what are you trying to fit in that can't fit in there now? if currently it wont fit your cars and a snow blower and your trash can, i'd enlarge.

What is the size of the "standard" garage. Information like that helps to enable an informed response...

In your location extra winter storage will be valuable. Look at the other homes in your area.

I am in Colorado too. DO IT if you can afford it. My last house had a standard sized two car garage (new build in 1996). We couldn't open the car doors to get in and out nicely, no way for a truck or SUV to fit easily. Either no storage on the sides or get out on the drive way. Forget the kids bikes and the lawn mower or snow blower... no workbench either. Just think what you have in the garage now and project that image into the new space... Also, as for resale, who doesn't like to see the phrase: "OVERSIZED two car garage...".

20' x 20' is not big enough. 26' x 26' probably is.

I would not build a garage less than 24' x 24'.

Does that help?

We have a wider garage with a regular human size door between the two garage doors. I think the entry through the garage is great, most of our friends and family enter that way, especially in bad weather. It is much nicer than opening the garage doors every time you go in/out without a car. Plus the space between the cars houses the outdoor furniture in winter, the golf clubs, the snow blower...and we still keep both cars garaged all year. When I had the motorcycle I had room for it as well.

So...what is the size of the existing garage?

Yes. You can never have too much garage space. Both the people I know who recently built houses regret not making their garages bigger and understandably complain about it.

on the other hand, we have no garage at all now, in snowy MA, and my husband and i are the happiest people in the world. go figure. : )

Drugs can do that, I guess.

I was impressed with a two car that was double deep. 4 car.

Many “standard” double garages now on production builds are small - something like 19x21, 20x20, 21x23, 22x20. I live in a climate that also knows icy, snowy winters (and a lot of sun year round - which is not so great for nice paint jobs on your car!) and I think those are inadequate, especially with today’s SUVs or trucks, and/or you want to park more than one vehicle in there. Even if you don’t use as storage you need room to walk around your vehicles and such!

We added 2’ width to bump our attached garage to about 23.5x23.5, but we still plan to maybe do a detached one as well in the future and intent was really for the attached to just be for my car and our kayaks, bikes, etc. Your pricing sounds about right - our 2’ was an extra $3400 or so including extra pavement for driveway.

Wow, Thanks for all the responses! I have the dimensions below, I believe the extra 4 feet will be worth it.

The 2 garage normal size: 17'-3" x 19'-8"

The 2 garage extended size: 21'-3" x 19'-8"

The standard size you posted would fit one smaller to mid-sized vehicle. Good luck with a long box, etc. I’d upgrade, as you really need at least 10’ width per vehicle minimum but you still are dealing with a “short” garage that can still limit what you park. Our current detached garage is longer than that and we can’t park the F150 in it. You need at least 20-22’ for most standard pickups, SUVs, vans. A small pickup about 18’. Add more if you need room for storage, a work area, etc.

What do you drive?

Wow, that builder is really skimping on the garage. My SUV and husband's car are both 16.5 ft long. Our attached 2-car garage is 24" x 24".

How much is the 2 garage extra extended size: 24'-0" x 24'-0"?

A coupe and a 4 door compact. Thanks for the input everyone!

Mark, I wish could do 24 x 24. I would have to do three car garage option.

If you own anything at all besides the vehicles, the 3-car option may be well worth it. In addition to two vehicles, our garage is home to 4 bicycles, a lawn mower, garden tiller, generator, 2 kayaks, garbage can, recycling containers - and that's just the big stuff.

We had a similar dilemma. We ended up depending it (saved money than going wider) then opened up all the back wall space. I drive a full sized pickup so the back wall wouldn’t have been usable and the extra two feet was enough to park the truck and have storage.

FYI we are doing 23x25. It’s worth the money for us! But we have a ton of outdoor equipment, snowmobiles, skis, mtn bikes etc and only plan to park one full sized truck in the garage.

I assume these dimensions are to the interior face of drywall. A standard 2 car overhead door is 16-0 wide and would just barely fit in the standard width garage. You would be shopping for a pair of mini coopers.

I was recently forced to limit the interior width of a garage to 21'-3" in order to make it fit between an existing house and the property setback line. The owners were not happy about it and asked for a 17-0 wide door. The interior depth was 24-3 to allow for some storage.

If you had two Jeep Grand Cherokees the standard garage would allow almost 18" between the cars (if you didn't pay for the side moldings) and between the cars and the walls assuming you normally park with laser-like precision. The next consideration is how thin are you with your down jacket on?

Obviously the builder's upgrade should be the standard. This is just shameless up-selling.

"Hey Charlie, just sold another garage upgrade, gonna take the rest of the day off."

^Yep, JDS is right. The builder's standard option is a tiny garage where you have to upgrade to get to a standard sized garage. Take the upgrade. Sounds like you are working with a production type builder that provides almost what you need, but not quite right. Expect lots of forced upgrades like this one. Sorry. Check your kitchen, this is another area where the builders put in a subpar 'standard' and you have to have some upgrades to even get some basic storage. IME there is no upgrade option for a decent kitchen in the builders 'standard upgrades'.

Build yourself a nice shed and have 3k left to buy something useful.

The "standard" two car garage is too small for sure. Are there any steps from the garage to the house? You have to consider the amount of space those will take up. I would definitely spend the extra for the extended.

The standard size is tiny. You definitely need the extra 4'. We are in Colorado and have 23'8" long x 25' wide. It s well organized and besides the cars, it stores the snowblower on tracks, the lawn mower, a few lawn tools, the central vac canister, two large trash cans, DH cataraft inflated, oars, my kayak and related gear, two bicycles, skis, a couple of coats on hooks, and a large metal shelving unit for tools. Still plenty of room to park one larger SUV and my smaller SUV and walk around both cars. The key is good organization and the width helps store things along the walls.

three car garage - 28' 10" deep, 39' 2" wide.

three separate 9.5' wide by 10' tall garage doors.

I've lived for too any years trying to deal with a VERY LARGE TRUCK in my garage, and inching in and out of the standard width door where there is 1.5" on each side clearance (popped out ONE wide angle mirror in 19 years, thankyouverymuch)

We'll be able to pull in the cars, get garbage and recycling carts out around them, open driver and passenger doors without worrying about hitting anything. Bliss.

As janni mentioned above, the height is also important if you have a tall SUV or if you plan to mount a cargo box on top. Our doors are 8 ft high and they work ok with a tall SUV. I can even just make it into the garage with the cargo box on, but can not open the box inside the garage, the opener is in the way. A taller door would have been better, but we didn't build the house.

Don’t know anything about overall garage dimensions, but be sure doors are wide enough for an SUV, including side view mirrors. We have standard width doors, and have to creep out with the mirrors folded in.

Assuming this garage is NOT in the USA. Add the extra and it's PLENTY big enough for European cars. :)

Off topic - I can drive the truck to the parking deck at the mall because it's 2WD and less than 7' tall. However, I still duck - while INSIDE THE VEHICLE - when I go under that first entrance or the height checker thingie. (but only when I am driving)

Taller doors - definitely better!

@imstillchloecat, the OP's future garage is in Colorado.

BTW, I'm a Realtor. You wouldn't believe how many small garages have killed a potential sale. I say that because the buyer measures their vehicle and the garage and passes on the house because the garage is too narrow. I see it more times than you can imagine and I'm not in snow country, I'm in S Fl. Hence my advice to go with the larger garage. I would think you need it even more in Colorado.

Thanks, Denita - I wasn't sure if CO was Colorado or Colombia. :) I realized I used "Europe" when I should have used "other than USA" in my descriptor. :)

FWIW, Our garage comfortably houses two MGBs at 16x20. They're small cars. :)

Perhaps you should build a home that meets your needs rather than a house from a selection of options and try to adapt your needs to it.

This garage reminds me of one posted here a couple weeks ago from the UK. Neither of the owners cars would fit into the garage.

OP, have you figured out the answer to your question?

Sergio - I think you should park your car and open the driver's side and passenger's side doors to the points where you are comfortable getting in and out. Measure that 'wingspan'. To make that easier you can make a chalk mark on the ground at the outer edge of the car doors when open, then move the car and measure from mark to mark. That's the space you'll need to get in and out, not counting anything hanging on the walls like equipment and toys.

Go for the upgrade for sure.

"I think you should park your car and open the driver's side and passenger's side doors to the points where you are comfortable getting in and out. Measure that 'wingspan'. "

And then never buy a bigger vehicle........................

Charging for “upgrades” that should be standard just doubled the price of the build.

Better check out every single detail that you assume will be included or standard. You may end up with the old 32”H vanities in the baths, and one single central boob light in every room, and carpet so thin it might as well serve as window sheers, and one sad little holly with red mulch for landscaping.

Why not design something that actually includes things the actual way you want them to be, and plans for the materials that you actually want to use?

"And then never buy a bigger vehicle....." well yes that's true!

For many architects, the normal initial guideline often followed for a 2-car garage is 24' X 24'.

You won't be able to get your RV inside a garage that size, but it's more than adequate for 2 full-size sedans or SUVs, with room left for storage in front and on each side of the parked vehicles.

You'll need more room for your dually 350 series extended cab and extended bed pick-me-ups.

You might consider a one car garage and a carport … or eve a double carport.

Dang that's small. My garage is 1132 SF. 8 foot doors, 10 foot ceilings, trench drain down the middle, lots of lights, ceiling fans, sink, hose bib, heated, and a urinal (yes you read that right). All 3 vehicles fit nicely, as does the lawn tractor and snow blower. One corner is my shop, plenty of room for my work benches and tools. I even have a table that sits 6 comfortably and a fridge. My 10x14 shed is completely empty. Yeah, get a bigger garage.

Yes I would enlarge with no hesitation

Just tell me it’s not in the Candelas development...

Im buying a brand new house and went to see the condtruction progress with my agentand since I amm notorious for backing into structures I drove the car up the driveway toskebsure I'm not going to destroyy my new house and sure enough garage door is took small. I also saw alll my neighbors cars parked on their driveways. Some SUVs. I'm glad I'm learning about this now when I'm 2 weeks away from closing. I want to negotiate with the seller/ builder seer if they'll knock off the cost to enlarge the garage door opening and a new rolling door. I'm one of the last houses to get finished on the block so they had to have known this was a problem and didn't disclose that the garage is not functional as intended. False advertising by omission. They are the kind of people who will likely won't grant concessions because there's someone waiting for the deal to falll thru. I may even take it to the city's dept of construction because they are isssuing permits on this poor design so they are complicit. I want to protect my investment for when I selll. It should have lowered the price tag on the house by 10k at least. They hid this from me. Because really it doesn't have a functional garage maybe I can get them to pay for my closing costs if I agree not to raise hell with the city. I don't want to lose the house it's a solar home and I'm excited but this stupid door is going to make this fall apart. Darnit.

Buyer beware.