classic Southeastern split-bedroom diagram: the primary suite on the right behind the garage, two secondary bedrooms on the left sharing a hall bath, and the vaulted great room and kitchen at the center with the dining room at the front beside the foyer. The core is genuinely open (not the awkward semi-open compromise you see on a lot of mid-market plans), with the kitchen island, dining table, and great-room fireplace all reading as one continuous volume. For a near-peer comparison at almost identical footprint, see our review of the 2,085 sq ft split-bedroom modern farmhouse: same diagram, slightly more square footage.

Reading the drawing closely, the service rooms are where this plan pulls ahead of most peers, and we come back to the laundry, pantry and mudroom under what it gets right. In the kitchen itself, the island is long enough to carry eating-bar seating on the great-room side, so casual meals happen in the open core instead of at the dining table by the foyer. The one layout decision that needs a second look is the hall bath shared by the two secondary bedrooms: a sensible economy at this footprint, but it creates a scheduling problem we cover in the points to consider.

The three alternate drawings the plan ships with (a basement stair added beside the bonus-room stair, a front-load garage option, and an unfinished basement level) give it genuine lot flexibility. On a flat Southeastern parcel, we would default to the side-load garage and skip the basement. On a sloped lot anywhere north of about Knoxville, the basement earns its keep because daylight on the downhill side comes essentially for free.

Exterior: Materials, Proportions, and the Rear Porch Program

The elevation gets two things right that many 2,000 sq ft farmhouse plans get wrong. First, the board-and-batten is kept to the two front gables above horizontal lap siding, and the porch columns stand on proper brick pier bases rather than a painted-wood skirt. That one material break is what separates a real farmhouse elevation from a builder-grade vinyl version, and it reads correctly here. Second, the gable proportions are restrained; no oversized decorative timber brackets or faux shutters. The whole composition reads as confident rather than costume.

The rear porch is unusually generous for this square footage. It spans most of the width of the great-room wall, has enough depth for both a dining table and a separate seating zone, and can accommodate an optional outdoor kitchen on the long run. If you build this plan anywhere between Charleston and Nashville, that rear porch will quietly become the most-used room in the house from April through October. The photos and elevations show both porches under the same asphalt shingle as the main roof. A standing-seam metal roof over the front porch is the upgrade we would price first, because a separate material gives the porch more visual weight than a simple continuation of the main roof.

The side-load garage is the right call for curb appeal, but it drives the real lot-width requirement. Expect to need a minimum of about 90 feet of buildable width to get a comfortable driveway turn. On an infill lot narrower than that, use the front-load garage alternate drawing; you'll lose some of the facade cleanliness but keep the rest of the plan intact.

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What This Plan Gets Right

The detail that sets this plan apart is how close the laundry sits to the primary suite: it opens off the entry just outside the suite door and backs onto the primary closet, so a load of laundry travels only a few steps even though the two rooms do not connect directly. The kitchen gets a genuine walk-in pantry as well, with real shelf depth and floor space instead of a reach-in cupboard behind a taller door. A working kitchen needs it, and most plans at this footprint skip it.

Flexibility is the other strength. The bonus room over the garage is delivered unfinished, which is the right call, because it lets you decide whether it becomes a bedroom, office or media room without paying for a use you do not want. The plan also offers three-way lot flexibility: a side-load or front-load garage, with or without a basement. One plan therefore works on flat Southeastern lots, sloped mountain lots and narrower infill parcels.

The daily layout is well judged. The split-bedroom arrangement genuinely isolates the primary suite from the secondary wing, with the great room as the acoustic buffer, so sound transmission is minimal. The side-load garage leads into a proper mudroom with real lockers and storage rather than a tacked-on bench, a small detail that changes how the home is used every day. And the vaulted great room connects to the outdoors through two pairs of French doors onto the rear porch, with the vaulted ceiling carrying the volume, so the room reads much larger than its actual footprint.

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Points to Consider Before You Buy

The single hall bath shared by the two secondary bedrooms is the first compromise. It works for two children under ten, becomes a morning coordination problem for two school-age kids who both need it at 7:15am, and gets actively difficult when an overnight guest occupies one of the bedrooms. If your household uses a guest room regularly, the shared hall bath is the weakest point in the plan.

The bonus-room stair is the layout point we would study hardest. It lands near the entry to the primary suite, so if the room above becomes a teenager's bedroom or a media room, anyone using the stair passes within about eight feet of the suite door, late evenings included. Solid-core doors at the suite and a runner or rug at the foot of the stair take the edge off the footfall. The tall great-room volume raises a separate issue: it is a real heating and cooling load, a standard 3-ton system is unlikely to hold it comfortable in August, and the HVAC contractor should be part of the conversation at the design stage rather than once framing has started. The sizing and its cost are in the line items below.

There is no dedicated home office on the main level. The bonus room can take that role, but working above the garage turns every work-from-home day into a trip away from the rest of the house, so anyone who needs a main-floor office should look for a larger footprint that can absorb one. Two points from earlier belong on the same checklist: the side-load garage needs 90 feet of buildable width, below which the front-load alternate drawing is the answer, and upgrading the front porch from the drawn asphalt shingle to standing-seam metal adds $4,000–$7,000.

Which Facade Variation Fits Your Site

Each of the eight facades that follow is our own concept rendering for Plan 51772HZ, not an option sold by Architectural Designs. They hold the plan's two front gables, the porch tucked under the left one and the lower roof that links them, and change only the cladding, roof, colour and planting. Use whichever suits your lot as a starting brief for your builder, not as a finished specification.

Coastal Cottage

Light cedar shake in place of the board-and-batten, crisp white trim, light-metal roof, simple porch columns, and a Low Country planting of sabal palms and agave in white shell gravel. The version we would build on a Mount Pleasant, Kiawah, or Gulf Coast lot. The cedar shake ages handsomely under salt air; the metal roof is the right answer in any climate that sees hurricane season. Avoid if the lot is more than ten miles inland, because the coastal vocabulary reads forced without the water.

Modern Rustic

Dark brown board-and-batten covers both gables and the garage wing, and a pale, rough-cut limestone veneer wraps the porch wall behind dark-painted posts set on grey stone bases. The roof is a flat slate-grey tile, and the planting is spare: agave, blue fescue and low clipped boxwood edging a wide stepped walk. We would put this one on a semi-rural lot near Nashville, Franklin TN or Asheville, where a darker house sits more comfortably against woods or rolling pasture than the default white board-and-batten does. Dark siding gets hot in a Southeastern summer, so pair it with a cool-roof finish or generous ridge ventilation.

Tropical Low Country

Light shake siding with darker wood columns and trim, the roofline kept in standing-seam metal, and a dense coastal planting of sabal palms, saw palmetto and feathery grasses over white shell gravel. The variation for a 30A, Savannah waterfront, or Naples FL lot. The dark timber against the light envelope reads as a Caribbean detail rather than a South Carolina one, which is the intent. Don't build this in Asheville or anywhere above the fall line; the palms don't survive it.

Stark Monochrome

Black lap siding, white board-and-batten gables and trim, a black shingle roof, and a formal planting of clipped boxwood parterres. The high-contrast version for buyers who want the farmhouse footprint but not the farmhouse vocabulary. Works on a newer Charleston suburb lot or a manicured Atlanta intown parcel. Maintenance is higher than the default: the black roof shows every pollen season, and the white trim needs washing twice a year in Southern humidity.

Southwest Desert

Terracotta stucco over the main walls, dark stained boards in both gables, porch columns clad in rusted weathering steel, a bronze-brown standing-seam roof, and agave along a sandy gravel path. The version for a Phoenix, Tucson, or Santa Fe lot. In the rendering the original brick pier bases survive under the steel columns; a builder could just as well simplify them into a stucco kick-plate so the front speaks one material language.

Black-and-White Craftsman

Black vertical siding paired with white gable trim and a dark shingle roof, clipped boxwood hedges, and an intentionally lawn-heavy front yard. The variation for a buyer who wants the plan to read as a classic Americana home rather than a contemporary farmhouse. Best fit: an older Nashville, Franklin, or Charlotte suburb where the neighbors' homes lean traditional and a modern-forward elevation would read as out of character.

Adobe Ranch

A quieter version of the Southwest Desert variation: terracotta stucco, dark timber, standing-seam metal roof, but with a simpler planting list leaning on agave and ornamental grasses rather than full xeriscape. Better fit for a prairie-edge Texas or Oklahoma lot than a deep-desert parcel. The rustic warmth holds up well against open-sky sites.

Industrial Farmhouse

Taupe board-and-batten in the gables over pale block walls, dark steel porch posts and beam, and a flat grey tile roof in place of the standing seam. The most departure-from-the-original of the eight variations. Right choice for an Austin or Denver lot and a buyer who likes the plan but wants something that reads closer to contemporary than traditional. Use this one sparingly; the detailing is heavier and the concrete-block accents need skilled execution to avoid reading as unfinished.

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Who This Plan Is For, and Who It Isn't

A strong fit for: empty-nesters right-sizing into a single-story home while keeping bonus space for visiting grandchildren; couples with one or two young children who want all bedrooms on one level now and flexibility for a fourth bedroom or office later; downsizers from a two-story who still want vaulted volume in the main living area; any buyer on a lot between 90 and 120 feet wide in the Southeast where the rear porch program will be used eight months a year.

A weaker fit for: households with two teenagers who would share the hall bath; buyers who need a dedicated main-level home office plus a guest room plus a children's room (the main level is three-bedroom by design); narrower infill lots under 80 feet wide, even with the front-load garage alternate; climate zones above roughly 6,500 heating degree days, where the vaulted great-room volume becomes an operating-cost liability rather than a comfort feature.

If you're in the last group and want a smaller-footprint plan with a similar vaulted program, our review of the 1,677 sq ft modern farmhouse with vaulted great room scales the same vocabulary down to a more forgiving footprint. If you need more square footage and more than one bath for the secondary bedrooms, the versatile 4-bedroom country farmhouse with wrap-around porches is the step up.

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What It Costs to Build: Regional Estimates

For this plan we priced turnkey ranges for single-story modern farmhouses of 1,900–2,100 sq ft built across the Southeast in 2024–2026, starting from the 2024 NAHB Cost of Constructing a Home survey and adjusting with regional cost multipliers. The mid-spec figure in each market assumes a standing-seam metal porch roof is added, the bonus room stays at rough-in and the interior uses standard-grade finishes; finish level, submarket and the decisions discussed below move a real budget up or down from there. Land, sitework, septic, well and long driveways are left out of every figure.

Southeast Median, Plan 51772HZ $465,000 Range: $360,000–$560,000 turnkey

Upstate South Carolina is the least expensive place on our list to build it. In Greenville SC / Upstate, a standard-tier build runs $340,000–$395,000, mid-spec $395,000–$475,000 and an upgraded finish $475,000–$565,000, mostly because labour still costs less than around Charleston and framing crews are dependable. Charlotte / Triangle NC sits a step higher at $360,000–$415,000 standard, $415,000–$500,000 mid-spec and $500,000–$600,000 upgraded; the pressure there comes from demand for skilled trades rather than from materials.

Around Atlanta and Nashville, bids and site work cause most of the variation. In the Atlanta metro suburbs outside the Perimeter, figure $355,000–$415,000 standard, $415,000–$500,000 mid-spec and $500,000–$605,000 upgraded, and expect builders' numbers to spread widely, which is why three bids are worth more than two there. Nashville / Franklin TN costs more at $405,000–$465,000, $465,000–$555,000 and $555,000–$665,000 for the three tiers, with lot preparation and a slow, expensive permit cycle doing most of the pushing.

The top of the range belongs to the coast and the mountains, for opposite reasons. Charleston / Mt Pleasant SC runs $420,000–$480,000 standard, $480,000–$570,000 mid-spec and $570,000–$685,000 upgraded, because coastal code adds hurricane strapping and flood elevation to the basic build. Asheville NC is the most expensive at $430,000–$495,000, $495,000–$585,000 and $585,000–$695,000, since a plan drawn for flat ground needs extra foundation and excavation work on the sloped sites typical of the area.

Line Items Worth Budgeting Separately

Finish the bonus room later, not now. Roughing it in during the main build adds $4,500–$7,500 for insulation, a wiring chase, an HVAC stub and the stair finish, while the full finish-out two to three years later runs $22,000–$38,000 depending on whether you also finish the bonus bath drawn up there. Decide on the porch roof early as well. The drawings show asphalt shingle over the porch, and upgrading it to standing-seam metal adds $4,000–$7,000; it is far cheaper to specify at the start than to change once the roof is on.

Sizing the system for that vaulted volume means a 4-ton unit at minimum, with a high return near the gable peak, in place of the stock 3-ton setup, and the difference over the builder default is $3,500–$5,500. A walk-out basement only makes sense where the lot already slopes: it adds $65,000–$110,000 and delivers 1,400+ conditioned sq ft at roughly half the per-square-foot cost of the main level, a good trade on a hillside and money wasted on flat ground.

Coastal submarkets add 7–12% across the board for hurricane strapping, impact windows (required within 1 mile of the coast in SC/NC) and raised foundations. That is not optional and not in the base builder quote, so ask for the coastal package explicitly. The plan set itself costs $1,800, and commissioned modifications such as mirroring, wall moves or truss changes run $2,000–$6,000. These are the cheapest design dollars you will ever spend, so do not cut corners on the drawing set.

Treat every range here as a snapshot of early 2026 rather than a fixed price, since lumber, labour and permit fees all keep moving. With the plan set in hand, ask at least three licensed local builders for written bids and compare them line by line, because two totals that look alike can hide very different allowances for the porch roof, the bonus room and the HVAC.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How much does Plan 51772HZ cost to build in the Southeast?

Across the Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee, our rough turnkey estimates for 2024–2026 put this plan at $360,000–$440,000 with builder-grade finishes and the bonus room left unfinished, and at $440,000–$540,000 once a metal porch roof upgrade, a finished bonus room and the brick detailing shown in the photos are included. In the priciest submarkets, such as the Charleston peninsula, central Nashville and Asheville, plan on $540,000 or more. Land and sitework are extra in every case, and written bids from three local builders should replace these numbers before any commitment.

What lot size does this plan actually need?

The main-level footprint is roughly 72 feet wide at the widest point, but the side-load garage drives the real requirement. Plan on a minimum of 90 feet of buildable width for a comfortable driveway turn, with 110+ preferable for a relaxed motor court. If the lot is 70–90 feet, use the front-load garage alternate drawing instead. Depth requirement is 80–110 feet to accommodate the house plus the generous rear porch.

Is the bonus room above the garage worth finishing up-front?

Usually no, at least not until the household use case is clear. Framing and insulating the bonus room during the main build costs $18,000–$32,000 depending on finish level. Finishing it two or three years later, once you know whether it's a teenager's bedroom, a dedicated home office, or a media room, costs about 20–30% more but produces a space that matches the actual use. Leave it unfinished unless you have a specific use case on day one.

Is 1,988 sq ft enough for a family of four?

Comfortably, for a family with two children under twelve, especially if the bonus room is finished as a fourth bedroom or office. Tight with two teenagers because of the shared hall bath; that's the real constraint, not the square footage. If the household projects two teenage years in the same home, budget for either finishing the bonus room and the bonus bath already drawn beside it as a third secondary bedroom, or consider a larger plan with separate secondary baths.

Can this plan be built without the basement?

Yes. The primary drawing is slab-on-grade or crawlspace. The basement is strictly optional and appears as an alternate main-level drawing that adds a basement stair beside the bonus-room stair. On a flat Southeastern lot, skip the basement; on a sloped lot, the basement walk-out option is usually the better call because it adds conditioned square footage for roughly half the per-square-foot cost of the main level.

Will the vaulted great room cause acoustic problems?

A vaulted room full of hard surfaces will sound noticeably livelier than one under a flat ceiling, yes. Soft materials fix most of it: a large wool rug beneath the seating, heavy lined curtains at the two pairs of rear French doors, an upholstered sofa in place of leather, and a large canvas or textile piece above the fireplace instead of a bare mantel. Budget for them as part of furnishing the great room, not as a repair once the echo becomes a complaint.

Does the plan price include modifications?

No. Architectural Designs sells the plan as drawn, and the three alternate drawings (front-load garage, basement stair, unfinished basement) are included at no additional charge. Custom modifications (mirroring the plan, moving a wall, changing truss spans, modifying window sizes) are a separate service and are quoted per change. Budget $2,000–$6,000 for a modification package if you know you'll want changes before construction.

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The Short Verdict

Plan 51772HZ is one of the stronger 1,900–2,100 sq ft single-story modern farmhouse layouts on the Architectural Designs marketplace. The split-bedroom diagram is properly executed, the laundry placed steps from the primary suite is worth the price of the plan on its own, the walk-in pantry is genuine rather than nominal, and the bonus room over the garage gives the plan a flexibility most of its peers lack. The real trade-offs (the single hall bath shared by the secondary bedrooms, the bonus-room stair landing close to the primary suite, and a vaulted-volume HVAC load) are genuine and worth raising with your builder before you commit, not after.

For an empty-nester or a young family in the Southeast on a lot between 90 and 120 feet wide, Plan 51772HZ belongs on the short list. To see the same board-and-batten, vaulted-interior and warm-wood language applied to an existing house, our concept study of a builder-grade suburban house reworked as a modern farmhouse makes a useful companion: a different house and the same vocabulary, shown in renderings rather than as a finished build.

By The Layered Homes editorial team