A detached garage with an apartment makes a great guesthouse. Garage apartments plans provide space for storage and add value to your home. You can also generate extra income from your garage apartment! Making a living space over your apartment is a great idea for extra income, or you can use it for a home office. In certain areas you must prove that your home office is separate from your home to qualify for tax purposes. Having the office over your garage with keep your home office completely away from the home. Suddenly your new garage apartment has become a tax write off.
Garage apartments also provide a new sense of independence for your college aged child, if they plan to stay home. Students are always on the lookout for housing that is affordable and garage apartments fit he bill perfectly. Other new members of the workforce may be interested in your garage apartment as well. The potential for this extra income can add value to your home if and when you decide to sell. Some older folks who have retired often decide to live in their garage apartment while renting out their older home that may now be too large for their needs.
For parents who need extra room
Garage apartments can add a new master bedroom for parents of large families who need an extra room. If your garage is attached to your house, a garage apartment can serve as a very large and airy extra bedroom for privacy starved parents. For this type of apartment plan, the extra kitchen may be left off or appliances not added until children have moved away and the parents decide to rent the garage apartment.
Before you start building your garage apartment or purchase new garage apartments plans, check your local building permits and requirements. If you plan on using the apartment as a rental unit, you might need to supply an extra parking space for the renter. You may also need to think of adding stairs to the exterior of the building for security reasons. Be sure to check the insurance requirements as well.
Where to find garage apartment plans
Two sources I like for garage apartment plans are a site called coolhouseplans and one titled archwaypress.
As an example of pricing, coolhouseplans offers plans for a 448 sq. ft. garage and garage apartment at 400 that range in price from a low of $375 for one set of blueprints to a high of $650 for a reproducible set of plans or CAD (Computer Aided Drawing) files on CD-ROM.
Coolhouseplans also has lower-priced plans for a garage and garage apartment that range in price from $220 to $550.
In comparison, Archwaypress offers a single set of plans for a garage and loft $115 or $215 for reproducible masters. It also sells a three-set package of plans for a garage and garage apartment at a cost of $165 for $265 for reproducible masters.
Whichever you choose, a garage apartment can make a lot of sense as either extra room or as extra income.
If adding a garage apartment or building a small house or cottage interests you, there is a book I recommend that is available on amazon.com. Its title is More Small Houses (Great Houses)
Douglas Hanna lives in a suburb of Denver. He and his wife have bought and sold many houses throughout the years - to live in, as rental unit and to "fix and flip." He is also the publisher of a popular blog on small house plans, http://smallhouseplansadvisor.blogspot.com
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