Single-Story and Main-Level-Living New Construction Near Nashville: A Buyer's Guide

A buyer we worked with put it plainly: she was tired of hauling laundry up a flight of stairs, and she was tired of the little voice reminding her she'd still be doing it in her seventies. She didn't want a nursing-home brochure. She wanted a nice, new house where the primary bedroom, the full bath, and the washer and dryer all lived on the floor she walked in on. That was the whole ask. No stairs to survive, no wing she'd never use, no retrofit project three years after closing.

That request is more common than most builders' glossy floor plans would suggest, and Middle Tennessee happens to be one of the better places in the country to satisfy it. If you're downsizing, planning for the long haul, or shopping with a specific mobility need in mind, the single most important decision you'll make isn't which community to tour. It's what you ask for at the design center, before the slab is poured. This guide walks through the whole thing: what one-level living actually means, what to request while the walls are still open, what those upgrades run, and which growth corridors around Nashville have the most single-story inventory to choose from.

The Quick Version

• •Middle Tennessee builds a lot of one-level homes. In the East South Central census division, which includes Tennessee, 59.5% of new single-family homes completed in 2024 were one story, versus 47.5% nationally. That means more single-story inventory to choose from here than in most of the country.
• •The design center is your one real shot. Some accessibility features can only be built in correctly while the walls are open, so the cheapest and safest time to add universal design is before construction, not after.
• •Ask by need, not by age. Zero-step entries, curbless showers with wood blocking behind the walls for future grab bars, 36-inch doors (to reach the 32 inches of clear width the ADA references), lever handles, and a main-level primary suite, bath, and laundry.
• •The inventory is spread across every corridor: Sumner, Wilson, Williamson/Maury, Rutherford, and Davidson counties all have named single-story new-construction communities.
• •Buyers 65 and older can use Tennessee's Property Tax Relief Program and the Property Tax Freeze, both filed through the county trustee.
• •Nashville-area 55+ communities averaged roughly $539,000 as of mid-2026, a fair anchor for what main-level living costs across the region.

Why Middle Tennessee Is a Single-Story Sweet Spot

Start with the supply side. Nationally, most new homes go up: in 2024, 52.5% of new single-family homes completed in the U.S. were two or more stories, and 47.5% were one story. In the East South Central division, which includes Tennessee, that mix tilts the other way, with 59.5% of new single-family homes completed in 2024 built as one story. Builders here still pour ranches at scale, which means single-story shoppers around Nashville aren't fighting over a handful of oddball plans. There is real, plural inventory to compare.

Now the demand side. The country is aging in a way that reshapes what people want from a floor plan. By 2030, all baby boomers will be at least 65, and roughly one in every five U.S. residents will be retirement age. The 65-and-older population is projected to climb from 58 million in 2022 to 82 million by 2050, a 42% increase that pushes that group from 17% to 23% of the total population. And preference tracks the demographics: in the National Association of Home Builders' "What Home Buyers Really Want" research, about 80% of baby boomers and roughly half of Gen Xers said they'd prefer a single-story home, driven largely by aging-in-place considerations. This isn't a niche. It's a large, growing share of the buyer pool asking for the same thing at once.

There's a wealth angle here too, and we say this wearing the investor's hat we bring to every purchase, even a primary residence. A house you can actually live in for twenty-plus years is a house you don't have to sell under pressure the moment stairs become a problem. Forced moves are expensive moves. Buying the right footprint the first time is one of those quiet, compounding decisions that protects a family's balance sheet for years. We will never let a client buy the wrong house for a commission check. Not on a starter home, and not here, where the time horizon is longer.

One-Level Living, Defined

The terms get used loosely, so let's be precise, because the difference shows up on move-in day.

Ranch vs. main-level-primary

A true ranch is single-story: everything you own is on one floor. A main-level-primary plan (also called a first-floor owner's suite) can have a second story, but the three things that matter most for daily living sit on the entry level. The test we give buyers is simple: on a normal day, can you sleep, bathe, and do laundry without touching a staircase? If the primary bedroom, a full bathroom, and the laundry are all on the main level, the answer is yes, and a bonus room or two guest bedrooms upstairs become optional space instead of daily obligations.

Core universal-design features that make one-level living work include zero-step (curbless) entries and showers, wider doorways, a main-level primary suite, bath, and laundry, and lever handles instead of round knobs. None of those read as medical. Done well, they simply read as modern, and several of them help everyone in the house, from a person carrying groceries to a kid on crutches.

The Design Center Is Your One Shot

Here is the point that saves buyers the most money and heartache, so we'll say it directly. The design-center stage of a new build is the single most cost-effective moment to add universal design, and it's a window that closes fast. Once the slab is poured and the walls are closed, your options narrow and your costs climb.

The reason isn't just labor. Some features literally cannot be added correctly later. Grab bars, shower seating, and adjustable controls require solid wall backing, called blocking, placed during framing. You cannot reliably hang a weight-bearing grab bar on drywall and a hope after the fact. Adding wood blocking inside the walls during a new build has negligible budget impact, but it guarantees that a bar installed years from now will actually hold the weight it's rated for. Skip it, and your future self is opening walls.

So the mental model is this: the framing stage is a one-time offer. You are buying optionality. Even if you never install a single grab bar, blocking behind the shower and toilet walls costs almost nothing now and quietly future-proofs the house. That's the kind of slight edge that compounds. We push clients to take it.

The Must-Request Checklist at the Design Center

Bring this list. Design-center appointments move quickly, standard finishes get defaulted in, and it's easy to spend your whole allowance on countertops and forget the features you can't add later. Request the following, and ask which are standard versus upgrades:

1. Zero-step (curbless) entry from the garage and/or front door, so there's no threshold to trip on or ramp over.
2. A curbless, roll-in primary shower with wood blocking behind the walls for future grab bars and a fold-down or built-in seat.
3. 36-inch interior doors, which yield the 32 inches of clear width that the ADA references as the accessible minimum. In practice, hitting 32 inches clear means specifying a 36-inch door.
4. Blocking in the walls around the toilet, tub, and shower even if you don't want visible grab bars yet.
5. Lever door handles and lever or single-lever faucets throughout, which are far easier on hands than knobs.
6. Comfort-height toilets and vanities, and a raised or drawer-style dishwasher where offered.
7. Rocker (paddle) light switches, plus low-glare and layered lighting, since lighting for aging eyes is a real design discipline, not an afterthought.
8. A step-free path from driveway to entry, and a garage deep enough to open a car door and step out with room to maneuver.

What These Upgrades Cost

Numbers make the do-it-upfront argument concrete. Treat the figures below as general national ranges, not quotes; your builder's price sheet is the source that matters. Widening a doorway averages roughly $1,200, and most projects land somewhere between $50 and $3,000, though a load-bearing wall or specialty door can push it higher. A walk-in shower runs about $9,000 on average, typically $6,000 to $12,000; a true curbless, roll-in shower usually carries a premium of about $2,000 to $5,000 over a standard walk-in because the floor has to be sloped to drain correctly. Grab bars run about $200 to $350 each installed, provided the blocking is already in place. Notice the pattern: nearly everything is cheaper when the walls are open at framing, and some of it is only truly safe when done then.

There's a resale angle too. A universal-design bathroom remodel, curbless showers, grab bars, wider doorways, recouped about 61% of its cost in the most recent Cost vs. Value data, with a midrange bathroom remodel closer to 80%. So these features aren't purely a sunk cost you eat for your own comfort. They recover a meaningful share at resale and widen your buyer pool in a region where a large and growing slice of buyers already prefers single-story living. That's the investor's hat again: a feature that serves you today and appeals to more buyers tomorrow is exactly the kind of decision we want clients making.

Where the Single-Story Inventory Is: A Corridor-by-Corridor Tour

Middle Tennessee's single-story supply is spread across every direction out of Nashville. Here's a grounded, named-community tour so you know where to point the car. A note before we start: several of these are age-restricted 55+ communities. We list them as one option among many, and we come back below to how to think about age restrictions. Everything else is open to buyers of any age. Prices are new-construction figures reported by the communities and third-party listing sites as of mid-2026 and will move over time.

Sumner County (Gallatin, Hendersonville) — our home turf

Nexus South in Gallatin is an age-restricted 55+ section of the larger Nexus master-planned community, built by D.R. Horton. Its Freedom Series homes are single-story, main-level-living designs with the owner's suite on the main floor; the age-restricted homes recently listed up to a median around $500K, with quartz countertops, covered patios, a resort-style pool with lap lanes, a fitness and aerobics studio, and pickleball and tennis courts. Nearby, Lenox Place in Gallatin, built by Goodall Homes, is a built-out 55+ community of 250 single-level, ranch-style attached homes, two beds and two baths with attached two-car garages, across five floor plans ranging from 1,220 to 1,490 square feet. Goodall is a Gallatin-based Middle Tennessee builder that has poured one-level plans in Sumner County for years, which makes them a natural first conversation for main-level shoppers in this corridor.

Wilson County (Lebanon, Mount Juliet)

Del Webb Barton Village in Lebanon is a newer 55+ community of 700-plus homes, priced roughly $455K to $1.09M, with a 16,500-square-foot clubhouse and a planned mixed-use Town Center. Closer in, Del Webb Lake Providence in Mount Juliet is a gated 55+ community of about 1,029 single-story ranch-style homes, roughly $400K to $700K-plus, anchored by a 24,000-square-foot clubhouse and a 15-acre stocked lake. Lake Providence is essentially built out, so it trades as resale rather than new construction, but it's worth touring to calibrate what a mature single-story community actually feels like.

Williamson / Maury (Spring Hill)

Del Webb Southern Springs in Spring Hill offers single-level floor plans from 1,374 to 3,652 square feet with a full-service HOA that handles exterior maintenance. Active listings there averaged roughly $739K as of mid-2026, which tells you this corridor sits at the higher end of the regional range. The full-service maintenance model is a real draw for downsizers who are done with yard work and want to travel.

Rutherford County (Murfreesboro)

Del Webb Southern Harmony in Murfreesboro is one of the region's newer 55+ communities, with about 1,111 homes at full build-out, priced roughly $491K to $865K-plus, and a 21,516-square-foot Farmstead clubhouse. It has active new construction, which means you can still choose a homesite and take a design-center appointment, exactly the window this guide is built around.

Davidson County (Antioch)

Cedars of Cane Ridge in Antioch, by Ashton Woods, is a 55+ new-construction collection offering one-story single-family homes and two-story townhomes, both with primary suites on the main floor and covered patios. New-construction plans there recently ranged from roughly $340K for townhomes up to about $505K for single-family homes. For buyers who want to stay inside the Nashville city limits rather than move to a suburban ring, it's one of the closer-in single-story options.

For price context across all of this: the average price of homes for sale in Nashville-area 55+ communities was roughly $539,000 as of mid-2026. That's a useful anchor when you're comparing corridors, though as Southern Springs shows, individual communities vary widely.

Age-Restricted vs. All-Ages: Choose by Need, Not by Label

Several of the communities above are Del Webb properties, which are age-restricted 55-and-older, as are Nexus South and Cedars of Cane Ridge. That's a legitimate model with real perks: a lock-and-leave lifestyle, ready-made social calendars, pickleball, and neighbors in a similar season of life. But age restriction is a lifestyle choice, not an accessibility requirement, and it's worth being clear about that distinction.

Every universal-design feature in this guide, the zero-step entry, the curbless shower, the 36-inch doors, the main-level primary suite, can be built into an all-ages new-construction home just as easily as into a 55+ one. Plenty of buyers who want one-level living don't want an age-gated community, and that's completely fine. The right way to shop is by need: how many steps, how wide the doorways, how the shower is accessed, whether laundry is on the main floor. Solve for the floor plan and the features first. Then decide whether an age-restricted community's amenities and rules fit how you want to live. One is a construction question. The other is a lifestyle question. Don't let a label make the construction decision for you.

Vetting the Builder

Not all builders treat accessibility the same way, and the answers to a few questions will tell you a lot. We ask these on our clients' behalf every time:

• •Is any of your design or sales staff CAPS-trained? (If yes, the conversation gets easier immediately.)
• •Which universal-design features are standard, and which are upgrades? Get it in writing. 'Available' and 'standard' are very different line items.
• •Will you add wall blocking around the shower, tub, and toilet at framing, and what does it cost? (The answer should be 'almost nothing.')
• •Can you do a true curbless, roll-in shower on my homesite, given the slab and drain design? Not every lot and plan allows it without planning ahead.
• •What are the HOA terms and what does the fee cover? Full-service exterior maintenance, like the model at Del Webb Southern Springs, is worth real money to a downsizer, but only if you actually want it.
• •What's the standard door width on this plan, and can you upgrade interior doors to 36 inches throughout?

This is where having someone in your corner who does this constantly earns its keep. Reading a build agreement, catching that a feature is an upgrade rather than standard, pushing for blocking at framing, these are small, unglamorous moves that add up. Saving a family thousands of dollars, or steering them away from a house they'd have to sell early, isn't a paperwork exercise to us. It relieves real financial stress. We take that as seriously as any work we do.

The Tennessee Money Angle: Tax Relief and the Tax Freeze

Tennessee has two programs that meaningfully lower the ownership cost for older buyers, and both are underused because people don't know to file. If you or a co-owner is 65 or older, put these on your list.

The Property Tax Relief Program reimburses part of the property taxes for homeowners age 65 and older, and for totally and permanently disabled owners, on their primary residence. For 2025 it carries a combined income limit of $37,530, with relief calculated on a maximum of $32,700 of the home's market value. Separately, the Property Tax Freeze Program locks an eligible senior homeowner's tax amount at the qualifying-year level, even as rates rise or reappraisals occur. In a region that sees regular reappraisal cycles, a freeze can be a quiet, durable saver.

Both programs are filed through your county trustee, and every corridor in this guide, Sumner, Wilson, Williamson, Rutherford, and Davidson, has one. If you're buying in a 55+ community, you're likely already in the eligible age band; check the income limit against your situation and apply. We can point you to the right trustee office for the county you land in.

The Honest Read

Single-story living is not a free lunch, and we'd rather you hear the trade-offs from us than discover them later.

• •One-level homes spread their square footage horizontally, so on a given lot a ranch can cost more per finished foot and leave less yard than a two-story with the same interior size.
• •Age-restricted communities carry HOA fees and rules. The amenities are real, and so is the monthly cost and the age gate on future buyers.
• •New construction means a design-center budget. It's easy to overspend on visible finishes and shortchange the features you can't add later. Protect the blocking and the door widths first.
• •The named communities here span a wide price range, and we can't predict where prices go from here. Nobody can. What we can tell you is what's currently driving demand: an aging population, a strong regional preference for single-story living, and a builder base here that still pours ranches at scale.
• •Curbless showers require careful slab and drain planning. Ask early. It's far harder to add once the foundation is set.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between a ranch and a main-level-primary home?

A ranch is fully single-story. A main-level-primary plan (also called a first-floor owner's suite) may have an upstairs, but the primary bedroom, a full bath, and ideally the laundry are all on the entry level, so daily life never requires stairs. Both work for one-level living; in the main-level-primary version, the second-story space simply becomes optional.

How wide should my doorways be?

Aim for at least 32 inches of clear width, which the ADA references as the accessible minimum for passage. In practice, getting 32 inches clear means specifying a 36-inch door, so request 36-inch interior doors throughout at the design center. (The ADA is a commercial-accessibility standard rather than a residential building code, but it's the widely used reference point for what accessible passage looks like.)

Why can't I just add grab bars later?

You can add the bars later, but only safely if the wall behind them has solid wood blocking installed during construction. Blocking added at framing costs almost nothing and lets a future bar hold its rated weight. Without it, you're anchoring into drywall, which won't reliably support a person. That's why we push for blocking even when a buyer doesn't want visible bars yet.

Is it really cheaper to build in accessibility than to add it later?

For most features, yes, and for some it's the only safe option. Blocking for grab bars and the slope for a curbless shower have to be planned before the walls close and the slab is poured; adding them afterward means demolition. Individual retrofit costs tell the same story: widening a doorway averages around $1,200 but can run well past $3,000 once structural work is involved, and a curbless shower conversion carries a premium over a standard walk-in. The cheapest, safest time to add these features is at the design center, not years later.

Do I have to buy in a 55+ community to get single-story living?

No. Every universal-design feature discussed here can be built into an all-ages new home. Age-restricted communities like the Del Webb properties offer a particular lifestyle and amenity set, but the accessibility features themselves have nothing to do with the age gate. Shop by need, then decide separately whether an age-restricted community fits how you want to live.

What tax help is available for older homeowners in Tennessee?

Two programs. The Property Tax Relief Program reimburses part of property taxes for owners 65 and older (and totally and permanently disabled owners) on a primary residence, with a 2025 combined income limit of $37,530 and relief calculated on up to $32,700 of the home's market value. The Property Tax Freeze Program locks an eligible senior's tax amount at the qualifying-year level. Both are filed through your county trustee.

A Fair-Housing Note and Your Action Plan

One principle guides everything above: we frame single-story homes by need, not by any characteristic of the buyer. Steps, doorway widths, and shower access are practical features anyone might want, and we'll never present them, or a community, in a way that targets or excludes people by age, disability, family status, or any protected class. Del Webb, Nexus South, and Cedars of Cane Ridge happen to be age-restricted 55+ by their own rules; we present them as options among many, and the vast majority of single-story new construction is open to all ages.

When you're ready, the path is straightforward:

1. Write your must-have list by need: main-level primary, full bath, and laundry; zero-step entry; door widths; shower type.
2. Pick one or two corridors to tour first based on price and commute, using the communities named above as starting points.
3. At any design center, protect the features you can't add later, blocking and door widths, before spending on finishes.
4. Ask every builder the vetting questions, and get standard-vs-upgrade answers in writing.
5. If you're 65 or older, plan to file for property tax relief and the tax freeze through your county trustee after closing.
6. Loop in a local expert on our team early, ideally before you sign a build agreement, so nothing critical gets defaulted in.

On buyer representation: with our team, working with a local expert costs you little or nothing, because the seller usually covers it. That's negotiated, not automatic after the 2024 NAR changes, so it's part of what we handle for you. The point is that having someone read the build agreement and fight for the right features shouldn't be the thing that stops you.