1,000 square foot houses in Utah are hard to find

Question: After my kids are grown, I don't want to move to a condo. I want to live in a cottage. I know there are small homes in older neighborhoods along the Wasatch Front, but do you know of any Utah builders who are currently building 900-to 1,200-square foot homes? I don't necessarily want a basement. — A single mom

Answer: In Utah it is not impossible to find a brand new detached home that is less than 1,200 square feet of finished space. However, at least on the Wasatch Front, that home will likely come with an unfinished basement.

According to Curt Dowdle, a long-time homebuilder/developer, people in Northern Utah demand a basement. "And that basement better have real nice windows with big window wells." St. George is a different story, Dowdle says. Homebuyers there seem able to forgo basements. But even in St. George, you aren't likely to find brand new basementless homes under 1,200 square feet, he says.

So no tiny cottages like the ones in Washington state? No Utah builder wants to take the risk, he says.

Spencer Greer of the local homebuilders association echoes the sentiment. Although, Greer adds, you might find a small basement-less cottage in a subsidized, low-income development.

On the Wasatch Front, you can find a few cottage styles being built without basements — but they are a larger than 1,200 square feet. Kelly Sheppard, of Village Communities, says his company builds several styles of cottages, some without basements, but they tend to be at least 1,600 square feet. His company's smallest one-level home is the Sommerset design, which is actually more of a Craftsman style bungalow. The Sommerset was built at Village Park at Stonegate, in West Valley City. It is 1,330 square feet and built on a slab (i.e., without a basement) to be wheelchair accessible.

Kort Utley, manager of community relations for the new Kennecott Land development says Daybreak will have some 900- and 1,200- square-foot homes. Some will be town houses. Some will be detached homes. Some will have garages in the rear and shared green space as well as a wee yard. So they may look a lot like the cottages in Seattle. Except that they will have unfinished basements in addition to the finished 900- to 1,200-square feet.

Utley explains: Along the Wasatch Front, because of the freezing and thawing, we have to dig deep to pour the footings, so we may as well have basements. You don't need to finish them, he points out. You could just use them for storage.

As for Utley, he lives in a 750-square-foot home in Sugar House and is about to double that living space — by finishing the basement.