The expandable home craze: Tri-Valley tract houses built to grow

During the 1960s and 1970s, several Tri-Valley builders experimented with a strange suburban compromise: houses that weren’t fully finished yet.

Buyers could purchase a smaller, more affordable home upfront, then complete unfinished upstairs rooms later as budgets and families grew. In some models, builders even sold the staircase separately.

For a brief period, expandable homes appeared across Dublin, Livermore, Pleasanton, and San Ramon—marketed under names like the Room Maker, Spacemaster, and Now and Future House.

Black-and-white 1968 newspaper photo of a finished bonus room featuring a pool table, posters, and casual seating in a suburban expandable home.
A 1968 bonus room in action—finished as a lively games room, showing the flexibility of expandable home design.

1967 ad for the Room Maker expandable home with an optional unfinished second story.
The Room Maker model at Appletree offered affordable flexibility for growing families.

Expandable homes across the Tri-Valley

Dublin: unfinished upstairs living

Parkwood San Ramon – Monarch Construction (1962)

One of the earliest expandable designs came from Monarch Construction in Parkwood San Ramon.

Two-story Parkwood San Ramon home with an unfinished second floor designed for future use.
The Plan 3 model at Parkwood featured an entire second floor as a “bonus room.” Imagery via Google Street View.

Appletree – American Housing Guild (1967)

The Room Maker model introduced an unfinished second story that included windows but unfinished, highlighting the do-it-yourself nature of these homes.

Photo of the Room Maker model at Appletree in Dublin. A home with flexible second-story for future dreams.
The Room Maker left the upstairs unfinished so buyers could expand later. Imagery via Google Street View.

Livermore: the peak of the expandable home

Somerset – H.C. Elliott (1968)

The original Somerset House offered a two-bedroom layout with an unfinished second story.

Livermore’s Somerset House with expandable second-story option.
Somerset House with flexible design—stairs and windows sold separately. Imagery via Google Street View.

A revision of the Somerset House, the 1969 Spacemaster included blueprints and a kit for a 500 sq. ft. second story. In 1970 it came with pre-installed second-story windows and a DIY staircase kit.

Exterior of a Spacemaster model home with pre-built upstairs windows.
The Spacemaster: offering blueprints, windows, and a staircase kit for future upgrades. Imagery via Google Street View.

Pleasanton: the “Now and Future House”

Valley Trails – Morrison Homes (1970)

Morrison’s Now and Future House lived up to its name with a design that could be purchased as a finished 4-bedroom or left at a 2-bedroom starter.

Expandable home in Pleasanton’s Valley Trails with unfinished second floor.
The Now and Future House gave buyers a choice: grow now or later. Imagery via Google Street View.

San Ramon: bonus rooms and future bedrooms

Country Club Park – Volk-McLain (1962)

The Woodside model offered an upstairs “bonus room” or up to three additional bedrooms and a bath.

Two-story home in San Ramon’s Country Club Park, with expandable upper floor.
Woodside model in Country Club Park, San Ramon, with flexible second-story potential. Imagery via Google Street View.

California Classics – William Lyon Homes (1968)

The Look Ahead House included a convertible second story that could be finished later as two more bedrooms.

California-style ranch home with potential for upstairs expansion.
William Lyon’s Look Ahead House included an unfinished second story that could later become two bedrooms. Imagery via Google Street View.

The legacy of expandable tract homes

Today, many of these expandable homes are almost impossible to recognize. Unfinished bonus rooms became bedrooms, hobby spaces, rental units, or entire second stories.

But traces of the original concept still survive in the architecture—extra upstairs windows, unusually tall rooflines, and stair locations designed for rooms that didn’t exist yet.

For a brief period during the late 1960s and early 1970s, Tri-Valley builders treated the suburban tract house as something flexible: not a finished product, but a structure families could gradually grow into over time.

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