When you’re shopping for a new home in Arizona, one of the first decisions you’ll make is whether you want a single-story or a two-story floor plan. So naturally you are probably interested in the benefits of a single story home. It might seem like a simple preference, but for many buyers it’s a decision that has a real and lasting impact on daily quality of life.
Single-story living (also known as ranch style living) has surged in popularity in recent years, and the reasons go far beyond just avoiding stairs. From accessibility to energy efficiency to the simple pleasure of a home that flows naturally from room to room, the benefits of a single story home are practical, personal, and long-lasting.
At Scott Communities, we’ve been building new homes in Arizona since 1994 and our newest community, La Privada in Goodyear, takes that commitment to its natural conclusion: every single home in the community is single-story. Here’s why that matters.
1. Easier Everyday Living
The most immediate benefit of single-story living is simply how it feels to move through your home every day. There are no stairs to climb with groceries, no hauling laundry up and down between floors, no waking the household when you’re up early or staying up late. Everything you need (bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, laundry) is on one level.
This isn’t a minor convenience. Over the course of years and decades, the ease of single-story living translates into a genuinely more comfortable lifestyle. It’s especially meaningful for families with young children, pet owners, anyone recovering from an injury, and buyers who are thinking about how the home will serve them as they age.
2. Better Accessibility Now and in the Future
One of the most compelling benefits of a single story (or ranch style) home is its built-in accessibility. Wide doorways, step-free transitions between rooms, and no staircase mean that the home works for everyone: from toddlers learning to walk to grandparents visiting for the holidays to any family member navigating a temporary or permanent mobility challenge.
For buyers practicing “aging in place”, the increasingly popular choice to stay in your own home as you get older rather than move to a smaller or assisted living space, single-story design is essential. When your home is already set up for easy, barrier-free living, you have far more flexibility to stay in the home you love for the long term.
Arizona’s warm climate and retirement-friendly lifestyle make this especially relevant for buyers in the Phoenix metro area. Many of our buyers at Arroyo Grande in Casa Grande, The Views and The Retreat at Rancho Cabrillo in Peoria, and now La Privada in Goodyear are making intentional, future-forward decisions when they choose single-story.
3. Cleaner Indoor-Outdoor Flow
Arizona outdoor living is a significant part of why people move here and single-story homes are designed to take full advantage of it. When your living spaces and bedrooms are all on the same level as your backyard and patio, the connection between inside and outside is seamless.
Open floor plans with multi-slide glass doors that open directly to a covered rear patio are a staple of our Scott Communities designs and they work beautifully in single-story layouts. You’re not moving through multiple levels to get outside. You simply step out.
Whether it’s morning coffee on the patio, an afternoon in the pool, or an evening around the grill, single-story living keeps you connected to your outdoor space in a way that a two-story home simply can’t replicate.
4. Better Privacy Between Bedrooms
Counterintuitively, single-story homes often offer better bedroom privacy than two-story designs. In a well-designed single-story floor plan, bedrooms can be split to opposite ends of the home placing the primary suite on one side and secondary bedrooms on the other. This “split bedroom” layout gives everyone in the household a genuine sense of their own space.
In a two-story home, bedrooms are stacked and adjacent, with noise traveling easily through floors and ceilings. Sound from upstairs bedrooms, bathrooms, and activity areas carries throughout the home. Single-story living eliminates that entirely.
5. Lower Maintenance and Easier Upkeep
Single-story homes are simply easier to maintain. Cleaning windows, touching up exterior paint, clearing gutters, and inspecting the roof are all more straightforward on a one-level structure. There’s no second-floor scaffolding required, no specialized equipment for exterior maintenance, and no climbing an interior staircase with a vacuum cleaner.
For Arizona homeowners, this has particular relevance. Our climate calls for regular exterior attention such as weather sealing, stucco inspection, UV protection on windows. Having everything accessible at one level makes routine maintenance faster, easier, and often less expensive.
6. More Efficient Heating and Cooling
In Arizona’s climate, HVAC efficiency isn’t a luxury it’s a necessity. Single-story homes tend to be more efficient to heat and cool because conditioned air doesn’t have to fight against the natural tendency of hot air to rise. In a two-story home, keeping upper-level bedrooms comfortable in summer often requires more energy and a more complex HVAC system.
All Scott Communities homes, including every plan at La Privada, are ENERGY STAR® Certified, with high-performance insulation, windows, and HVAC systems designed specifically for the Arizona desert. Combined with the single-story advantage, our homeowners see real energy savings year after year.
7. Stronger Resale Appeal
Single-story homes consistently command strong demand in the resale market, particularly in Sun Belt states like Arizona. As the population ages and more buyers prioritize accessibility and ease of living, one-level homes are expected to remain in high demand. Choosing a ranch style home today is not just a lifestyle choice, it’s a smart long-term investment.
Popular Single-Story Floor Plans at Scott Communities
Across our communities, we offer a wide range of single-story floor plans designed to fit every lifestyle. From compact and efficient to expansive and resort-style.
Arroyo Grande — Casa Grande (from the $300s)
- Daisy: An efficient 3-bedroom design that’s ideal for first-time buyers or right-sizers, with a smart open layout.
- Poppy: A popular mid-size plan with 4 bedrooms, and a large 3-car garage, balancing space and value.
- Violet: Spacious 4-bedroom plus den living with an open great room and a well-appointed kitchen.
- Journey RV: A 4-bedroom plus den plan with an oversized RV garage, perfect for the Arizona adventurer.
The Views at Rancho Cabrillo — Peoria (from the $400s)
- Plan 4411: A thoughtfully designed single-story home with 3 bedrooms plus den, a split layout, and room for three cars.
- Plan 4412: Offers a casita option for multigenerational families or guests, plus an open living area.
- Plan 4413: Our second largest plan at The Views, with expansive square footage and premium layout options.
The Retreat at Rancho Cabrillo — Peoria (from the $600s)
- Oasis: A refined single-story design with elevated finishes and a flowing open layout featuring 4 bedrooms and a den.
- Sanctuary: A unique floor plan featuring 4 bedrooms each with their own bathroom and an oversized 4-car garage.
- Lavish RV: Combines luxury finishes with an oversized RV garage for the ultimate Arizona lifestyle home.
La Privada — Goodyear (from the $400s, coming 2026)
- Apex & Apex RV: A stunning single-story design that can fit up to 4-cars or an RV Garage, dramatic entry, and open-concept great room.
- Belmont: An efficient plan with 3 seperate bedrooms, a den, and extra storage with a quaint front porch.
- Ridgeline & Ridgeline RV: Generous square footage with optional RV garage, designed for buyers who want space and flexibility. Up to 6 bedrooms available!
La Privada: The Only All-Single-Story Builder in the Community
La Privada is a master-planned community that opened in Goodyear in 2026. It is home to four builders and this is where Scott Communities stands apart in a meaningful way.
The other three builders at La Privada will all offer a mix of single-story and two-story homes within the community. Scott Communities is the only builder at La Privada that will build exclusively single-story homes.
If single-story living is a priority for you, whether for accessibility, lifestyle, aesthetic, or investment reasons, Scott Communities is your builder at La Privada.
The Benefit of Living in an All-Single-Story Community
Most discussions about single-story homes focus on the individual home itself. But there’s a less-talked-about benefit that’s equally real: what it’s like to live in a neighborhood where every home is single-story.
When all homes in a community share the same roofline height, the neighborhood has a cohesive, intentional character. There’s a visual harmony that two-story homes interrupt. And that harmony translates into a more peaceful, private living environment for everyone.
Here’s what a single-story community offers that a mixed-height neighborhood simply can’t:
- Privacy in your own backyard. Two-story homes have second-floor windows that look directly into neighboring yards. In a community of single-story homes, your outdoor space stays yours.
- Consistent light and airflow. Without tall structures blocking sun and breeze, single-story neighborhoods feel more open and naturally ventilated.
- A quieter streetscape. One-story rooflines create a lower, calmer visual profile and the neighborhood feels more relaxed and less dense, even at the same lot sizes.
- Better neighbor-to-neighbor connection. There’s something inherently more community-oriented about a neighborhood where everyone is living at the same level. Front porches, driveways, and yard activity feel more connected and social.
- Long-term value consistency. In communities where all homes share the same architectural scale, values tend to be more stable and cohesive over time.
At Scott Communities’ section of La Privada, every home will share this character. It’s not just a collection of individual single-story homes, it’s a neighborhood designed from the ground up around a single-story lifestyle.
Ready to Experience Single-Story Living at Its Best?
Whether you’re drawn to the accessibility, the outdoor flow, the privacy, or simply the ease of coming home to a space where everything you need is on one level and the benefits of a single story home are real, and they compound over time.
Scott Communities has been building single-family homes in Arizona for over 30 years. From Arroyo Grande in Casa Grande to The Views and The Retreat in Peoria, every home we build reflects our commitment to thoughtful, livable, one-level design.
And at La Privada in Goodyear, our newest community opening in 2026, we’re bringing that commitment to a brand-new master-planned community, as the only builder offering exclusively single-story homes.
Join the La Privada VIP list at ScottCommunities.com to be among the first to see floor plans, pricing, and availability. Or contact us: we’d love to help you find the right single-story home for your life.