Aging in Place Homes in Southwest Florida: 6 Things to Build Into Your Forever Home

Quick answer: An aging in place home in Southwest Florida is a one-story house that is designed today for how you will live in it 20 or 30 years from now. That usually means no steps at the entries, 36-inch doors and wide hallways, a curbless beach-entry shower, a kitchen you do not have to bend down or reach up into, low-maintenance finishes inside and out, and a private space for a caregiver or visiting family. Lauren Homes builds these forever homes on your own lot in Cape Coral, Fort Myers, North Fort Myers and throughout Lee and Charlotte County.

As a custom home builder in Southwest Florida, we get a lot of calls from people in their 50s and 60s who are ready to build their last home rather than their next one. They are not planning for a nursing home. They are planning for a house that still works when knees, shoulders and balance are not what they used to be, and that never forces them to move again.

Below are the six things we walk every client through before we finalize a retirement home floor plan. Plan them in now and they cost very little. Add them later and they become a remodel.

The 6 things to build into an aging in place home

1. The floor plan – one story, and as few steps as the lot allows.
2. Interior openings – 36-inch doors and hallways wide enough for a walker or wheelchair.
3. The bathroom – beach entry shower, grab bar backing, bench, niches and ADA-height toilets.
4. The kitchen – pull-out drawers, raised cabinets, lighting and real working clearance.
5. Low-maintenance choices – inside the house and in the landscape package.
6. Space for a caregiver or family – split plans, pocket doors and multi-generational layouts.

1. Start with a one-story floor plan

In Florida, a forever home should almost always be a single-story home. You do not see the two-story houses down here that you see up north, and for aging in place there is a simple reason: stairs are the first thing that becomes a problem.

Steps are not always avoidable, though. Depending on the elevation of your land and how close you are to the water, we may have to build the home up higher, which can create steps from the garage into the finished floor or at the front entry. When that happens, we design around it. We can slope the paver walkway up to the front door instead of stepping it, and we can build a ramp inside the garage so you can get into the house without stairs. How much of that is needed is dictated by your lot and how high the home has to sit.

How big can a one-story home be on a Cape Coral lot?

Most Cape Coral lots are about 80 by 125 feet. On a lot that size, with a three-car garage, a nice-size lanai and a pool, you can usually build right around 2,500 to 2,600 square feet under air on one level. That is enough room for three or four bedrooms, a den, a large living area and about three bathrooms. It is a substantial home, all on one floor.

Two things make a one-story home feel even bigger. First, raising the ceiling heights adds elevation inside, so the house feels much larger when you walk in. Second, the open-concept layouts we build avoid a lot of small, divided rooms, so the space feels big and airy and is easier to move through with a walker or wheelchair.

See our custom home floor plans, or read about flood zones and elevation requirements and the best areas to build in Cape Coral.

2. Widen the doors and hallways before you build

Every interior door in a forever home should be at least 36 inches wide so a wheelchair or walker can pass through. At Lauren Homes we use 36-inch doors throughout all of our floor plans as a standard, not an upgrade.

Width alone is not enough, though. When we develop a plan, or when you choose one of our standard plans, we look at how the door swings and how the openings line up so you can actually get through them and move around the home comfortably. Hallways, turns and the path between rooms all get the same look.

3. Think the bathroom all the way through

Bathrooms matter more than any other room in an aging in place home, and they are the hardest room to change later. Most people tell us they want a shower. Fewer people know they can have a beach entry shower, which slopes gradually from the tile floor into the shower with no curb to step over, so a walker or wheelchair can roll straight in.

Here is what we plan into a forever home bathroom:

• Beach entry (zero-entry) shower so there is nothing to step over.
• 36-inch openings at the shower. A big walk-around shower may not need a door at all, but the opening still needs to be at least 36 inches.
• Grab bars, or the backing for them. Decide now where you would need one to get yourself up and down, both in the shower and beside the toilet.
• A built-in bench so you can sit while you shower.
• Niches placed where you will actually reach them from a seated position, for shampoo or for propping a leg.
• The right fixtures – a handheld sprayer you can bring down to wash with, sometimes more than one, plus a rain head if you want it.
• Dual sinks for separate space and separate storage.
• ADA-height toilets, which sit higher and are easier to get down onto and back up from. We use them as standard.

The questions worth answering before we draw the bathroom are simple ones: where will you sit, how will you wash, where do your supplies go, and what do you need in reach?

4. The kitchen features most people overlook

The kitchen is the room people forget about when they plan a retirement home. Then a few years in, they are on the floor digging in the back of a base cabinet for a pot. That is not the way it should be.

• Pull-out drawers for pots and pans instead of deep base cabinets. This is the single most important kitchen change we recommend.
• Raised cabinets and countertops. We can add a taller kick at the bottom of the cabinets so the counter sits higher and you are not bending as far.
• An elevated dishwasher so loading and unloading does not mean squatting down.
• A built-in microwave set at a height you can reach without lifting a hot dish over your head.
• A pot filler over the range so you never have to carry a full pot of water across the kitchen.
• Plenty of can lighting – over the cooking area, over the island and throughout the house, including hallways and closets. Good lighting is one of the cheapest aging in place upgrades there is.
• Real clearance. If your range is on one wall and the island is across from it, there has to be room for you to stand there and for someone else to get behind you. We have walked through competitors’ homes where that space is far too tight.

More on finishes and options: interior and exterior features and what is included in a new construction home.

5. Choose low-maintenance inside and out

A forever home should not turn into a part-time job. Two areas make the biggest difference.

Inside the house

• Energy-efficient, long-life lighting so you are not changing bulbs on a ladder.
• Accessible air conditioning filters. Ask where the return is and how you get to it. If changing a filter means climbing, put it somewhere else now, or plan on having the unit serviced.
• The right paint. An eggshell finish hides more than a flat finish and lets you wipe off scuffs and marks instead of repainting.

Outside the house

Landscaping is where Southwest Florida catches people. Everyone wants the lush tropical look, but a lot of those plants and bushes go out of control in the summer with the rain we get down here. They grow and grow, and you have just created yourself another job.

There are beautiful plants that need very little water and very little trimming. We help clients pick a landscape package that still gives you the wow factor without adding work.

6. Plan for a caregiver or family who will stay with you

This is the one almost nobody thinks about. If you are lucky enough to live well into your old age, there may come a point where someone comes to stay and help you, or family comes down for long visits. Where do they sleep, and how does everyone keep some privacy?

Two layouts solve it:

• A split floor plan with a pocket door. Most of our plans put the master on one side and two bedrooms and a bath on the other. We can add a pocket door that closes off that whole side, so a caregiver has their own bedroom, their own bathroom and even a small sitting area made from another bedroom.
• A multi-generational plan. These are almost two freestanding units joined together with a pass-through. Your family member gets their own living room and kitchenette, and you keep your own kitchen and living space.

Check out our Single Family Plan the Diana that also offers 2 living spaces, 2 kitchens, separate entry doors and garages.  Community living in a single family home  https://lauren-homes.com/the-diana/

A little pre-planning at the front end saves a lot of headaches down the road.

If you are weighing which builder can actually make changes like these, see how to choose a Southwest Florida builder for an accessible custom home — including the two Cape Coral homes where we combined two bedrooms into an oversized in-law suite on the Adrianne plan.

Why a forever home is easier to build on your own lot

Production builders sell you the plan they already have. When you build on your own lot in Southwest Florida, the plan follows you instead. You can put the home on land you already own or land you are buying, orient it for the light and the view you want, and change the layout to fit how you actually live.

At Lauren Homes you can start either way. Pick one of our existing plans and customize it, which we do all the time for clients who tell us their needs and then we move a wall here, change a room there until it fits. Or start from scratch with an architect and we will give you our input as the design comes together.

Helpful next reads: building on your own lot, our custom home process, the cost to build a home, how long it takes to build, septic vs sewer what an impact fee is and choosing a builder for an accessible custom home.

Aging in place home FAQs

What is an aging in place home?

An aging in place home is a house designed so you can stay in it as you get older instead of moving. In Southwest Florida that usually means one story, no steps at the entries, 36-inch doors, a curbless shower, an easy-reach kitchen and low-maintenance finishes. The National Institute on Aging covers the health and lifestyle side of aging in place; this page covers the construction side.

Should a Florida retirement home be one story or two?

One story. Stairs are the first feature that becomes a barrier, and in Cape Coral and the rest of Southwest Florida nearly all homes are built on a single level anyway. If your lot requires the house to sit higher, a sloped walkway or a garage ramp can replace the steps.

How wide do doors need to be for a wheelchair?

At least 36 inches. Lauren Homes uses 36-inch doors throughout every floor plan, and we check door swings and openings so the whole path through the house works, not just the doorway itself.

What is a beach entry shower?

A beach entry shower, also called a zero-entry or roll-in shower, slopes gradually from the bathroom floor into the shower with no curb. A walker or wheelchair can roll straight in, and there is nothing to trip over.

How large can a one-story home be on a typical Cape Coral lot?

On an average 80 by 125 foot lot, about 2,500 to 2,600 square feet under air with a three-car garage, a lanai and a pool. That supports three or four bedrooms, a den, a large living area and roughly three bathrooms.

Can grab bars be added later?

Yes, but only easily if the wall backing is installed during framing. Deciding where grab bars might go before we build costs almost nothing and avoids opening walls later.

What is a multi-generational floor plan?

It is essentially two connected living spaces with a pass-through between them. The second suite has its own living room and kitchenette, so a caregiver, an adult child or a parent has privacy while still being under the same roof.

Do you build forever homes on land I already own?

Yes. Lauren Homes specializes in on-your-lot construction in Cape Coral, Fort Myers, North Fort Myers, Lee County, Punta Gorda, Charlotte County and the surrounding Southwest Florida area. If you do not own land yet, we can help you evaluate a lot before you buy.

Build your forever home with Lauren Homes

We have plans you can choose from, we can customize any of them around how you want to live, and we can start from scratch with an architect if that is a better fit. If you are thinking about building an aging in place home in Southwest Florida, we would love to earn your business.

Lauren Homes
1425 Del Prado Blvd S, Cape Coral, FL 33990
Phone: 239-829-1520
Email: FredPrice@Lauren-Homes.com

Get a free new home estimate, try the instant home price calculator, or contact us to talk through your forever home plan.