Are you blessed with a steep site and struggling to work out the best way to tackle it? While steep sites have their drawbacks, there’s also the opportunity to use them to your advantage: capture spectacular views, open up to the garden and light, and create a variety of spaces that capitalise on the contours of your block. Here are 5 ways you can deal with a steep or sloping site (and ensure the cards are in your favour)…

1. Split level

Split level designs work really well on steep, sloping sites, by allowing you to follow the slope of the land to minimise the costs associated with excavating and cut and fill. The beauty of split level design is spaces can overlook and engage with each other while still having their own personality. Stepping up (or down) a few steps into another room creates a really nice journey within the house and doesn’t come with the same drawbacks as climbing a whole flight of stairs. You can also use the split level to your advantage by maintaining the same ceiling height across the split so, for example, you might make the lounge area might feel more cosy and intimate thanks to a lower ceiling, while the kitchen and dining area can enjoy dramatic high ceilings (and some feature lighting).

2. Dramatic cantilevers

Use the sloping site to your advantage by cantilevering over the land as it slopes away. You can avoid cutting and filling your site and also potentially avoid retaining walls by leaving the slope intact and using minimal columns to cantilever rooms over the steep site. This allows you to achieve some dramatic heights and capture the best views, without complicated engineering.

3. Upside down

By placing your primary rooms at the top of the slope, you can take advantage of the best views in you main living spaces. This ‘upside down’ design is perfect for site that slope towards the street, so you can have the garage or carport at street level, then the bedrooms and your living areas at the top enjoying the view from up there. This also allows the opportunity for the living spaces to open onto a balcony or terrace to the front and the backyard at the rear.

4. Avoid touching the ground altogether

Of course your home will have to touch the ground at some point, but if your seriously sloping site is going to take a lot of retaining walls and excavation work to get out out of the ground, perhaps your best option is to just let go and design a house raised up off the ground on columns, instead. Like the cantilever option, this approach can allow you to take advantage of any views, it’ll protect you from flooding and who doesn’t want to enter their home via gangplank? It’ll feel like you’re living in a treehouse (or in The Jetsons) rather than all those mere mortals living on the ground. Pfft.

5. Work with the block, not against it

Sloping blocks often have relatively shallow soil depths, so if you start messing with the slope too much, you’re likely to hit rock, blowing out your timeline and budget. It’s like trying to fit a square peg through a round hole! That’s why the best designs for sloping blocks work with the site, rather than against it, following the contours and keeping the required excavation to a minimum. So if you have a sloping block, don’t just take any floor plan and try to fit it on your site, work with a designer who can help you create a design that suits. You’ll end up with a home that flaunts its assets and conceals its flaws.

Do you have a sloping block that’s leaving you scratching your head? We can help. Get in touch and we can help you create the perfect home for your sloping site!