Nine has been just fine for us, with a few higher ceilings to accommodate higher windows in some spaces (Kitchen sink area; MBA; Library). How big do you want your doors and windows, to not look 'miniature'? Do you have a lot of floor space? You don't want rooms to look like elevator shafts...or hotel lobbies.

Building higher is only part of the additional cost. There's also the need for bigger everything...and higher HVAC expenses. Where are you building? Very warm climates sometimes warrant more space for heat to rise.

You really don't have the room sizes in 2200sqft. to need more than 10 foot ceilings to get a comfortable/livable but still cozy feeling. We have 10' in a 28x40 great room. It's fine. Hang out in some spaces of the same size as you're planning. You need real experience to go on.

All the time. I’m talking kitchen, great room, foyer. I’m just trying to get a ballpark to see if it’s worth it.

10 feet is probably plenty tall ! Go tour some homes . If you really love soaring ceilings go for a vaulted or two story great room . Definitely a lot harder to dust and clean - AND if you have an over look from the second story , you get a real good view of the things you can barely reach to dust!! Lol

9 feet is wonderful, and really worth stopping there. Any taller, you need larger doors and windows (which cost). Actually, I almost regret going from 8 foot to 9 foot - as with my knee problems I can no longer change out the fire alarm batteries by myself....

I don't think it is going to be $150k. However, it is difficult to give any meaningful estimation because 2,200 square feet is not a useful data point. You can do 2,200 square feet as a large open area with less than 200 linear feet of walls, or you could break it up into a lot of walls with a lot of drywall, paint, and lumber.

I will say that, tall ceilings in a multi-story house are a trap. We have tall ceilings in basement, first, and second floor. I am in good health and I would still rather slam my nuggets in a drawer than run down to basement to grab something I need on the upper floor. It also requires ridiculous amounts of stairway space.

Thank you, that’s a lot to consider. We meet with the builders this week

How much time do you expect to spend above eight feet in your kitchen, great room, and foyer??

The 36" from 9' to 12' will also require another 5 stair steps and the space they take in both floor levels, typically higher engineering sheer loads so sometimes more footing size, larger hold downs.

Not worth it. i have 12’ celings in my home ( large single level ), I hate them. As others have mentioned, just changing out the batteries on our smoke detectors is a challenge.

I like high ceilings. If you live in a warm climate then the higher ceilings are definitely worth considering. Personally, I wouldn't build a house with anything less than 10 ft ceilings in the public areas, but you also have to upgrade the window and door sizes.

We're going 12' and 10' on our new 5,800 sf build open plan house. But largely because that's the expected height on new builds in the area such as the ones below.

You don't want rooms to look like.. hotel lobbies.

Au contraire. (I had relatives who lived in luxe hotels most of their lives.)

**

As for the pedestrian cleaning and maintenance chores, I assume you have "people" for those.

Oh, and install an elevator.

Oh, and install an elevator.

I am a fan of residential elevators, but will argue that affordable residential elevators are a far cry from convenient and should not be your primary method of moving between living areas in your home. You can still render them useless by leaving the inner door ajar on the first floor while your grandmother is on the third floor.

They are certainly a great aging in place resource, and great for homes that have secondary or guest living areas on other floors, but I would still not call the elevator to get down to the basement freezer. It is just so much faster to take the stairs.

"Oh, and install an elevator."

For use or display?

Pretty cool @worthy

Suddenly we're getting more designs with 12' main level (3 pending bids) and I'm sure they will be surprised by the numbers coupled with all else that's changed since discussions a year back that assumed pre pandemic normal cost increases & 10' plate lines.

No complaints from the elevator we installed over a decade ago (hydraulic for a commercial developer who knew to have them maintained) and I've priced two more this year.

[Elevators] are certainly a great aging in place resource.

To match the aging in place process of obtaining zoning, grading and building permits in the slowest most expensive municipality of the Toronto GTA.

I assumed that some of the elevator advocates, have actually lived in houses with elevators.

If you look at any metro area that built up instead of out (e.g. New York or Chicago) the fire department will make thousands of runs per year to close residential lift doors. Traditional residential elevators (non vacuum tube) have an inner and outer door. If the inner door is not fully closed, the car will not move. Most of those with elevators are well aware of pushing the call button and seeing the light blink once...

This isn't really a problem for a single elderly person staying in their home, and is manageable with two non-active people with mobility issues, but more than that and it starts getting inconvenient.

Elevators are not a good alternative to stairs in an active household. If I leave my phone in the basement and I need it in my upper floor office I could walk out and call the elevator (which is only 33% likely to be on the floor I need) wait for it to arrive on the upper floor, take it down two flights and then back up two flights. Or I could just walk down the nearly 40 stairs get my phone and walk back up. I will walk it every time because it is so much faster.

I don't know of a single person without mobility issues who feels their residential elevator is a substitute for stairs. So while elevators are great, they are not going to make access between 12' tall areas as convenient as access between 9' tall areas.

I’m curious…what is the standard door size for 12’ ceilings? We have 10’ in the custom home we built 10 years ago, and have 8’ doors. I think the standard size door for an 8’ ceiling is 6’7” or something like that. Does that mean a 12’ ceiling needs something between a 9 and 10 foot door? I mean, crap, our doors are solid and heavy…I cannot imagine how heavy a 10’ door would be. But i also think 8’ doors would look too short with 12’ ceilings. 🤔