If you are thinking of removing the foyer staircase (I am assuming due to the added cost), do you think that the reduction in resale value would be greater or less than the cost of building the staircase?

What about building the stairs but scaling down on the construction cost (ie. use a straight run, no rounded treads, simple finish)?

I would expect removing the foyer stairs would hurt the home value more than the back ones. People expect grand staircases in grand foyers but not always a secondary stair...

When you say "decent round one" in the kitchen...what does that mean? A spiral stair? I would NOT have that as my only staircase...they can be hard for many people to navigate. What would you use the foyer space for if there was no staircase? Personally, I love beautiful, grand staircases. I think they add so much to a home.

Not only are spirals difficult to navigate, but how do you get your furniture upstairs?

That's a huge foyer to be empty, unless you are building on the scale of the Enchanted Home. Mine is 10x14 with an additional 10x5 vestibule and doesn't have stairs, but it will be furnished.

Skip the secondary stairs, not the primary ones if you want to contain costs on that element. A back stair is never as visually attractive as a nice foyer stair. Put your money in your needs first, wants second. You've got to have a way to access the second floor. That's a need. Having it be "grand" perhaps is not. Perhaps simplifying the main stairs and just letting the size of the space be the main "statement" here would suffice.

But, look at the build as a whole if you are busting the budget. Simplifying foundation jogs and roofing lines will save you as much or more than eliminating a large staircase. Ditto on cutting down on finish levels. Lessen the square footage you build now and possibly add on a wing later as the finances recover. Decide if this level of house is really more of a want than a need.

I agree that in most plans I would get rid of the back stairs first.

That said, i think you would get more constructive comments if you shared your floor plan.

I'm with Laura12.

thank you all. it is a great help.
the stair case is nice but the vast space left is also tempting though have no idea what to do with it. suggestions??

I personally would keep the stair case in the foyer, it will look very nice and serve its purpose. As you said, you don't know what to do with the space if you take it out. On the other hand, I can see lots of ideas for the stair case "space" off the kitchen...pocket office...kids' homework area, storage..etc. I think homes with one stair case function fine, unless you get into a REALLY large home.

I'd get rid of that secondary staircase and move the pantry over into that space. Then use the pantry space to improve the kitchen layout. It's pretty bad, and completely doesn't deliver to the level of grandeur that that staircase promises for the rest of the home. And what the heck is up with a one car garage? Is there a separate 3 car one elsewhere? That's also not suited to the level of home that the staircase promises. If you are envisioning a much more modest home as some of the rest of the details suggest, then yes, I'd rework that stair to be less grand, but I wouldn't eliminate it. And I'd reduce the size of the foyer as well. In fact, if you are envisioning a more modest home, perhaps this isn't the plan for you at all and you need to keep looking.

That is an unusual plan. That interior windowless dining room is odd. I would keep the front staircase too.

I think the staircase is only one of a number of issues with this plan.

There are a LOT of things I'd change about this rather strange plan, but the location of the stair access to the second floor isn't one of them. Yes, I'd reduce the ridiculously huge size of that foyer. Yes, I'd eliminate that curve. Yes, I'd get rid of the back stairs.

But, I'd also pretty much rework most everything else too.

The laundry room should be another bedroom, with the en suite bathroom in the other bath turned into a hall accessed bath to serve both bedrooms. The dining room would be a better location for the laundry room (just too large, but there's wasted space to use for something else), and just expand the breakfast area into a more versatile and usable single dining space. The garage (ONE car????) is too far from the kitchen and needs to be on the other side of the house so you won't enter the home from the study (???). The master walk in closet is actually much too large to be efficient, and is as large as the breakfast area. The weirdly shaped hallway entrance to the master wastes space and make it difficult to get furniture into the room. The master has no sound buffer (closets or bath) between it and the family room area so sound will transmit readily between the two areas. As already mentioned, the kitchen layout is awkward and impinges on actually using the breakfast area for seating.

sorry guys. the two car garages by the side of the laundry room got cut in pic.
here are the pics of the staircase.

Fatima - is this a fully custom house, or a semi custom house where you can just make a few changes?

I think you should keep the staircase in the entry, it is a great focal point when you walk in, and I don't think your entryway would look good without it.

However, I would remove the back stairs, to me they are too close to your grand entry stairs to be of much use, and there is a lot you could do with that space!

Does the two car garage enter the house through the landry room?

Looks like a lovely home. The mudroom/laundry is fabulous in size!
I like the front stairs BUT coming from the garage your kids would have to cut through the dining room to go upstairs. I would actually kill the foyer ones because the flow would be very bad like that.

That said I agree that the placement of things is very odd. The one car garage coming from the other side of the house through a bedroom/ study...Oh NO Ma'am. Why not place it on the other side where there are no windows? The kitchen is also a tad small for this grand of a home.

Is this a stock builder plan in a builder's neighborhood?

We had this same debate when we were designing our home. While most people like the "grand entrance", I didn't really care about it and wanted the rear staircase bc to me, it was more practical. We ended up keeping the main/foyer staircase, mostly bc DH liked it.I'm happy we did, but that's bc we also did a first floor master, and it's an easier trip from the master to main stairs to kids rooms upstairs (rather then walking across the house in the middle of the night when someone is screaming :)).

If you decide to get rid of it, what would you put in that space? you could do a grand piano or all sorts of other things. I don't think it would be a killer for resale at all, but that's my opinion bc I don't get impressed by staircases :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Our floor plan in April post

I think I would remove the stairs and see about using some of that space to get a full bath in so the 1 car garage/study etc. could be used as an in-law suite. At least then the 1 car garage entry into that area makes some sort of sense.