Garage Apartment Collection
Garage Apartment house plans combine practical vehicle storage with versatile living space above, creating an efficient two-story layout perfect for rental income, multi-generational living, or private guest quarters. These adaptable structures typically range from 400 to 1,000 square feet of living area positioned over a one- to three-car garage.
Originally emerging in the early 1900s as chauffeur's quarters for grand estates, garage apartments evolved into popular urban and suburban housing solutions during the post-war housing boom. Today's designs maintain their space-saving heritage while incorporating modern amenities and open-concept layouts.
Most garage apartment floor plans feature an external staircase leading to the upper-level living space, which typically includes a full kitchen, living area, 1-2 bedrooms, and a complete bathroom. The ground-level garage often includes additional storage space, a utility area, and sometimes a workshop. High ceilings in the garage area accommodate vehicle lifts or storage racks while providing space for plumbing and HVAC systems to serve the apartment above.
Contemporary garage apartment designs embrace energy efficiency with enhanced insulation, sound-dampening construction techniques, and separate HVAC zones. Popular modern features include balconies or covered porches, large windows for natural light, built-in storage solutions, and flexible spaces that can serve as home offices or hobby rooms. Many plans now incorporate universal design elements for aging in place.
These versatile structures offer numerous advantages for homeowners, from generating rental income to housing extended family members while maintaining privacy. The separate entrance and dedicated parking make garage apartments ideal for short-term rentals or home-based businesses. Their compact footprint makes them well-suited for urban lots, historic neighborhoods, and properties with limited buildable area.
For those seeking sustainable living solutions, garage apartments maximize land use while reducing utility costs through shared walls and efficient design. The upper-level placement often captures better views and breezes while providing enhanced security and privacy compared to ground-level dwellings.
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More Information
All of our floor plans are designed in-house and come with various options to make your dream home custom to you.
House Plan Modifications
Since we design all of our plans, modifying a plan to fit your need could not be easier. Click on the plan, then under the image, you'll find a button to get a 100% free quote on all plan alteration requests. Our plans are all available with a variety of stock customization options.
Exterior Wall Construction Choices
Most of our stock plans come as 2x4 exterior wall construction by default. We do provide options to change the exterior wall type. Those options include 2x6 exterior walls, Post Frame Construction, CMU Block Construction, etc.
Foundation Types
When de signing our house plans, a default foundation is set for a given plan. If possible, we include options to change the foundation type to better match your construction needs. For instance, if the default foundation is an unfinished basement, you'll have the option to change the foundation type to a walkout foundation, crawlspace, or slab foundation.
Please note: Some of our plans are designed with special foundation needs, such as post and pier for waterfront properties. These plans may not allow an option to choose another foundation type. If you find yourself in need of an alternate foundation and aren't given the choice, please fill out the alteration request on the plan page.
Right Reading Reverse
One of our more popular options is reversing the plan. Ordering the reverse option will not only flip the plan on the sets for you, it will also correct the text to make the plan read correctly while reversed.
CAD Files
All of our plans are offered as digital PDF downloads. If you want to make changes to the plan yourself, there is an add-on option that will give you the CAD files. Our CAD files are exported in AutoCAD format. You must have software capable of opening CAD files to use them. This option is great if you are in the business of home building and need to make slight changes to the plans per lot.
Cost to Build Report
All of our house plans come with a 100% free cost-to-build report. Just find the orange section on the plan page, type in your zip code, and choose your finish quality level. Note that this tool is for estimation purposes only and should not be used in any other way.
Garage Choices
We have multiple options for any desired garage location or type. We offer plans with detached garages, courtyard garages, side-load garages, front load, and rear load garages.
License Types
We offer 2 types of licenses for your house plan. A single-use license means that the plan can be built only once by the person who purchases the plan. An unlimited-build license is meant for pro builders that are planning to build the plan multiple times.
Best Price Guarantee
You may find our plans on other vendors’ websites. Since we design all of our plans we can offer a true price match guarantee. If you find another site selling our plans for cheaper than we are, we will match it.