Jan. 2006
Back in the 1950s, the one-car garage was standard in 41% of homes that had any garage at all. My family skipped that stage. We went from a one-car carport in Roswell, N.M., to a two-car garage in San Antonio. Of course, we only had one car, but thanks to a dad who was in the Army, we had lots of stuff to store.
More than half a century later, almost two-thirds of all new homes have two-car garages. Nationwide, 19% have spaces for three or more vehicles.
"The home industry is definitely seeing a growing trend toward the three-car garage," says Jerry Howard, executive vice president and CEO of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
"Especially in areas where houses do not traditionally have basements, the three-car garage is becoming a must-have in new homes," he says. "But it's not just limited to those areas. Three-car garages are becoming more common in markets across the country."
Census Bureau statistics back up NAHB. The trend toward three-car garages is nationwide; they are most popular in the Midwest and West. When the bureau first started tracking three-car-or-more garages in 1992, they could be found in 20% of new homes in the West. In 2004, 31% of new homes in that region had them.
The share of new homes with big garages in the Midwest climbed from 16% in 1992 to 32% in 2004. Requests for three-or-more car garages are increasing in the South and Northeast.
The appeal of the three-car garage can be summed up in a word: storage. NAHB studies of consumer preferences consistently show that extra storage space is very high on most consumers' wish lists.
My guess is that most people with three-car garages don't have three cars. If so, where do you put the lawnmower and other necessities that would be difficult to retrieve from a basement or attic?
Builders say consumers increasingly ask for eight-by-10-foot garage doors rather than the standard seven-by-nine-foot doors. Bigger doors make it easier to park the SUV, boat, or personal water craft.
Not only has the number of garages increased, but they have also become more sophisticated. Elaborate and extensive built-in storage and shelving, air-conditioned work areas, utility sinks, and many other amenities, even
plasma TVs.
Another very appealing feature of three-car garages is that they allow builders to offer a second floor "bonus room" that can be used for multiple purposes, including a playroom for kids, home office, exercise room, loft, extra bedroom, in-law or nanny suite, game room, or — yes — more storage.
Ironically, today's three-car garage with upstairs bonus room is about the size of a typical new home of the 1950s — about 1,000 square feet.
Three-car-and-larger garages require slightly larger lots. It will be interesting to see how that trend blends with the trend toward overall smaller home lots. Builders are already trying to find ways to put the big garages on the sides of new homes rather than the front. That sounds like a bigger lot to me. Of course, here in Texas, bigger is perceived as better anyhow.
