5 Spectacular New Home Plans For A Wide Building Lot

5 Spectacular New Home Plans For A Wide Building Lot

written by Rob Maggin

Augusta
Augusta ML
Augusta LL
Augusta UL

What’s so good about a wide building lot?

Well, glad you asked.

Wide building lots have lots of advantages over narrow building lots.

In the Washington DC market, wide building lots are hard
to come by. And if you can find one, many times the cost is prohibitive.

But, for the lucky ones out there who can find one that works for
your budget, here are some advantages.

1. You Can Have a Side-Load Garage 

What is a side-load garage?

It’s a home configured so the main garage doors
are not seen in the front of the home.

The main garage doors are actually on the side of the garage, not the front.
Many home buyers do not prefer to see two or three garage doors the first
thing on the approach to the new home.

The challenge is trying to find a lot wide enough so the 
the
car can turn into the side of the garage. 

This requires a minimum twenty-five-foot turning radius
to easily maneuver into the garage. Sometimes, if there is enough
room for a multi-point turn, less than twenty-five feet will work.

One of the negatives of a side-load garage is the cost. A side-load garage will
require more driveways than a front-load garage. So, the cost of
the driveway for a side-load garage will be more than the cost of a front-load garage. 

(If you don’t have a wide enough building
lot for a side-load garage, you can always do a side-load garage on a corner lot.)

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Franklin
Franklin UL
Franklin ML

The garage is included, just not shown. All our new home plans can be easily modified,
enlarged or decreased in size.

2. Center Entry Hall Flanked By Rooms on Each Side

Many times, with a narrower lot, it’s just not possible to squeeze
in an entry foyer in the center of the home with a room on each side
of the foyer.

Many times the combination will be a center entry foyer with
a living room and a dining room on each side.
Although nowadays, we’re building more homes without a
living room

But, with a wider building lot, you don’t have to sacrifice
the wide open and spacious feel you get when you enter the
center foyer and there is a room on each side.

Many homes the other rooms besides the
dining room could be a parlor or a music room
or an office. It doesn’t have to be a living room.

 

Woodmont
Woodmont | ML
Woodmont | UL

The garage is included, just not shown. All our new home plans can be easily modified,
enlarged, or decreased in size. See the video of this home here.

3. Attractive Front Elevation

 

With a wide building lot, there is enough room to have lots of
options with different types of front elevations. 
The reason for this is that there is plenty of width
to vary roof lines.

This can be done with multiple gable roofs of various heights
or staggered heights.

We can also introduce curves to the roof line. Where if you try
to do the same thing with a narrower elevation, the
curves can feel truncated and not as a natural “swoop”.

And something about the wide front elevation and the home taking
up more “real estate” creates a more impressive look. It appears 
more substantial. 

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Moorland ML-1
Moorland UL
Moorland LL

4. Garage Door Smaller Percentage of Front Elevation

Back to the garage again. You’re going to think I just
hate garages. But, if you choose to have a front-load garage on a wide building lot, there is another advantage.

With a wide building lot and a front-load garage, the percentage
the garage doors take up the overall front width of the home
is less than on a narrower building lot.

This just means that those large garage doors won’t be so “in your face”
on a wide lot.  There are other parts of the house, like windows, water 
tables, and other fenestration to divert your eyes. 

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Cumberland
Cumberland ML
Cumberland UL

The garage is included, just not shown. All our new home plans can be easily modified,
enlarged or decreased in size.

5. Conclusion

Those are a few of the advantages of a wider building lot,
if you can find one.

To Summarize:

  1. if the lot is wide enough (need a minimum 25-foot turning radius) you 
    can move the garage to the side of the home so the large garage doors 
    are not the first thing seen driving up to the front of your new home.
  2. if the lot is wide enough you can have a wider floor plan with a center
    entry foyer hall to greet guests. The foyer can be flanked by another room 
    to the left and the right. And this tends to give a more open and spacious feel.
  3. Front elevation can have a larger variety of interesting elevations. One reason
    is the ability to have more variations in the height and the angles and curves 
    of the roof lines. 
  4. If you do choose to place the garage doors in the front of the home, the garage doors
    will take up a smaller percentage of the front of the home so the door won’t be so
    prominent.

And if you are looking for a wide lot in Bethesda we have an ideal prime building lot 
at 7219 Marbury Court Bethesda. This lot is flat and is 12,100 square feet.

It’s in the Whitman/Pyle/Bradley Hills school cluster. And only a mile and a half to downtown
Bethesda shopping and dining.

Stop by today from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and bring your ideas and questions and I’ll be on hand to discuss
how we can design and build your dream home on this lot. I’ll have 100s of home plans to give you lots of ideas
of what you can build on this great property.

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