Multi-Generational Homes: A Blueprint for Togetherness and Considerations for Quality Home Construction

Introduction

The idea of multi-generational living is becoming more and more popular. People are choosing to live with their children and grandkids all in one home. And why not? There are certainly a lot of benefits to this setup. On the one hand, it’s a great way to save money. On average, it costs less to live under one roof than it does when everyone has their own place. And it’s not just an economic issue.

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It’s also about the culture and closeness of the family. Multi-generational living is just one way that the American family is changing, but when we think about it, isn’t it really a way that the American family is returning to its roots?

Benefits of Financial Nature:

• One of the biggest advantages of co-owning a property is the possibility of sharing living expenses. Imagine spreading out mortgage payments, utilities, and the never-ending grocery bill over two or more households. The financial strain is no longer on just one family but is rather a shared issue. Indeed, it is likely that diversifying your household among three or more people will, in many cases, make the payment of the large ticket items that come with homeownership more reasonable. It makes me think that the stability you acquire through co-ownership is also good for the local economy.
• When you pool resources, the construction of a home can be of such quality that it is beyond what can be expected from individual families. This gives you a dream home of a size beyond what can be expected from pooling resources or from individual wealth. It is easier on your pocketbook, which often means that you can have a more amenity-filled life, in a quality of life scenario where some of the stressors have been removed and the appearance of a step-up in class has taken place.
• Living in a household with multiple generations has benefits that go beyond the relationships between family members. One big advantage of shared living is the reduced need for certain kinds of paid help that single-family households often must hire. Take, for instance, the services paid for by many single-family households to help children with after-school care or family members with meals or medication. Those sorts of things can be accomplished in a shared living space at a lower cost to each household.

Benefits that affect one’s emotions and social life:

• Living in the same house can bring people closer. It can give them an opportunity to know each other inside out. It can provide a foundation for shared experiences and traditions that may not be strange to some members of the family but can be a bridge of not-so-distant past that exists among the current members. Living in a household can empower people with a sense of being a part of a larger whole—a family—a family they can call their own.
• Loneliness and isolation can really bring people down. It’s something that can happen to anyone, at any age. But it’s especially bad when it happens to our parents and grandparents, because we love them so much. And it is a big reason why I’m a big advocate for multi-generational living.

Cons of Multi-Generational Homes

Privacy is a crucial hurdle in a multi-generational living setup. It is not something we can choose to overlook. Yet, what we also mustn’t overlook is real estate: it is not too easy to create units with four equally sized bedrooms or with the massive, mountainous open floor plans we have come to know. It’s just not feasible for so many Americans, and it’s not all that necessary either! If you can find it within yourself to try and figure out the following points, you may actually enjoy your close encounter of the “three (or more) generations living together” kind.

Key Considerations for Quality Home Construction in Multi-Generational Homes

The privacy and independence of the people who live in a multigenerational home are ensured when each constituent part of the home is clearly defined as a separate living, dining, or sleeping (bedroom) space. This separation allows the cohabitating generations in the household not to feel like they are living right on top of one another or without a certain amount of much-needed personal and “personable” space. It’s not necessary that you give over half the home to one family and a quarter each to two other families, although this can work in some cases. What it does mean is that you should provide equal amounts of private space to each individual within the home.

Conclusion

It is vital to set up separate spaces for the different families within the multigenerational household. This requires that the house be laid out in a particular way and that it have enough space for the different families to each have their “own” section of the house. For the most part, each section should have its own bathrooms, the character of which resides in the section as an extension of the family that lives there. They can also lead to conflicts if some people aren’t given enough room to breathe or if they don’t have an equally private space of their own. It’s true that everyone has to share some part of the home, such as the kitchen, dining room, or backyard. But those shared spaces become problems only when there aren’t enough private spaces.