Laneway house Garage or No Garage
 

Hello,

I am in the process of building a lane way house on my parent's property and the biggest question that needs to be addressed is whether or not to keep a garage or not have one and opt for a car port beside the laneway house. It definitely nice to have a private garage but it eats away at the living space which is only 800 sq ft, the garage will take up at least 200 sq ft (180 sqft to be precise)

*Edit: It would be a 1 and 1/2 story laneway

Option 1: Retain Garage
Pros:
Private parking spot
Storage space Bonus
Flexibility (Can be converted into another room in the future)

Cons:
Eats away precious living space leaving about 600 SQ FT


Option 2: Opt out of Garage
Pros:
Fully optimized maximum living space. (Bigger living room + Kitchen) (800 SQ FT)
Slightly Lower Cost.

Cons:
Not Flexible (Cannot or very expensive to convert into a garage in the future.)
Parking Your Vehicle outside


Would you guys prefer a private garage, and a smaller living space, or would you rather park your cars outside and have a bigger living space? Asking this in a car forum is somewhat bias as many of us would value private garage to store/work on cars, but definitely would like to see what other opinions people value ! What would you choose, and why!

A lane house that's only 800 sq ft??? How narrow is this place... Only one floor?

I'd personally opt for more living space with a carport. The extra 180 sq ft makes a huge difference when your sq ft is limited.

The only reason I'd opt for a built in garage is if your area is prone to car thefts and break ins.

If you are renting the joint, add more living space.

why not add a full blown second story?

My friends are married and they live in the laneway house/garage built by the girl's father. It is tiny. I think 500sqft. They manage fine. The key is to declutter, which is something I can never do.

I have a 700 sq ft detached work shop with single garage door I may convert some day.

My neighbour has a detached 800 sq ft work shop converted to a 600 sq ft bachelor with attached garage space intact.

Less income from a bachelor but some argue there are benefits to having a bachelor instead of a couple, family, etc. That's another debate though.

If I was going to live there I'd want a garage.

oops sorry to steal your thread with a irrelevant opinion too

more living space for sure
if you are turning into a rental thats more $ in your pocket
in the future im fairly positive it will become a stratifiable unit, that extra 200 sq ft goes a long way in cap gains.

if u are allowed build a 4 foot crawl space for storage. hint*

City of Vancouver only allows a maximum of 1.5 stories for lane way homes

Can't wait until the day Burnaby allows laneway homes.

I'm interested to know why you'd choose a garage over gaining 25% more living space

Humans are great at adapting.

the govt is stupid, what is 1.5 stories? could i dig deep and get a basement?

I'm just curious as to why you can have a laneway house with a garage vs a larger laneway house with a car port beside it?

Couldn't you just get the larger laneway house and still convert the port into a garage (or use the car port space for a garage)?

The garage is freaking tempting but with the limited sq footage the difference of 180 sq is massive and I can't say no to it. No garage for me regardless if I'm single or not.

i think the 1 is the upper story and the .5 is the lower portion next to a single garage, unless i'm confused. people like the protection of garages for their cars and storage.

regarding garage and carport next to the building...

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/...20130824200436

No garage, where you going to keep the common stuff like bikes, lawnmower, skis, thule box, winter tires, etc? A shed?

A few important questions:

How wide is your lot? Judging by the size of your LWH, it sounds like your lot is 33' wide. At that width, having a garage really cuts into your living space, which is already small to being with. Based on this single factor, I would probably not have a garage. Anything wider than 33' and I would tend to favour including a garage. Side note - what does the street parking situation look like?

As for your neighbourhood, what do the other LWHs in your area look like? Do you want to be similar to the others, or do you have a reason to be different?

Who will live in the LWH? I suspect your parents will use this as a source of income. Who will use the garage - your parents, or the tenant? If you anticipate students living there, or a small family (that might not be able to afford a car), then the garage will be wasted. If you want to rent to a single working professional, then they might have a car and appreciate the garage.

A few other anecdotes:
I live on a 32x122 corner lot, which can be ideal for a LWH since the tenant can exit on to the street instead of alley. Street parking is also not an issue. While the rules didn't allow me to build a LWH at the time (because I'm less than 33' wide, maybe things have changed now), I would still not build a LWH because I make full use of my 2-car garage (I have 2 cars & storage), and I value personal space over rental income (I already have a basement suite).

Many new houses in my area are built including LWH with a single garage. I'm just west of Main, near Langara so I bet a lot of property owners are families with "average" incomes that want/need all the rental income they can get. This will be the case the farther east you go: cram as much living space on a single lot as possible and rent all of it out.

A few years ago, my friend (family of 4) built a house, including a 3-bedroom basement suite & LWH (with a single garage) on a 33x115 lot in the Cambie area. They rented out the entire basement, and the LWH+garage, so they were making nearly $5k per month in rental income (which they didn't NEED, but allowed them to go on multiple trips a year). They recently sold their house. There are a lot of white, hippy families in their area, so my impression is that for their target market, money isn't as big of an issue. There were a few interested buyers that decided not to buy because they wanted a full garage instead of the LWH. My friend is now building a new place nearby on a standard lot, and they are not building a LWH because they missed having a garage.

Food for thought!

Lane way is always great for extra rental income
Depending on how big your family is.. that can determine your needs.

i've always thought about that and it got me thinking...if it's soley for rental income, how long would you have to rent it out for to recoup the cost. doesn't an avg laneway cost around 250k to build? if so...and you can get like $1500/month rent, not including anything else like taxable income and stuff... it'll take around 14 years to recoup everything...probably longer considering i would think most people would be borrowing that amount to build it so there's interest costs to factor in.

But after 14 years you sell it you will pocket all the money.

Dude, your username is pretty racist. You should change it before you offend someone.



...unless of course your name really is that, then carry on EleGiggle

only if you sell the home and move. i assume you're not implying selling the laneway itself (not sure if you can just sell it separately)

nah he's good, it means "I love you" KappaPride