[dadspet]

Good question I'd also like to see a good answer. Having just purchased a 3 Bd room ranch I have a very general idea. Being a snowbird I wanted a "reasonable" 2 car garage, a 3rd bedroom for spare hobby space and preferred the look of grass, non attached looking houses. Ranches and Designers filled those requirements but the Ranches are only at the lower end of the sq foot space and Designers can and do become larger.
The Ranches all pretty much look similar both inside and out (granted there are minor differences) . The Designers I believe are a min of $25K more then the same/similar ranch floor plan. But the Designers in general have more style on the outside along with a little more on the inside. I sure there are more specific differences. We were after more sq foot for our money and think the Ranch filled that requirement.