To think a second living area would be preferable to a garage?

[Dylaninthemovies1]

In the city where I live, new build houses are popping up everywhere. Lots of them have 3 or 4 bedrooms, a lounge, dining kitchen and garage. But the garages are actually a bit small for a lot of modern cars. Aibu to think they would be better making the space into a 2nd living / family / sitting area than a glorified storage room ?

[LadyGAgain]

100% agree. As long as you have parking!

[ChaoticCatling]

I agree, a shed will do for bikes and a lawnmower.

[Dylaninthemovies1]

Very true!!! I think most of these new builds do have parking on them

[Whatsmyname26]

We have multiple extra living areas because whoever did the extension work here before we bought recognised this fact! Def more useful than a garage

[Dylaninthemovies1]

I’m a tiny bit obsessed with property. Particularly floor plans

[inwood]

Depends if there is an accessible loft or a garden bigger than a postage stamp for a shed.

[Dylaninthemovies1]

Ooh I never thought of that inwood

[Dylaninthemovies1]

@Whatsmyname26. What do you use each of your living areas for?

[flowery]

Most new builds have teeny gardens, especially in cities, so a big shed for all their storage wouldn’t really work. And I suppose the beauty of a garage is that as long as it’s joined to the house, in theory the home owner could convert it if they want, which doesn’t work the other way round.

[MidsummerMurder]

Our new build homes are some of the smallest in Europe, both flats and houses.

[Thingsthatgo]

In some areas, I think that new build houses are obliged to have off road parking, to ease the parking problems in towns and cities.

[Beagled]

Horses for courses. A garage is an essential for us. Well for OH. A second living area would be great but I don’t think it would get used. God forbid my 7 year old leave my side for 5 minutes 😅

[Nacreous]

I would like another sitting room in theory, but garages can be used for washing machines and tumble dryers which is a pretty hefty advantage. And useful for things like fixing bikes, doing DIY as it has power and doesn't rely on good weather.

[PurplePansy05]

I agree. Garage is pretty useless, a double drive and more living space is far more practical.

[Dylaninthemovies1]

reading some of the responses it must be a bit of a mix then what people want. For us, it would be extra living space (particularly as I can’t drive, but DH does, so we have one car but it’s fine in the driveway). I’ve visited a few friends in newbuilds who have paid a lot more than I have for their houses, and their houses are lovely, but the living room is just so cramped and there is no other living space in the house. Perhaps developers could give peiple an option when selling houses ?

[bridgetreilly]

I don't know if it's still the case but car insurance used to be lower if you had a garage (whether or not you used it).

[nitgel]

round here they've all converted their garages so take up all onstreet parking. it's a pita

[bridgetreilly]

The thing I would change about most new builds is the excessive number of bathrooms and toilets. That would free up plenty of space, and have the added bonus of having fewer bathrooms and toilets to clean.

[RomaineCalm]

Our neighbours converted their double garage into an additional family room but did it in a way that it could be converted back relatively easily if they were to sell.

So many new build houses have 4/5 bedrooms but very little downstairs living space. Particularly as the children get older it's nice to have a second room for TV/XBox etc. rather than having everything and everyone in their bedrooms.

[bridgetreilly]

And they really need to stop building new developments in such a way that almost all the curb is dropped so that there's nowhere for visitors to park. Give people decent off-road parking, sure, but make sure that the spaces between driveways are actually big enough for someone to park.

[LivingDeadGirlUK]

Its cheaper for the developer to put a garage in than another room.

[BikeRunSki]

We bought our house because of the integral garage. We have a lot of high value bikes and this was one of our principal requirements for a house. We had one large living room, which which split into two smaller ones when the dc were 5 and 2.

[BikeRunSki]

In flood areas, it is far more sustainable to put a garage as the ground floor and build living space above this.

[M0mmyneedswine]

Our garage has so much in it that if we moved it would definitely be something we would want, garden would need to be huge for size of shed we would need. Never put car in as simply wouldn't fit with other stuff

[Ohnopoo]

We converted our garage to a playroom/spare room/ music room. Certainly useful but we missed the storage and had to build a big shed to house the bikes, camping gear, garden stuff etc.