Single Storey vs Double Storey Homes Perth: Which Is Right for You?

Single Storey vs Double Storey: Which Is Right for Your Perth Home?

It’s one of the earliest decisions in any custom home project, and one of the most consequential. Single or double storey shapes everything that follows: the spatial experience of the home, how it sits on the block, how it connects to outdoor areas, how it feels to live in, today and in twenty years.

The honest answer is that there’s no universal right choice. There’s only the right choice for your block, your family, and your life. This guide is designed to help you think it through, clearly and without the sales agenda that colours a lot of advice in this industry.

Thinking about building in Perth? Book a free Discovery consultation.

The Case for Single Storey

Everything flows. Life is easier.

Single storey homes have a spatial simplicity that’s easy to underestimate until you live in one. No stairs between you and the kitchen at 2am. No carrying laundry between floors. No age-related consideration about whether this home works for the long term. For families with young children, for those who want the option of ageing in place, or simply for those who value ease of movement through their home, single storey is often the natural answer.

The indoor-outdoor connection is unrivalled.

Perth’s climate is one of the great assets of living here, and single storey homes maximise the connection between inside and out. Living zones that open directly to alfresco areas, bedrooms that step out to gardens, a kitchen that serves both the indoor dining table and the outdoor one. These connections are harder to achieve in a double storey home.

Site planning is more flexible.

On a wide block with generous proportions, a well-designed single storey home can spread out in ways that feel genuinely luxurious. North-facing living, cross-ventilation, private outdoor zones, all of these are more achievable when the design has ground level to work with.

Where single storey works best:

Wide blocks with good proportions. Families where convenience and flow are priorities. Clients building for long-term living and age-in-place considerations. Blocks in established suburbs with single storey character.

The Case for Double Storey

Space without sprawl.

On a narrow or compact block, increasingly common in Perth’s established inner suburbs — double storey is often the only way to achieve the floor area a family genuinely needs. Going up rather than out preserves outdoor space, maintains separation from boundaries, and unlocks a footprint that a single storey build simply can’t deliver on the same block.

Separation of zones.

One of the things double storey homes do uniquely well is zone separation. A parents’ retreat upstairs with genuine privacy from a children’s living area below. A home office that’s acoustically separate from the main living zone. Bedrooms that feel removed from the activity of the ground floor. For families with teenagers, for those who work from home, or for clients who want genuine spatial separation, two levels change the quality of living.

Presence and street appeal.

A well-designed double storey home has a presence on the street that a single storey home typically can’t match. The facade becomes a genuine architectural statement. For clients in suburbs where the built character is evolving, where design ambition is being expressed along the street, a double storey home can make a confident contribution to that conversation.

Views.

Perth’s topography means many blocks have view potential that only a second storey unlocks, river glimpses, treetop outlooks, sea views. If your block has this potential, not exploring it with a second level may mean leaving one of its greatest assets untouched.

Where double storey works best:

Narrow or compact blocks. Families needing maximum floor area. Clients wanting zone separation and privacy. Blocks with view potential. Inner-suburb builds where the scale fits the character.

What Your Block Tells You

In a genuinely custom process, the block usually has a strong opinion. Its orientation, proportions, slope, and relationship to neighbours all point toward a design response, and sometimes that response is clearly one or two storeys.

A north-facing 500sqm block in Karrinyup with good setbacks is telling you to spread out, to connect the living zone to an alfresco that gets afternoon sun, to give bedrooms garden outlooks, to live at ground level. A 300sqm lot in Subiaco with a five-metre frontage is telling you to go up, to find your floor area vertically, to put the rooftop or upper balcony to work, to design a facade that holds its own on a street of character homes.

This is why Select Living begins every project with Discovery, not drawings. We start with your block, your brief, and the way you live, and let the design follow. Sometimes that confirms what you already suspected. Sometimes it opens up a direction you hadn’t considered.

Explore our single storey home designs

The Bottom Line

Both single storey and double storey homes can be extraordinary. Both can be poorly designed. The decision matters, but what matters more is working with a builder who treats your block as a unique opportunity, not a standard site.

At Select Living, every home starts from scratch. If you’re genuinely undecided, bring that to your Discovery consultation. It’s exactly the kind of question we’re designed to help you think through, honestly, without an agenda, and with 25 years of Perth-specific experience to draw on.

Your style. Your story. Your home. Let’s start the conversation.