Providing an attached or detached garage has proven to be one of the most popular home improvement and beneficial outbuilding additions made to any domestic property weather it is build by the do it yourself builder or by contractors. Not only do you enjoy the benefit of the garage but it also adds value to your property and acts as an investment.

The construction overhead savings in the cost to build a garage can be made by the do it your selfers or the home handyman. Sourcing the building materials and supplies yourself helps to reduce the cost of the overall building construction. If you are not confident to build your own garage our plans have sufficient detail to please any general contractor or builder. Construction costs for building, fluctuate across the country but general cost advice can be found at www.whatprice.co.uk.

The following is an extract from the nationwide.co.uk publication.

The potential increase in value to a property from a garage or double garage has remained constant over the last few years. A parking space with the property would typically add around 8% to the value of a property, whilst a single garage would add a further 3% and a double garage a further 9% to the value of a property. A typical property with a double garage is likely to also benefit from other features which are not easily captured such as a large garden or a driveway.

Table 4: Value added to property price by adding a garage

And One Account has to say

According to the valuation experts at The One account, building a garage or an off road parking bay is now the top investment to increase your property's worth. And with recent research showing car parking is the biggest cause of rows between neighbours, a garage is also the key to a harmonious home. A garage costs between £15,000 and £40,000 to erect but the outlay is likely to be recouped in full - and perhaps even more in London.

Weather your garage is used for the car, garage sheds, boat, boat making, bicycle storage, workshop, storage shed, carriage house, machine shed, home office, playroom, wood shop, woodworking, wood store, woodworker workshop, or to occupy the family handy man in case the in-laws call, a garage will provide the ideal shell for that perfect addition to your dwelling.

Good quality construction and design are essential in any extension that you propose to build. Your design should complement and enhance your existing home and not detract from its appearance. Instant garages such as metal garages, metal sheds, garage prefabs, carport designs, concrete garages and steel garages all provide the same accommodation and functions but have the appearance of being added to the dwelling with little respect to the finishes of the existing dwelling.

The only way to harmonise the architectural design and appearance of the garage to the existing dwelling is to use masonry construction. Varying the finishes such as brickwork or render on the walls and tiles or slates on the roof will allow a more pleasing match.

The orientation of your plan within your building site is important in keeping its character and to tie in with the existing dwelling, therefore the roof direction, pitch and style needs to be considered. The two main roof styles are the gable end and the hipped roof.

All our main garages doors are specified with Henderson up and over metal doors, you can changed this to any of the major door manufacturers. For the best deals try one of the garage door suppliers listed on our web site. With a number of years experience in construction we would offer a note of caution. Always purchase your doors before starting to build the walls. That way the exact opening measurement for that particular manufacturers door can be made. We have witnessed a number of times clients and builders having to use angle grinders to widen the door opening by 10 mm or so to allow the door to fit.

If you are looking for a customized design that is not one of our standard plans then you can order a customized plan by filling out our Custom Design Garage form. If you do not like filling out forms, then phone us and we will be glad to help and advise you.

We have over 25 years of experience in creating construction drawings for all types of projects. You can be assured that our drawings will provide all the necessary drawing construction information needed to bring your project to completion.

We will provide you with 5 full drawings sets to obtain approvals and to build from. Plans include: All Exterior Elevations; Floor Plans; Basic Electrical layout; A Full Building Width Cross Section; Strip Foundation Plan Layout; Roof Plan and detailing; Full specification. All drawings are printed on A3 paper to allow for easy photocopying.

Our plans range from 3 m wide to 9 m wide and from 5 m long to 10 m long in increments of 1/2 m to 1 m. Our range of styles reflect those that are commonly built within the UK. (We can provide additional styles on request) There is a full range of sizes for the single storey plans and for plans bigger than 5 m x 5 m we have one and half storey with storage lofts and attics. Our range of building plans accommodate single car, 2 car, 4 car and 6 car.

All our building plans use traditional building materials of either brick or blockwork for the walls, strip foundations and a slab floor and have either a slate or tile roof finish. All our single storey plans provide a clear span over the garage area using either traditional roof construction or pre cut and pre engineered roofing truss.

Designing Your Garage

The first most important item to ascertain when planning your new garage is the size of the building plot available to build your garage. Care must be taken to measure accurately, this is even more important if you intend to build close to the boundary's. This will give you the maximum size of your garage. Garage plans are sized by their internal dimensions, therefore you need to subtract the thickness of the walls from you maximum size. There are three wall thickness's to masonry garages.

The small single skin garages have 100 mm side walls and 225 mm end walls, therefore remember to subtract 450 mm from the length of the maximum plan size and 200 mm from its width. Our medium size plans have 225 mm walls all round therefore remove 450 mm from both the width and length. Our larger plans and the one and a half storey plans are cavity wall construction and have 300 mm walls therefore remove 600 mm from both the length and width. Please check the wall thickness for your size of garage before ordering.

The orientation of the plan within the building plot and within the overall site is dependent on the possible approach routes of your vehicle. This, where possible, should be from the existing driveway. (If you intend to create a new entrance from a public highway then you will need to include this in your planning application) The frontage of the proposed plot will determine the maximum width of the plan and the depth of the plot will determine the maximum length.

The location of the exterior doors and windows needs to be decided. We provide an entry door and windows on the left hand side as standard. This can be changed to the other side when a mirrored plan set is ordered.

Finishes should match the finishes of your existing dwelling. Where the walls are facing brick then facing bricks should be used. Where the dwelling is rendered then the garage should also have a rendered finish. The roof pitch and finish should match that of the dwelling. We provide various roof pitches and roof finishes for this reason.

The standard of internal finish is a matter of choice, all walls are fair faced finished i.e. No plaster on the walls. The single storey plans have exposed ceiling joists. The one and a half storey plans are plaster boarded ceiling throughout and can have insulated ceilings on the first floor. The plans with cavity walls can be insulated if required. There is no need to tell us if you intend to change any of these internal finishes as we provide a complete specification to cover all these options with all our plans.

Ordering Your Plans

You can order your plans using all major credit cards we use SSL (Secure Socket Layer) for your protection plus your credit card number is encrypted and transferred on the internet using PGP. We do not process you credit card on the internet. We process all credit cards the traditional way in our office before posting.

Delivery of your drawings is usually within a few days. We can also email your drawings to you if you have access to an A3 printer. If you have any queries about your order please phone us on 02890 814106