Yes, I think that will work. Some of the humungous trucks we have these days may have trouble but they can barely get through a grocery store parking lot.

The back out space is a bit tight -you could move the fence back 2 ft.

You may think this is a dumb question.

Do you have kids? If you do, where will they ride their toys? Future basketball hoop placement, etc. When they turn 16, you may be adding another vehicle to the mix. Is there a place to add parking for a third vehicle.

Driveways often need to be used for more than just turning a car around.

This looks tight, IMO.

I see you have a gate beside the garage, but you might also consider a solid gate where the driveway meets the wall. It'll be easier to haul things in and out, for a truck to deliver mulch, patio furniture, bouncy-houses, etc, and if you ever have another car/driver, you'll already have an opening to extend the driveway a little (if codes allow).

It's tight, and the garage is too small for comfort. It will be used as a one car garage, with one car permanently occupying the driveway. That will lead to you not using the turnaround space as turnaround space but as parking space. So, you will both back out of the driveway into whatever traffic that road might have.

The garage would be better accessed directly from the side road with the doors there and not do a turnaround. I think if you pushed the garage all the way to the rear setback, and over towards your yard area that you would be able to have enough room to have the doors directly on the access street. and that would allow you to lengthen the garage to actually serve as a two car garage. Or, make it big enough for two cars and the flotsam of bikes and toys that kids will have in the garage.

I looked for the overhead drawing of the home on the lot to illustrate what I mean here, but I don't see it.

I think LWO had a great suggestion to have the garage frontloaded from that side street.

I don't think the garage is too small (we park our minivan and sedan in a garage that is 20x22 outside dimensions) but it really would be nice to have more space.

Personally I think the driveway as drawn is workable but suboptimal. I would not have an easy time getting the minivan out of the garage, and I probably would be driving over the landscaping on a fairly frequent basis. Others -- like my friend who once worked as a valet -- might think it is fine.

I agree that it's to tight for practical use. The minimum garage size for two autos has been 20x24 for a long time, and that barely lets you park a car and get out without dinging your door on the wall or adjacent car. There isn't any room for anything but cars in a garage that size. If you are a normal American family, you probably want to store a lawnmower, kids bikes, shovels, rakes and other lawn equipment, and maybe other recreational sporting equipment like hockey sticks, basketballs, and stinky football pads and uniforms. Once you've got any of that in a 20x24 garage, one car is left out in the cold. And that garage is smaller than that.

This should have been explored during the initial phases of the design, not left to the hind end. It's part of the parameters that set the physical limitations of your home.

Thank you for all the comments on helping me get the driveway ‘right’.

Attached is a 2D picture showing the garage, backyard, neighbor’s front yard along with the driveway. You can also see a second garage door to the side. The dashed lines are the setback lines. We have maximized the buildable width and depth (the garage is 3ft outside the setback line, which needs to be addressed). Therefore, I would have to compromise to reach the best solution.

With the current design, I would need to make turnaround from the side street and park the cars inside the garage. Ideally, I would also like to back out of the garage and drive forward to the side street. It may be acceptable for us to just back out to the street (not sure how bad that is). Traffic might not be an issue as there are only 6 houses beyond that point.

Bpathome- It is a front yard of the neighbor with a garden picket fence along the property line behind us. We may extend the 6ft fence to enclose the driveway. I like the open look of the garage better. Hope the neighbor won’t mind the current arrangement as their front door / garage door is further away from the sidewalk.

The current gate is close to the patio to the side of the garage where there is a second garage door. I see your point of having a gate at the end of the driveway. We may change the gate location.

Chris- Yes. I think it is a good idea to move the fence back by about another 2ft for easier back out. I am a little bit concerned that may block the view from the Great Room.

RedLover- Thank you for bringing the issue of kids’ usage of the driveway. Yes. I have a 13yr girl, 10yr boy, and baby boy. They ride bikes, skateboards, and play basketball. I may think install a basketball hoop on the driveway. We don’t have space for a three car garage. When there is a third car, it will have to park on the driveway or on the street.

LiveWireOak- I like the idea of side entry garage and we actually thought about it. However, the city requires at least 18ft clearance from the property line in front of the side entry garage. That means we need to push the garage 8ft to 10ft to the left. That would block the views into the backyard from the breakfast and great room. This can be seen from the attached drawing.

I understand that the garage of 20ftx23.5ft may not be wide/deep enough even it is a lot bigger than the 19ftx20ft garage in our current 1600sqft house. As I mentioned earlier, we are running out of buildable area. The issue is how to allocate the available space in the best possible way.

Oaktown- Good to learn that you think the garage is not small and the driveway may still work. Yes. I would love to have a bigger garage and a larger driveway to go with it if we had the room.

GreenDesigns- I see your point. I understand all the needs of space you mentioned except that we do not have hockey sticks as it rarely snows here. For some reason, a garage of 20x24 is on the large side of a typical house in our area. I agree that this issue shall have been sorted out early in the design process. BTW, the previous designer had the driveway at 18ft (instead of 27ft as of now). That got me worried after I tested with my 20ft wide driveway, I would not be able to make 180 degree turn around (with a mailbox at the edge). It was like 135 deg. I hope with the extra 9ft clearance in front of the garage and without the fence parallel to the driveway, it would work out. I will test the plan on a parking lot.

So many issues to consider in designing a house. Floor plans, kitchen, master bath, exteriors and roofs and now driveway. I still need to address the all important budget aspect. The progress is much slower that I initially planned. Thanks again! JF