Did you know your garage houses hidden potential for your home? Homeowners are always looking for ways to leverage the value of their space in new ways and utilize their space to its maximum potential. In the case of your garage, that can mean transforming it into a brand new space, or using it as a basis for an addition above it. Whether you’re working with an existing garage or building a brand new one from scratch, you can benefit from your garage in ways you were not aware of and boost your property value in the process.
How can I transform my garage?
Turn your garage into a studio apartment
Not everybody uses their actual garage to park their car. Or maybe you have a two-car garage and only one car, or two garages. Either way, this is a space that is underutilized or unused, and you can do much more with it. A prefab garage apartment is always an option, but customization is what most people prefer to go for.
You can transform your garage into an extended living space, such as a studio apartment. It’ll need to be finished – insulated, waterproofed, electric, water, painted, etc. but once that’s done, you’ve essentially got a brand new guest room, private room for an older teen, or an elderly parent, etc. You can even rent it or turn it into an AirBnb for an extra source of passive income. Honey-Doers can help you turn this space around very quickly and take it from useless to the best room in your house.
Build an above garage apartment
Did you know your garage can also serve as a good base for a brand new space? One of the best ways to add square footage, usable space, and property value is to build a garage with a loft apartment. It’s a more and more popular option, as homeowners are discovering, post-pandemic, that there is never enough space, especially when you’re bringing once-outside activities inside your home. An above garage apartment can become living quarters, or it can be turned into a gym, yoga studio, home office, or homeschooling space.
A lot of people choose to build a brand new room above their existing garage instead of extending other areas of their property. It’s a great way to extend your space in a way that still works with the original architecture of your home. Because you’re limited to just the space above the garage, that means you can create an apartment that can exist as somewhat separate from the rest of the house. Your teen will be thrilled.
Plan your garage build with an above garage apartment
This is a lesser known option, so you might not have been aware of it, but it is, in fact, possible, to build a garage from scratch. Better yet, Honey Doers can have it built for you with a plan for an additional above-garage apartment in mind.
It’s important to opt for a trusted company with experience with such projects. It needs to be carefully planned and executed to ensure that both the garage and the apartment above the garage come out not just up to code, but functional spaces that look seamless within the overall aesthetic of your property.
Turn your carriage house into a guest house
A very popular transformation is to give your carriage house a brand new look and purpose and turn it into a guest house. For big families and people who love to entertain, a space like this would be a blessing, and you’d be repurposing space that was being underutilized before or mostly abandoned.
But by far the most profitable way of repurposing this space is to turn it into an AirBnb or even a space for a long-term tenant. Since it’s separated from the main house, that affords it privacy, and it can feel like a stand-alone home on the same property.
Honey-Doers can take up a major project such as a transformation, and while the work will be extensive and the investment is significant, the returns will also be worth it, especially if it’s a passive income opportunity.
Final thoughts
When you say “garage apartment”, perhaps that doesn’t conjure the best image. Are you visualizing an unfinished garage that looks a little dingy and is probably cold and ugly? You’ll be happy to know that’s not at all the case.
The truth is that a lot of homeowners nowadays are choosing to expand their home and add value by building above garage apartments, but they’re far from dingy. In fact, they’re often built with luxury finishes, like marble countertops and hardwood flooring, which not only gives the place a luxe feel, but ends up maintaining really good value in the long run. It’s estimated that a garage to living space conversion fetches you about 80% ROI, so when it’s time to sell, you’ll be glad you invested in a transformation that buys you more space and more bang for your buck.
