Good question, Dave.

This house is located on a tight urban lot. We considered a garage, but went with a carport for the following reasons:

1. Local zoning regulations limit the area of the house that could be built on this lot. An attached garage would have counted toward the maximum allowable area, making this relatively small house significantly smaller;
2. An alternative was to build a detached garage, but the driveway and the garage would have taken up a lot of area in the backyard and would have made access from garage to a house a lot less convenient;
3. It takes a lot of discipline to park cars instead of storing things in a garage. This house has plenty of storage in the basement and an open carport does not tend to accumulate things. This carport works well because it provides easy access to the house and provides
shelter from sun, rain, and snow.