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Old 07-13-2019, 03:17 PM
 
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I'm in a semi-custom development, and it just confounds me that more often than not the garage is purely 'functional'. In that you can actually park two vehicles in there, but you'll be struggling to get out of them.
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Old 07-13-2019, 03:27 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Seguinite View Post
I'm in a semi-custom development, and it just confounds me that more often than not the garage is purely 'functional'. In that you can actually park two vehicles in there, but you'll be struggling to get out of them.
Unless you're parking two MG's or two Lotus exotics, you'll be investing in a lot of foam bumpers for your walls.

What options were available to you when selecting? It's only custom for the first owner...
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Old 07-13-2019, 03:32 PM
 
Location: USA
1,599 posts, read 1,409,678 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by citizensadvocate View Post
I don't understand is why do you make so much wasted space when making the housing stock take up more real estate but not much of it is practical?

There is no denying that people are getting bigger over the years and so has the average production car, SUV, van, or truck. Thus it makes perfect sense for homebuyers' demand that larger homes to be built. But despite builders making houses bigger and bigger over the years the size of a home garage or space allowed for each car has hardly grown at all. Many people frown upon parking in their garages as its hard to open the door to get in and out without banging into another car, bike, wall, or items in the garage and the hassle having to back the car out to let guests in so they don't have to squeeze in. So unless a community's HOA is super strict on enforcing garage parking residents more often than not, avoid parking in their tight garages despite the much higher risk of a car break in which happens even in the nicest of neighborhoods.

The best garages I see have three separate doors guaranteeing a descent amount of door space between cars. and have a separate storage area for your bikes and other excess. But these are very rare even in 3000+ sqft homes. Even if the house does have a 3 car garage its not practical sometimes to even to park two cars inside due to the way the inside space and doors are configured.
I be curious why? It appears floorplans are getting larger but not more practical in modern homes.
And these are big single family homes, don't even get me started on how tight the parking provisions are in most multi family communities such as apartments, townhomes, and Condos.
Because we can
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Old 07-13-2019, 03:38 PM
 
9,868 posts, read 7,594,802 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Seguinite View Post
I'm in a semi-custom development, and it just confounds me that more often than not the garage is purely 'functional'. In that you can actually park two vehicles in there, but you'll be struggling to get out of them.
That is not functional.
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Old 07-13-2019, 04:38 PM
 
13,011 posts, read 12,957,211 times
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Originally Posted by citizensadvocate View Post

Not necessary personal perception it’s the truth of what i witnessed.
Interestingly why builders get away with selling houses with undersized garages? Is it because buyers always forget to consider parking when they buy a new home? And builders know it and skimp on it to pocket the profit?
Because buyers don't want to pay for larger garages?

Your concept of profit is off a bit. If a builder includes a larger garage, it is true that it will cost him more. The result is an increase in the cost of the house, in order to maintain that profit. No builder is going to throw anything in for free.

Because the area of a garage is not typically included in square footage, the additional cost of the garage will show up as a higher $/sf, which may scare some buyers off. It is simply easier to make a typical garage rather than an oversized one and sell it quickly.

Ultimately it is about what people want, and they don't want to pay for plus size garages.
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Old 07-13-2019, 04:49 PM
 
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Originally Posted by fishbrains View Post
Because buyers don't want to pay for larger garages?

Your concept of profit is off a bit. If a builder includes a larger garage, it is true that it will cost him more. The result is an increase in the cost of the house, in order to maintain that profit. No builder is going to throw anything in for free.

Because the area of a garage is not typically included in square footage, the additional cost of the garage will show up as a higher $/sf, which may scare some buyers off. It is simply easier to make a typical garage rather than an oversized one and sell it quickly.

Ultimately it is about what people want, and they don't want to pay for plus size garages.
You're onto something there.

I'm thinking it's closer to "people don't believe they should have to pay EXTRA for garages that allow ONE of their TWO vehicles to open the driver door to its first detent to exit."
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Old 07-13-2019, 05:26 PM
 
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Ideally garages garages in 3000sq foot 4-5 bedroom homes should be built like this.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3...16622924_zpid/
With room for three cars side by side and there are actually designed door space between cars enough for a wheelchair to pass by, and not tight like compact shopping center spaces. And there are room behind the vehicles to store items. Many times garages double duty as Uhaul storage rooms as houses in California and western states usually lack basements, attics, or any other type of additional real storage areas. No need to worry that something is going to fall over and ding/scratch the paint of a nice car or the garage wall itself.
Interestingly this listing actually shows the inside of the garage as most listings in this area don't.

My thesis is that in addition to differing local zoning codes which may require a larger garage or not, builders would try to get away with building the smallest garages they can get away with to save money when the market is a tight sellers market in which housing is in short supply and buyers don't have much choice in what they can afford to buy. Though when houses are built in a slow buyers market which was the cause between early and mid 1990s in CA builders built larger 3 car garages voluntarily to make things enticing to try to win buyers in which CA is a car loving culture. When the housing and land becomes short supplied and pricy, builders try to squeeze more houses into the lots they buy which means sacrificing garage sizes by building houses deeper but narrower, am I right?

Edit:
Idealy though the average north American family with multiple family vehicles as well as visitors vehicles needs a garage configuration half circle driveway like this https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C...TXrugGVO_vF4M:
With spit door garage. and a half circle driveway that doesn't have take up too much room. Though apparently grass area is cherished too much more than practically.

Last edited by citizensadvocate; 07-13-2019 at 06:03 PM.. Reason: Add a picture
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Old 07-14-2019, 11:35 AM
 
Location: Myrtle Creek, Oregon
15,293 posts, read 17,567,692 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tamajane View Post
In my older neighborhood people live in small houses and build huge garages with lofts. It is funny when the garage is bigger and more luxurious than the house. But there are mostly men moving in when an older person sells, and they love their toys and guy spaces. No HOA, that is why.
I think you have something there. The house belongs to the woman. I know I had to completely remodel our house before my wife would let me start building outbuildings. I had to get along for years with a cruddy old barn, and even got flack for building a gazebo overlooking the creek. She changed her mind about the gazebo after it was built, and now she loves it.
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Old 07-14-2019, 12:56 PM
 
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OK, I have to chime in about the gender thing. Women usually do put more emphasis on house vs garage. I am one of the exceptions to that rule, and so is another woman I talked with.

I told DH it would be fine with me if we had, essentially, several oversize garage spaces and living area smaller than those. (He wanted more house.) The woman I talked with said she and her husband wanted to build a 50x50 garage workshop with, basically, an apartment inside part of it.

Men who see the garage start talking like they assume it is DH’s domain. It is not. Due to buildable space and other practical/geological/physical constraints, he sacrified a garage space to have more housey space, and I sacrificed living space to have a garage bay. Garages are such wonderful blank slates—if someone decides they don’t want to park a vehicle in one, they can easily be modified into a different kind of functional room.

Someone told me that retirees in AZ buy something called AZ houses. She described them as being mostly a huge RV garage (maybe with another smaller garage next to it), and an attached small living space. I had never heard the term, but I like the idea even though I don’t own an RV and don’t plan to get one.
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Old 07-14-2019, 09:42 PM
 
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Just something off topic, it appears size doesn't necessary mean more functionality, not many people would want the inside of their house to look like a big box store, a warehouse, or a toy store but in reality even though they would keep buying things that they would like to use. Though most spaces are open for show.

While a larger bathroom is functional however many builders seems to build large bathrooms for show. With a long shower compartment that has only a single showerhead. A bathtub that looks large but in reality is too small to even lay down in and have a very impractical step in height.

I guess its also some people including those who influence builder's decisions do value looks over function. Builders seem to make homes to look like a museum exhibit these days. I guess a garage is practical but ugly to look at thats why builders keep it to a minimum. I remember living in a neighborhood in which a neighbor decided to expand her house buy building a section that has a tall RV garage and functional rooms on top of it but that has caused neighbor wars even though they did eventually got all the permits before beginning construction.
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