We're near the top of a ridge, but our house is on the downhill side, meaning that the front of the house is at ground level, and the back drops away for a walk-out basement. I much prefer the front of the house being at ground level so guests (and us) don't have to climb stairs to get in the front door. In our case, the view is out the back, so it is a win-win. One big consideration is where the water goes when it rains. You do NOT want to be at the bottom of the hill! We also have a view out the front, but the house is laid out to take advantage of the view in the back, so the only time we see the front view is from the front porch.

If I were younger, I guess I wouldn't care about climbing stairs to get in the front door. The view would win out, as long as I could see over the houses across the street.

Other considerations are where you are going to park, and how you will get from there into the house. If the garage is at the basement level, will you want to lug groceries up the stairs? Maybe we could help more if we knew how much of a slope there is.

I think it depends on just how much up hill or down hill these lots are. Here in western NC there are a lot of homes (up or down hill) that are prisons when there's snow or ice - you can't get in if you've been out when the snow comes and if you're already home you can't get out till it's gone. As mushcreek said, there are often lots of stairs to get to the front and as a result many of these up hill homes really have no front - the driveway takes you directly to the side of the house where the garage usually is and that's your guest's view as they approach your house. The down hill houses here often sit so far below street level that the top of the roof is barely above the street and sometimes not at all. No curb appeal, no sun for any rooms on the front of the house but boy the views out the back can be magnificent. Ya pays your money and ya takes your choice!! Personally, I choose something more level.

My first thought would be the downhill side. You can have a walkout basement, and views from the back of the house.

But my grandfather had a sloped lot, and the house was set back from the street. He had a steep driveway. He had to be very vigilant about clearing and salting it to keep it from getting too slippery to use.

So I guess it depends on whether you'll be putting the house close enough to the street to avoid the driveway down to your house.

Mushcreek

according to google maps terrain view it looks to slope down about 80 feet or so in 190 feet (to be honest I'm not sure how accurate that is or how steep that really makes it). I really like the idea of having a walk out basement. I feel like drainage wouldnt be a problem on either lot.
DLM2000

I wish level lots here in Fairbanks were more common because that would take a lot of the headache out of this :)amberm145
its about 2 acres and id be putting it back far enough from the street so that i can have some privacy.

Also does anyone have any preference or reason for me to believe that it would be easier to build and excavate on the uphill side. I'll be building this house out of pocket so I'll only be able to do one thing at a time as budget allows so the cheaper the better.

downhill first
uphill second

As we were looking for lots over the past few years, we ruled out up sloping lots simply because they don't work well for one-level living because steps at the very least steps would be involved to reach the main level and often the garage must be in the basement level. With the down sloping lot we chose the garage and main living will be at street level, with a walkout basement taking up part of the back below. We were looking primarily at smaller, more urban lots with little setbacks and short driveways, so YMMV -- much may depend on the lot's size and specific topography.

We live on a hill, up in the front, flat in the back. We are surrounded by lots of lakes and water, so up hill is preferred in our situation. I love having a more birds eye view, but walking up the drive or even driving up in snow, can be a bit of a pain if you don't have four wheel drive, but I suspect in your neck of the woods, everyone is prepared to deal with snow. z

I agree - those look pretty darn level! Not sure where the slope is coming in on either of those pictures.

uphill 1st. it is great for always allowing water drainage away from the house when it sits up a little high. Not always the best for a walk out basement though. I dislike houses where the back deck has to be so high as that really limits the use of the back yard (in my opinion). Do hill first :)

After looking at the pictures a little better they do look a lot more level than they actually are. it was just a quick google street view and screen shot should have taken a little more time to look them over I think street view ma have failed me. they are definitely steeper than they look. but also after listening here and a couple other forums it seems people are usually talking about building on a lot steeper lot than i would be dealing with. thanks for all the ideas I just called my the listing realtor for both properties and if i want to stay in that area I'm going to have to go on the up hill side, the lower lot went pending yesterday.

Downhill...you may not get out of the driveway, but you can always get back home. Uphill, you can get out, but can you get back up? This is with huge snowfall, of course :)

I recall seeing a house in wisconsin whose driveway had to be a >30degree slope..looked like more than 60 degrees!. Being from the DEAD FLAT prairies, I'm still wondering how you could ever get up to that house. There was a gravel driveway and a truck up there though, so it must be possible!

But I think the other posters have made good comments. I'll agree that an uphill climb (as a guest, or with groceries) would be pretty tiring.

Pick a higher lot so water does not come in a heavy rain.

If youre building a new home, its pretty easy to get the water away with any topography or room for extra dirt. I am always skeptical when I hear this reason given for justifying the multiple steps going into a door. We prefer to eliminate as many steps as possible and can usually achieve a no-step threshold for main entrances.

Why would you pick a lot uphill from the drive/entrance/approach is from if you had an equally good pick for downhill? I think its poor fung shui and unappealing to have steps or uphill slope on your final approach to the entrance.

We finished a house in the Rocky Mountains (snowy, similar to your situation) on an uphill lot. We bought the lot years ago, and based our decision on things like orientation, view, the other lot choices and a trail running along the back of the lot (which was a plus for us). We might have purchased a downhill lot if it had all of the other features that we wanted.

What we like, now, about an uphill lot. Our slope is roughly the same as the lot you're looking at - doesn't seem like much until you want to put a house on it. Our driveway has a slope, of course, but it isn't very steep. It gets snow buildup because of the orientation, but not icy and we didn't have any issues this winter with difficulty in getting up the drive.

We have a ground-level entrance, which is much better in terms of snow buildup and shoveling outdoor stairs in the winter. Inside, a stairway (half a level, a turn, then another half level) goes from the entry up to the main level of the house. So yes, we have to bring groceries up stairs, but at least they're inside.

We have a great outdoor space out back that's dug a bit into the hillside (about 2 feet or so), with hot tub, grill, tables and chairs, lounge chairs, etc. The view out back is the forest (similar to your lot); it's peaceful, and we love looking out at the trees and animals. I've found that the views are more enjoyable from ground level. (Our "main" house is a walkout basement with a deck, where the views are from one flight up.). One advantage that we didn't consider is that it's very nice to have ground-floor access out back. Spouse can go out to the hot tub without going down any stairs. And I can head out on the trails behind the house directly from our main area. It works very well for us.

We only have a small deck out front, partly because it's a northern exposure and we thought it would be too cold for a bigger deck there. Turns out, that's not the case. But because it's a retirement house, our little Juliette deck is just the right size for the spouse and I to sit out front in the morning with coffee and the newspaper.

As with most things, there are advantages and disadvantages to an uphill or a downhill lot, but some of the factors may be different for you, based on how you would use the lot and the house you put on it.

Sorry to threadjack, but I think my concern is along these lines so this seemed like a good starting point. :)

We are looking at buying a lot where the house would need to be nestled into the hill, basically a berm home (or a partial berm home?) I'd like to get the garage, kitchen, living, and two bedrooms all on the first floor, and then two more bedrooms on a second story. But of course since the back side of the house can't have windows, that's extremely limiting.

What I'm on the hunt for are berm home floorplans that come close to this description. I thought some of you might have some hints!

You could always start your own thread, but I think your thoughts can be a good fit for those with lots that slope uphill from the entrance/driveway. I dont necessarily think you have to limit yourself to plans meant for berming but it depends just how bermed you want to take it. You may need more retaining walls to give the lower level more access to daylight. Searching for walkout basement plans might be a good start. Your best bet of course, is to hire the right professional designer.

There are many tools for hilling for corn, cucumber..., such as wheel hoe but it is difficult to speed up your work because traction is always harder than the thrust of a plough.

On the other hand, your plant are more vulnerable to using a wheel hoe than The Duc's plow, because wheel hoe works on both sides, when your plant is taller than 0.7 inch, the wheel becomes useless ( The Duc's Plow only hill one side ).

Four years ago? Bet the OP has resolved it by now.