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Does Garage Add Value to Home? (Tips and Advice)

Learn how to add to your home's value by adding a garage or renovating your existing attached or detached garage.

Garage area in brown paint exterior

Homeowners wanting to increase the appraisal value of their homes may look for ways to add value by remodeling, renovating, or building an addition. Adding a garage seems like an obvious choice, but does it always add value to a home?

A garage does not add value to a home if in disrepair or if added to a home in an area where homes typically don’t feature garages. A multi-use building that the homeowner can use as a home gym, workshop, or safe spot to park their vehicle does add value to the home.

That answer may surprise you, but we’ll explain it in detail in this article. You can build a garage for between $10,000 to $25,000 and recoup most of the expenses on your home’s resale value. Read on to learn the type of garage that always adds value and peruse photos of designs homebuyers love.

Is adding a garage a good investment?

Home appraisals and valuations use comparable homes, called comp homes for short, as a guide to local home value. Rather than using theoretical home builds, your appraiser, real estate agent, and realtor use actual recently sold houses in your neighborhood as comp homes.

That means that the answer to whether garages add market value, meaning whether it makes a good investment or not, depends on the existing homes in your neighborhood. According to Zillow, an appraiser determines the value of your home by assessing it in comparison to the other homes in your neighborhood. If they all have garages, your home should, too. Adding a garage typically will raise your home’s sales price.

On the other hand, if you reside in a neighborhood where none of the homes feature a garage but instead use carports, you won’t add to your home’s value by building a garage. You determine which scenario applies by looking at the homes in your own neighborhood. A stroll down your street and the two blocks on either side of it in each direction typically suffices to tell you if detached garages, attached garages, or no garages prevail.

Comp homes change every three to six months, so if you need to sell immediately, conduct a search on a site like Zillow, Realtor, or Redfin for recently sold homes in your neighborhood. The sites automatically show you the homes sold in the past few months that an appraiser considers comp homes.

How much value does a one car garage add to a house?

You can recoup nearly all of the expense of building a garage or other type of parking space, such as a parking pad. A single-car attached garage costs between $7,500 and $10,000 to build. Building a detached one-vehicle garage costs between $9,000 and $12,000. Adding electricity to a detached building adds about $2,000 to the project. These options measure about 12- to 16-feet in width.

The biggest payoff comes when the garage provides a multi-use space. For instance, if it doubles as a home office or devotes an area to it, it provides a greater payoff because, since 2009, the number of individuals working from home increased by 159 percent, according to Home Light. A home office adds more than $10,000 in resale value.

That means you could recoup the entire cost of building a one-car garage that devoted an area as a home office.

Wall-mounted shelving and racks with a garage area
Wall-mounted shelving and racks with a large garage area.

This single-car garage design places the office space along one wall, leaving the rest of the area for the family vehicle.

An open garage with a single-car parking space
An open garage with a single-car parking space.

This single-car garage design offers a door to the home’s exterior yard to the right, and two doors at the rear of the garage, one leading into the home (left), and the other to a small office space (right).

How much value does a 2 car detached garage add to a house?

The typical two-car garage measures 22- to 26-feet in width. Building this size of detached garage costs between $16,000 and $46,000. Much of the cost variation is attributed to your location and local labor costs. Whether you install electrical and plumbing also influences the cost. Including a home office in this size garage also nets you a minimum $10,000 resale return on investment (ROI).

A detached garage becomes an asset when lot size and/or building codes preclude building an attached garage onto your home. Building an attached garage reduces your costs by 10 to 15 percent on average.

Two-car garage space with wooden doors and a blue wall
Two-car garage space with wooden accent doors and a blue accent wall.

A detached two-car garage offers flexibility since you can build an apartment or home office above the two garage bays for additional living space. This affords the homeowner the best parking situation and added square footage for an office or separate living area.

How much value does a 3 car garage add to your home?

Like other sizes of garages, the detached three-car garage space costs more to build. Expect to spend between $31,000 to $77,000 on a 31- to 34-feet wide structure. The cost of an attached version of the same size only costs $28,200 to $57,100. While the parking area only adds a few thousand to your resale value, what you add above it can help you recoup most of the building costs. Adding a mother-in-law apartment or other accessory dwelling unit (ADU) can help you recoup up to 90 percent of the expense of building.

Three-car detached garage in white and blue exterior
Three-car detached garage in white and blue paint exterior.

A three-car detached garage offers both parking space and the same flexibility in building up as a two-vehicle detached garage. Adding living space, such as a mother-in-law apartment above the detached garage can net you a huge payoff because, according to Moving.com, the two items home buyers will willingly pay more for include a mother-in-law apartment and a finished basement.

Car garage with three white doors and a brick walling style exterior.
Car garage with three white doors and a brick walling style exterior.

A three-car attached garage needs to perfectly match the façade of the rest of the home. While its placement may allow for a small area above the garage bays, permitting of attached additions typically uses more strict requirements.

How much does an RV garage add to home value?

Building an RV garage adds between 20 and 50 percent to your home’s value. Why such a diverse range? The added value depends on whether the garage includes living quarters. The upper end of the resale value comes from a second floor that adds actual living space that includes a bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom. Installing water and electrical hookups can also help add higher value without requiring the second story.

A large capacity garage that accommodate RV vehicles
A large capacity garage that can accommodate RV vehicles.

Adding an RV garage requires a larger, wider, deeper garage design. These typically include more than one garage bay. The garage bay for a typical vehicle affords the homeowner extra space at its rear that the homeowner can enclose as an office, storage space, or bathroom.

Existing Garage Renovations

Homes with a dilapidated but existing garage afford the homeowner two choices – demolish it and rebuild or renovate the existing structure to increase property value. Have a professional builder examine the structure to determine the quality of its foundation and framing, referred to as the structure’s bones. In a garage with good bones, you can tear out old wallboards and replace them, then replace the garage door and any entry door. A new garage door typically costs less than $4,000 to replace and offers a nearly 95 percent ROI. Wallboard for a small space like a garage typically costs less than $500. Repaint the wallboard with a neutral color palette to finish the project.

Black paint on wall with a roller brush
Black paint is applied to a wall with a rolling brush.

A simple renovation to an existing garage can increase its value significantly. A garage in disrepair actually reduces a home’s value.

Renovations to a garage with a solid wood door
Renovations are being done to a garage with a solid wood door.

Upgrading an existing garage door nets about a 95 percent ROI and can transform the curb appeal of a home.