Excavations at the small-scale domestic settlement of Gramalote between 2010 and 2014 allowed the exploration of the social dynamics and economic interactions in the second millennium BC on the Peruvian North Coast. Detailed excavations and materials recovered during the intervention contribute a unique opportunity to explore domestic aspects of early settlements in the Andes. This study presents new data on the public sectors of Gramalote's settlement, house-to-house differences, and evidence that the extended family was a unit of economic productivity and collective action. This analysis assesses the degree of overlap, and lack thereof, in the economic activities of each house during the Initial Period (1500-1200 cal BC). A new model for social and economic interactions is proposed, with the aim of exploring alternative models from the bottom-up perspective for the emergence and consolidation of social complexity in the Central Andean Region.