I don't have a solution to your problem, but only wanted to say hold your ground until resolved. We aren't at the age of needing no stairs yet, but 4 of the 5 doors leading into this single story home have only thresholds, not a step. So easy and convenient. We've been able to entertain friends with issues, friends with knee or hip surgeries healing, and a friend in wheelchair now from MS can take a break from his own home and be comfortable, socialize here. Built by a doctor and his wife in 1955 as their own retirement home and they gave careful - now appreciated - thought to construction. Your contractor may try to make it sound like a little thing, it's the little things that count.

It’s unfortunate that they skipped something so important to you but that is the downfall with production builders, they are set up to do things their way every time. In this case a 6” slab on top of the existing would be the easiest, yes they will need to reframe opening which should be easy unless siding has gone on. Will the driveway be too steep now?

Pouring another 6" of concrete seems to create other problems.

Floor to ceiling height would be lessened, along with grading of drive way etc.

Perhaps just have a 2 step Step built with a large landing and handrail.

If it becomes a problem down the road, you could have a "lift" installed to

get them up to door level. Make sure there is electrical close by for the lift.

Another option instead of lift would be one of the chairs that fit along the wall.

Make sure there is support there when framing.

Sorry ProSource, if you read my post, that was a non option for us. It isn’t reasonable for us to find raw land in this area and start from scratch with a custom build. Parents are in mid 70’s and living in the same neighborhood as adult children and grandchildren is what is most important. They are currently 45 mins away in an older home with ongoing maintenance issues. This will be a major upgrade in quality of home, even with the two steps from garage.

I just was wanting to see if anyone had similar issues or ideas on possible fixes. This isn’t a fly by night builder and although trust has eroded in terms of getting exactly what we want, I am not concerned that they will disappear and leave us high and dry. I am not looking for help in solving a builder dispute online. If we feel we need to escalate with lawyers or get outside opinions from other contractors we can and absolutely will. We will be talking with the builder again later this week, so I thought I would try to research this issue and see what I could come up with in the meantime.

Thanks all! An easy to live in home is what we were trying to accomplish with the mindset of trying to look ahead for potential issues. We just don’t know how to go about getting a level entry from where we are now. Even the extra concrete only gets us to one step.

The problem with a two step ramp is the space it takes up in the garage. I can’t really foresee them needing electric chair lift for two steps, but I suppose anything can happen. FWIW, most other relatives lived a long active life.

If you have to go with steps, is there any way to make them deep? You’d want them deep enough to accommodate a person using a walker and/or a person and a wheelchair on each landing.

That’s an interesting thought, bytheriver.....I suppose we could make each one large like a landing size each but then that takes up a lot of space in the garage.

Anyone have any thoughts about tearing up garage floor and rebuilding it higher? They’d still have to reframe doors but at least we wouldnt have the bottom 6” of side wall framing buried under concrete. They haven’t framed the bonus room above the garage yet, so maybe we wouldn’t have to lose height?

What do the plans you signed off on show? That is what they need to give you

"If you have to go with steps, is there any way to make them deep? You’d want them deep enough to accommodate a person using a walker and/or a person and a wheelchair on each landing."

My sister and I cared for my mother after she became incapacity and needed first a walker and then a wheelchair. We had one small step out of the house and onto a large landing and then from the landing onto the walkway that led to the driveway. It might as well have been Mt. Everest. My mother was also a peanut at 5'2" and 105lbs. It didn't matter. It was very challenging to maneuver. You need to stand your ground and plan for worst but hope for the best.

IMO to make the steps deeper like a alnding will take more space tahn aramp type entry which BTW is not such a bad idea for sure it is better than one step IMO maybe at some time down the road one of the parents muight be in a wheel chair and bless that ramp. I am in my mid 70s still find stairs not ahuge issue but we have a friend in a wheel choir and we built a removeable ramp for him to use to get from his car to out entry and it seems like a great answer . I think adding 6” of concrete to the garge floor still keeps one step so really not the answer I f all else is as you expected take the fee back get the ramp and move on. One step or two will make no difference if your paerents can’t handle steps.

Could you post a plan of the garage showing dimensions and where the doors are? Maybe we'll be able to come up with another option.

Also, if you are concerned about losing space in the garage, is it storage space or car space? If storage space, perhaps the builder might put up a shed for you.

I feel your pain and understand the need. We had a small two step entrance to our main door. We had the front yard landscaped and had them regrade the path to the front door so that there is no step, just a gradual graded walkway from the driveway to the front door. Wheelchair and walker accessible, but not obvious. Most people don't even realize it's graded not flat.

Thanks for all the feedback. I realize we are not in that great of a position and may end up having to accept whatever concession the builder will give us. However, we will continue to push for other options and I feel it is too early to give in. Parents are entirely mobile now and we were trying to eliminate steps because they could end up causing a fall which would then make the steps a problem. Level entry wasn’t even on their radar, it was something I became aware of through other family members either needing it or having the foresight to plan for it. Turns out, parents had been concerned about steps as they age, but never thought it was a possibility, and didn’t want to be asking for the impossible so they never brought it up. This is in an area close to Blue Ridge Mountains.

I feel like I need to get a better understanding of what would be involved in rebuilding the garage at the level of the home-I don’t have knowledge of construction and framing to know what is feasible and what isn’t. I wish I knew enough to have seen that the levels were different when they did the footers. However, they poured the garage floor before they framed the living space so I couldn’t see that it was off until they started framing and it became obvious.

There is not another lot we could switch to, it was the last release of a large established neighborhood. We had originally picked a different lot, but then switched to this one due to it being the flattest.

It is a two car garage, and they currently have only one, but ramp would reduce storage space for lawnmower, yard tools, etc. A shed would be the next best thing, but would take up yard space. I will keep that in consideration if all else fails.

Generally - they wanted to do the minimum amount of excavation / fill possible. In order to have a garage level with the house, they would have had to bring in fill and compact it up to the level of the finished floor elevation. It's more work.

The got down to undisturbed earth for solid footings, set the footing and then poured the garage slab. Depending on the crawlspace height and the frost line - that's your disparity.

It can be done - but it's "different" and takes focus and attention during the footings phase - and needs to be deliberate. And this is an important factor in the livability of the house, so I hope you get it resolved. I'd see what the 6" of concrete would do for the garage and the driveway and maybe get someone to help you visualize what other changes would need to be made (i.e. reframing the door opening, moving a window above the garage, etc) to ensure that the cure doesn't royally screw up something else.

Hang in there

I would give more consideration to the ramp option. It may be very useful in the future. My very fit MIL ended up in a wheelchair after a stroke. Ya never know.

I repeat what did you sign off of on the plans?

Hi all,

Thank you all who answered this post. I wanted to give you an update since things got real crazy for quite a while. I know when I read posts, I always want to find out the resolution. This situation is that we were buying a home from a production builder. After carefully re-reading the fine print in the contract, we realized that we didn't really have much power to force them to upholding our selections and options. We were in contract with them as a buyer and seller, not as a buyer and a builder. Any customizations and selections were totally within their legal right to follow through with or not as they chose. We could have cancelled the contract but then would have been without a home for our in laws. There was not another lot left to swap to for a do-over. We decided to forge on ahead, and actually banded together with some other neighbors on the court to keep each other on our toes in regard to preventing more major mistakes happening. We know this was the best option for us and the parents. They do not have many years(if any) left and they want to spend it living in the same neighborhood as grandkids, not waiting around for perfection. Also, since we started the process pre-covid, we would have ended up spending loads more to get less of a home further away. We did have them build three shallow steps into the house from the garage and if we need a ramp in the future, they will convert it for us.

They moved in May, and their home is in the perfect spot for them at the end of the cul-de-sac. They see all the neighbors and dogs walking around the loop and there is a trail that adjoins the older and newer section of the neighborhood that comes out right past their home. Due to the trails, hills, and trees, the backyard has 180 degrees of lovely trees with no other homes in sight. This was absolutely the right move for them, it just was a LOT of headache for us. We tried to not stress them about it too much because we wanted them to actually enjoy living in the home and not have a distaste for it because of all the problems. And yes, we did have a few more minor issues. The main take-away is to carefully read the contract and then determine what is worth cancelling it over. I was not familiar with a builder selling as a seller, not as a contractor, but I realize they do this to keep things rolling and to protect their bottom line. I am sure many people would not choose this set up for themselves, but for our family this has been the right choice. Overall, the quality of the build is very good so we are not concerned about things falling apart on us.

Oh wait, but there's more...DH, myself, and our 15yo son have moved in with them! We decided to relocate across the country so DH can spend time with his parents while they are still with us. They are doing great and are very active and DH golfs weekly with his dad. We have made the bonus room over the garage our little apartment and son is in one of the 2 bedrooms downstairs. The other br is a guest room/office for DH to work from home. It is tight for sure, and we have two enormous storage units with all our stuff. We are in the middle of designing our forever home and we have taken GREAT care to vet the buider for our future home so we don't run into this type of struggle again.

Thanks again! Juls

Good to hear from you and that all's well that ends well. Good luck on the next project.