Building houses in Foundation is easy to do once you have an understanding of the basics, in this guide I share some tips and tricks to help you build homes for your villagers, identify the different types, and troubleshoot housing issues. Let’s get building!
Jump To: How To Build – House Types – Insufficient – Move Out – Path Blocked – Won’t Build
How To Build Houses
First you need to paint a Residential Zone wherever you want the houses to be built. Go to the Paint menu and Residential Zone to mark the land with housing zones. If you’re trying to build one house, the area will need to be a bit larger than the house size. Multiple houses need a much larger space as villagers create path space to access them and the houses will upgrade in status over time.
Place the painted zone in areas that are not red or low desirability. A Serf will live in a house with any desirability but if you want the house to upgrade it’s status you need a higher desirability. Learn how to increase desirability in our guide.
Types of Houses
Houses have status tiers which are based on the areas desirability and occupant space. Houses are for villagers, soldiers, and knights. Monks live at the Monastery.
| Tier Level | House Density | Occupants |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Density 1 | 2 |
| Tier 1 | Density 2 | 6 |
| Tier 2 | Density 1 | 2 |
| Tier 2 | Density 2 | 6 |
Here are some images of the different houses and their tier levels.
What To Do When Housing is Insufficient
If you receive the notification that Housing is Insufficient or Residential Space is Low it’s time to check your Residential Zones and paint more residential space. You probably need to expand the currently zoned areas larger or create additional zones.
When the Housing is Insufficient notice pops up for a villager, there may be a few reasons why. Click on the notice or the villager and find out where they work and where the house is.
- If they don’t have a house the house icon will be blue in the Villagers [F1] section of your Book. Try to place a housing zone near the workplace for the best efficiency, or assign them to an existing house.
- If the villagers status was promoted and the house is in a low desirability area they can’t upgrade the house, add decorations to increase desire, or move them out to a different house.
How To Move Villagers Out of a House
There are a few ways to move villagers out of their houses in Foundation.
Option 1: Click on the house, find the villager name in the occupants list and select the red X. They will be moved out of the house and you can then assign them to the house you want them to live in so long as the house status matches the villager.
Option 2: If you want to delete the house, click the house at the bottom of the panel select the red shovel icon and the residents will move on their own, if there is housing available elsewhere. You can also remove them from the occupants list before you delete the house.
Villagers House Path Blocked
Sometimes the houses will build right next to another and the door might be facing the wrong way, if that happens I recommend using one of the methods about to remove your residents and then delete the house, check if the zone paint needs to be re-positioned.
My Villagers Won’t Build Houses
If your villagers won’t build a house check these issues:
- Is there enough housing space for new houses? Check the Zones under Visibility menu and expand the painted area if needed.
- The villager in question, check their rank if they are above Serf they require higher desirability areas to live. Investigate if the land is desirable enough, check Visibility menu and Desirability.
- Check the area where you want the villagers to build and make sure it is zoned residential and there is nothing blocking it from building.
- If the area is fenced in, is there a way for the villagers to walk in? If it’s on a hillside, is it too steep?
