I would stick to your guns. How much more is more? Yours will be one of the only houses with a front-load in the development and it will look off and devalue your house. Not to mention I think front-load garages are extremely unattractive. We have a 3 car side load, it would look awful it was front load and the first thing your eye would be drawn to. Basically, a garage with a house attached.

I would fight for what you want particularly if you'e willing to pay the grading cost. I'd walk (assuming you'd incur no liquidated damages) if I didn't get the house I wanted. With that said, if the property has appreciated substantially and you don't get your way, then I'd continue with the purchase, sell it after close, and move on to another property. There's always another property.

Is there an HOA that requires side-load garages?

I‘d walk- a three bay front load will never look good. There is a three bay angled side load on a house in a new development of large, expensive (1 mil plus) homes being built near me and all you see on that house is the garage- does not fit rest of neighborhood being built. All the other homes have discreet side loads.

A successful real estate agent we know insisted that his architect design a front-load four-car garage for his 1980's custom build. While the purists (myself included, I concede) sniff at the horror of that I doubt it will affect the re-sale value of his home one whit.

Oh the horror!!

Here's an older home in our neighbourhood where side rather than front-load was chosen. Is all the awkward manoeuvering really worth the effort?

If this is to be a "snout garage" or take up more than half the frontage it's likely another matter.

Just a thought: Could you conceal the front-facing garage with a porte cochere?

Did your builder build the other homes in your area that have side load garages? If so, I'd want to know why yours is different. Is your lot much different / more sloped / have set back restrictions?

You mention that he said it's because you have a basement: did the plans call for excavation / usable space below the garage? I can see that getting into some pricey support considerations. But if the basement is only below the liveable space of the house, then I'd have some questions about why that changes things.

And what do the plans you signed off on call for? What's in your contract?

Different than building on a lot you already own, the owner of the property offered what they were willing to sell. Its a negotiation but they don't have to engage.

We were told the remaining lots in the neighborhood that could support a basement (this is in Richmond Va where they will only do walk out basements) woud have to be a front load garage per their engineering team. I understand why certain lots can or cannot support a basement; what I don't understand is how a basement with a side load garage changes the required grading and costs, especially if the basement is the same footprint of the house. Finding a home with a basement on a cul de sac lot with decent privacy is rare so I'm afraid we'll have to overlook the garage issue. Our reservation on the lot expires this weekend so we have some time to think about it.

@PPF. That is likely the case as an expensive retaining wall plus fill needed to accommodate the side load on a backslope walk out lot. Tens of thousands depending on wall type and soils.

Buying a tract build when you want a custom build always comes with dissatisfactions over things you can’t have or can’t do.

Is there any way to split the difference and have this kind of set up? I can’t think of the name right now but we had a very similar set up at our last house and didn’t hate it. It was a comfortable garage to pull into and the garage windows facing the street softened it somewhat. I don’t know what style of house you’re building but perhaps something like this would work (but agreed that in general, garages are super ugly).

Design the house to fit your site, not by what everyone else is doing. Plopping a preconceived design on a site can cause problems, as you are probably finding out.

Design the house to fit your site, not by what everyone else is doing. Plopping a preconceived design on a site can cause problems, as you are probably finding out.

You post the same irrelevant opinions in virtually every thread on this forum.

You should know that the vast majority of new home builds are NOT custom builds on hand-picked lots. Most new houses are in planned communities developed by production builders who offer a limited array of stock plans.

It is NOT possible for the OP to "design the house" to fit the OP's lot. They are required to use a "preconceived design" if they want to build a new house on this lot.

@Vanessa Schmidt This all comes down to the type of build you are doing (tract from the sound of it) and the type of lot you have (slope). We also have a walkout basement and couldn't possibly have a side load garage due to the grading (without a large expense). This would be the case regardless of whether you built custom or tract on your lot because the house needs to be designed to the lot (which is what the builder is doing). Changing the lot to fit the house is usually expensive and counterproductive.

Side loads also need a lot of room. It's possible the walkout lots on the cul du sac aren't wide enough to accommodate that either.

A well designed home with a front load garage doesn't necessarily look cheap.

Who would have thought showing someone a way out of the tiny box they have put themselves in is a bad idea. Stay in your world of limited possibilities, there are plenty of people more than willing to help keep you there.

For those of you who wish to enhance their lives by building a home that meets your needs and fits your site, you will find you can have your cake and eat it too.

jemimabean

Parking courtyard.

Who would have thought showing someone a way out of the tiny box they have put themselves in is a bad idea. For those of you who wish to enhance their lives by building a home that meets your needs and fits your site, you will find you can have your cake and eat it too.

The OP is not in a "tiny box". Their type of new construction is the most widespread, accessible and feasible methods. What makes you think this is a "bad idea"?

Yes, if everyone lived in a utopian fairy tale, we would all magically find a perfect lot to purchase, then engage an architect to build a bespoke home of unlimited possibilities that fulfills our every wish.

But that is not reality for the vast majority of new home buyers. There are countless constraints (available land, time, desire, money, patience) that make your fairy tale impractical for most.

The OP specifically said they are want a new house in a neighborhood on a cul de sac lot with decent privacy. How difficult do you suppose it would be to find this type of lot that is NOT owned by a tract developer? And how much more would such a lot, and the accompanying custom house, cost? And how much longer would the OP have to wait?

I much prefer a front load. It's much easier to park and exit. You go straight in - and straight out. There is room for additional cars for guests in the driveway without people trying to fit a straight car onto a curved payment. Unless you have the room for a wide sweeping accessway into a side load, most people have trouble getting both cars in the garage. You need a car with a tight turning radius.

I always will pick convenience and utility over appearance, although I don't mind the look of front loaders.

Get attractive garage doors and don't worry about it.

How difficult do you suppose it would be to find this type of lot that is NOT owned by a tract developer?

Depends on the community.

But where we are, infill on existing lots is common in many neighbourhoods. So much so that in less than a lifetime, without street signs you'd hardly know where you are sometimes.

2011

2020

Don Mills 1950

Don Mills 2020 (not the same street)

Think outside your tiny box and encourage others to think outside their's.

But where we are, infill on existing lots is common in many neighbourhoods. So much so that in less than a lifetime, without street signs you'd hardly know where you are sometimes.

The pictures you included don't appear to be "infill" to me. They look like tear-downs of existing homes in order to build ugly monstrosities.

The OP is looking to build in a cul de sac neighborhood with decent privacy that can support a basement in Richmond VA. They presumably have a reasonable budget and timeframe they want to stick to.

And this gets to the heart of why Mark's narrative is unrealistic for the vast majority of consumers. He wants the OP to "design the house to fit your site" - but a custom home can't be built on the OP's site! His suggestion simply isn't practical.

Think outside your tiny box and encourage others to think outside their's.

Instead of this meaningless pie-in-the-sky "advice", why not provide realistic PRACTICAL ways to achieve what you are suggesting?

The OP wants a new home in a neighborhood on a cul de sack with a basement in Richmond VA. This likely needs to be done within a reasonable budget and timeframe.

How would the OP go about taking your advice? How do they proceed with "designing the house to fit your site"?

I do not think the OP is from the tiny box of vast majority of consumers, thinking anything different is self defeating and degrading.

"If I can do that, what can I not do? I tell you I am very subtle. When you and Adam talk, I hear you say 'Why?' Always 'Why?' You see things; and you say 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?' I made the word dead to describe my old skin that I cast when I am renewed. I call that renewal being born." From “Back to Methuselah” written by George Bernard Shaw

The pictures you included don't appear to be "infill" to me. They look like tear-downs of existing homes in order to build ugly monstrosities.

They are exactly the definition of infill, as per official city policy.

The City doesn't enforce taste standards.

My building partner and I attended a re-zoning meeting where one objector complained that some of the new homes "disrupting" their neighbourhood had as many as 6 bathrooms!!! At which the 300 assembled objectors simultaneously inhaled in horror. We shook our heads and left.

****

BTW, the first set of pics is of a quiet cul de sac in an established community. Only a front-load garage was possible too!

I do not think the OP is from the tiny box of vast majority of consumers, thinking anything different is self defeating and degrading.

Since you are unable to articulate actionable, realistic ways for the OP to achieve what you're suggesting, I assume that means you don't have any practical answers.

They are exactly the definition of infill, as per official city policy.

I'm not sure why you're using the Toronto City Council's Residential Infill Strategy as a way to define an "infill" property.

Regardless, I'm not sure how this is relevant to the OP. Are you suggesting they buy a home in an existing neighborhood, so that they can tear it down and build the house of Mark's dreams?

I'm not sure why you're using the Toronto City Council's Residential Infill Strategy as a way to define an "infill" property.

Don Mills is a neighbourhood in the City of Toronto.

Custom building on an infill lot is an alternative that may suit the OP.

Custom building on an infill lot is an alternative that may suit the OP.

I certainly appreciate you offering actionable advice on this topic. But it highlights one of the flaws I've pointed out in Mark's pie-in-the-sky advice.

Imagine the time, effort, cost and complexity involved in the OP finding an existing house with a lot that suits there needs, then demolishing that house in order to build a fully custom home.

That is just not practical for 99.9% of consumers. Especially when they've already found a lot they like in a planned development.

Limited thinking is not fertile ground for creativity and viable solutions. Remove the shackles in your head and live a life with integrity. Don't be an anchor on other's well being.

Mark -

Can you offer up any "viable solutions" to the OP? Anything actionable?

Besides "removing shackles" and "thinking outside the box"?

Unfortunately - the OP is limited to the plans, the lots and the builder. If the builder says no to a side load with this plan, what is a viable solution? Change lots? Change plans? Change buiilders? - likely also none are viable in this situation.

And, frankly, in my experience if someone doesn't WANT to do something, trying to force or cajole them to will end up with a poor outcome.

This is precisely the limitation of stock plans on non-stock lots (and the added bonus of a market where if you don't want it - the next person does, and likely at more money!)

I like @jemimabean's idea. Can you do that? Can you post the plans? Maybe with landscaping the front door and garage can look more separate?

^^^

There are a variety of ways to minimize, blend and even completely disguise a garage.

I'm sure these garage-disguising options are offered by the spec builder being used by the OP.

Depending on your lot slope look at the fill need if you flip the floor plan with a side load garage. So, if the garage and kitchen etc. are on the left Flip everything so the garage and kitchen are on the right. The fill for the driveway necessary for a side entrance may be reduced enough to make the cost doable.

Booty exposes the root of the OP's predicament, it is a tract build. The OP is at the mercy of the builder they chose and the lot they chose. The builder has the final say and that is where the OP should direct their inquiries. 'Change' is only possible if it pleases the builder and in their best interest.

The OP hasn't chimed in for awhile, but a lot of people are suggesting things that are not possible in tract builds. Flipping the garage side, moving the garage (which completely changes the roofline and interior of the home), building retaining walls - these things are fine in custom builds but a tract builder will not even entertain them. OP - garage and driveway placement in tract developments are determined by grading and drainage, and are in the approved grading plans. The builder can't change the side the garage is on without completely redoing the grading and drainage plans and going through another approval process with the city, which they are not going to do. They probably can't do a retaining wall either without going through some sort of amendment process. Moving the garage could also impact the utility connections that have already been set up (generally they are on the opposite side of the driveway). Beggars can't be choosers, and unfortunately, even in more expensive tract builds, we're all beggars. We just finished a tract build after going through a custom design process and blowing the roof off our budget to build, so we know. We know what we could have had if we could have afforded it, and know the sacrifices we made to do a tract build instead. Your choices and options are generally very limited, so you can either choose to buy what they build, or not.

May not be useful to the OP but worthy's examples of disguising a garage delighted me.

Thanks everyone for the info and assistance. I was MIA b/c we explored the custom route, but ultimately adding the big ticket items we were getting with the production builder (screened in porch, unfinished basement and 3 car garage) to the custom home brought the total over our budget, and we hadn't even factored in design selections yet. Of course a side load was a non issue with the custom builder, but we definitly would have had to make sizeable sacrafices to afford it. We decided to go with the production build and focus on the silver lining with the garage...its a 33 x 25'-6" garage! I may not care for the look, but my husband is grinning ear to ear. :-) Thanks again!