Garage With Living Quarters Plans

A garage with living quarters puts the garage first and the home second: a big, tall bay for trucks, trailers, equipment or an RV, with a compact apartment beside it or above it. The garage with living quarters plans below have between 582 and 1,273 square feet of living space and garages from 624 to 1,713 square feet. Six are a single story garage with living quarters on one level; four put some or all of the living space upstairs.

In every plan here the garage is larger than the living space, which is the line between this page and a full-size home that happens to have a workshop. All ten come from one designer, share one price, and are drawn in a barndominium style: tall walls, simple rooflines and long, wide garage bays.

Ten Garage With Living Quarters Plans Compared

Plan	Living Sq Ft	Garage Sq Ft	Beds / Baths	Stories	Footprint	PDF / Printed
Paul JRW-10007	1,108	1,380	2 / 1	1	65’6″ × 38′	$1,250 / $1,700
Reese JRW-10004	612	1,064	1 / 1	1	46′ × 38′	$1,250 / $1,700
Zach JRW-10001	784	1,713	1 / 1	1	66′ × 45′	$1,250 / $1,700
Nelson JRW-10005	628	1,700	1 / 1	1	48′ × 50′	$1,250 / $1,700
Amerie JRW-10002	612	1,140	1 / 1	1	48′ × 38′	$1,250 / $1,700
Crista JRW-10018	924	1,561	2 / 1	1	65′ × 45′	$1,250 / $1,700
Elliot JRW-10019	1,273	1,673	1 / 1.5	2	74′ × 49′	$1,250 / $1,700
Dale JRW-10013	939	1,512	Bunks / 1	2	42′ × 36′	$1,250 / $1,700
Moore JRW-10017	582	624	Studio / 1	2	24′ × 26′	$1,250 / $1,700
Marilyn JRW-10020	959	1,671	1 / 1	2	58′ × 42′	$1,250 / $1,700

Living square feet is the heated area. Garage square feet is the unheated bay the designer draws as garage or workshop space. Porches and patios are extra and are listed with each plan below.

Single Story Garage With Living Quarters Plans

One level means no stairs to carry groceries up, no second-floor plumbing, and a building that stays short enough to sit comfortably on a rural lot. The trade-off is width: a single-story plan spreads the living space and the garage side by side, so these run 46 to 66 feet wide.

Paul JRW-10007: Two Bedrooms Beside A 1,380 Sq Ft Garage

1,108 sq ft · 2 bed / 1 bath · 1,380 sq ft garage · 144 sq ft porch · 65’6″ × 38′ · 1 story
$1,250 PDF · $1,700 for 5 printed sets

The Paul is the most complete home in the set. Its 1,108 square feet hold two bedrooms, one full bath, an open living and dining area, and a kitchen with a central island and a walk-in pantry, with a utility room that keeps laundry out of the main rooms. The 1,380 sq ft garage takes up the rest of the building, with room for vehicles, equipment or a serious project. Ceilings are 9 feet in the living space, under a 6:12 roof. The gallery shows photos of a finished build.

View the Paul JRW-10007 plan →

Reese JRW-10004: The Smallest Footprint

612 sq ft · 1 bed / 1 bath · 1,064 sq ft garage · 100 sq ft patio · 46′ × 38′ · 1 story
$1,250 PDF · $1,700 for 5 printed sets

At 46 by 38 feet, the Reese is the easiest plan here to fit on a tight lot. The front entry opens into a living room that runs straight into the kitchen, and the bedroom has a walk-in closet. The right half of the building is a 1,064 sq ft garage with a large front overhead door, a rear exit door and a door straight into the living room, so you can walk from the truck to the kitchen without going outside. The overall height is just 17 feet 8½ inches, with a 7:12 roof.

View the Reese JRW-10004 plan →

Zach JRW-10001: The Most Garage For The Living Space

784 sq ft · 1 bed / 1 bath · 1,713 sq ft garage · 376 sq ft porch · 66′ × 45′ · 1 story
$1,250 PDF · $1,700 for 5 printed sets

The Zach has the biggest garage on the page, 1,713 square feet, against 784 square feet of living space, which makes it more than twice as much garage as home. The bay has a 15-foot ceiling and several large overhead doors, so it doubles as an RV or equipment building. The living side is simple: an open living room and kitchen, and a bedroom next to a full bathroom. A 376 sq ft covered porch runs off the garage wing.

View the Zach JRW-10001 plan →

Nelson JRW-10005: Two Tall Doors And A Storage Bay

628 sq ft · 1 bed / 1 bath · 1,700 sq ft garage · 48′ × 50′ · 1 story
$1,250 PDF · $1,700 for 5 printed sets

The Nelson puts a 1,700 sq ft garage in the left wing and 628 square feet of living space on the right, with the bedroom tucked into the rear corner and the bathroom between it and the living area. The front of the garage has two tall overhead doors, and a separate roll-up door opens a storage bay. At 48 by 50 feet, it is closer to square than most plans here, which suits a lot that is deep rather than wide.

View the Nelson JRW-10005 plan →

Amerie JRW-10002: A Compact One-Bedroom

612 sq ft · 1 bed / 1 bath · 1,140 sq ft garage · 48′ × 38′ · 1 story
$1,250 PDF · $1,700 five printed sets

The Amerie pairs 612 square feet of living space with a 1,140 sq ft garage on a 48 by 38 foot footprint: one bedroom, one bath, and an open living area. It is the same size of home as the Reese with a slightly larger garage. The full specs and floor plan are on the Amerie JRW-10002 plan page.

View the Amerie JRW-10002 plan →

RV Garage With Living Quarters

A motorhome or a fifth-wheel needs a taller garage than a car does, and the ceiling is only half of it: the overhead door has to clear the roof-mounted air conditioner too. Three plans here have garage ceilings of 15 feet or more. The Zach above has a 15-foot garage ceiling, and the two below are drawn around tall bays. For full-size houses with an RV bay, see the ones collected in RV garage house plans.

Elliot JRW-10019: A 15’6″ RV Ceiling

1,273 sq ft · 1 bed / 1.5 bath · 1,673 sq ft garage · 168 sq ft porch and patio · 74′ × 49′ · 2 stories
$1,250 PDF · $1,700 five printed sets

The Elliot’s 1,673 sq ft garage has a 15-foot 6-inch ceiling, the tallest in the set, and the designer calls it out for an RV, vehicles or equipment. The living side has a bedroom, a full bathroom and a powder room, a kitchen with a pantry, a dining room and a living room, with 902 square feet on the main floor. A 371 sq ft bonus room upstairs works as an office, a guest room or a media room.

View the Elliot JRW-10019 plan →

Crista JRW-10018: Two Bedrooms And A 15-Foot Garage

924 sq ft · 2 bed / 1 bath · 1,561 sq ft garage · 376 sq ft porch · 65′ × 45′ · 1 story
$1,250 PDF · $1,700 for 5 printed sets

The Crista gives you the second bedroom that most garage-first plans leave out, in 924 square feet with an open kitchen and living room. The 1,561 sq ft garage has several overhead doors and a 15-foot ceiling, with a covered area along one side. The images are renderings, not photos of a build.

View the Crista JRW-10018 plan →

Garage With Living Space Above

Putting the living space upstairs keeps the whole ground floor for vehicles and shrinks the footprint. It also means a staircase and a taller building, so check local height limits before you commit.

Moore JRW-10017: A 24 By 26 Garage Apartment

582 sq ft studio · 1 bath · 624 sq ft garage · 24′ × 26′ · 2 stories
$1,250 PDF · $1,700 for 5 printed sets

The Moore is a classic garage apartment. The ground floor is a 624 sq ft garage with a high overhead door, and upstairs is a 582 sq ft studio with an 8-foot ceiling and a full bathroom, under a steep 14:12 roof. The designer pitches it as a garage apartment, guest house or workshop. The published description does not mention a kitchen, so check the drawing if you plan to live in it full time.

View the Moore JRW-10017 plan →

Dale JRW-10013: Bunk Space Over A Three-Bay Garage

939 sq ft · built-in bunks / 1 bath · 1,512 sq ft garage · 42′ × 36′ · 2 stories
$1,250 PDF · $1,700 for 5 printed sets

The Dale puts 939 square feet of living space over a 1,512 sq ft garage with three overhead doors and a 10-foot ceiling. An enclosed staircase along the side leads up to an open floor with a kitchen, a full bath and three built-in double bunks in wall alcoves. There is no separate bedroom, which makes it a natural fit for a hunting property, a farm crew or visiting family rather than a year-round home.

View the Dale JRW-10013 plan →

Marilyn JRW-10020: Most Of The Home Upstairs

959 sq ft · 1 bed / 1 bath · 1,671 sq ft garage · 532 sq ft patio · 58′ × 42′ · 2 stories
$1,250 PDF · $1,700 for 5 printed sets

The Marilyn has 959 square feet of living space, and 824 of them are on the second floor, above a 1,671 sq ft garage with an 11-foot ceiling. The home has one bedroom, one full bathroom, an open living area and a kitchen, and a 532 sq ft covered patio. At 58 by 42 feet, it gives you a big garage without a very wide building.

View the Marilyn JRW-10020 plan →

Building A Garage With Living Quarters As A Metal Or Pole Barn Building

All ten plans on this page are drawn as stick-frame buildings on a concrete slab. They look like barndominiums, but the drawings do not specify a steel frame or a post-frame structure.

A metal garage with living quarters, or a pole barn with living quarters, is a different structure. A steel building carries its loads on steel frames, and a post-frame building on posts set in the ground, so the foundation, the walls and the connections all change. The floor layout can often carry over, but the structural drawings cannot. Expect to hire an engineer or a designer licensed in your state to redraw the structure, and get the metal building supplier involved early, because many of them engineer their own frames.

The CAD/DWG file is the practical starting point for that work. For these plans it costs $650 and gives a local designer an editable drawing instead of a PDF. As a rough guide, metal building kits typically run $20 to $35 per square foot for the shell, plus $10 to $15 per square foot to put it up, before the slab and the interior.

What A Garage With Living Quarters Costs To Build

Finished barndominium living space typically runs $65 to $160 per square foot before land and site work. For the Paul’s 1,108 square feet, that works out to about $72,000 to $177,000, and for the Reese’s 612 square feet, about $40,000 to $98,000. Those figures cover the heated living space. The garage is unheated and unfinished inside, so it costs less per square foot, but at twice the size of the home on some of these plans it is still a large share of the budget. Get a builder to price the garage separately.

Plan Prices And Add-Ons

Every plan on this page costs $1,250 for a single-build PDF or $1,700 for five printed sets shipped to you. The add-ons are the same across all ten: flip plans for $200 for a mirror image of the layout, a CAD/DWG file for $650, and a material list for $300. This designer does not publish modification packages, so changes beyond a flip are a job for a local designer working from the CAD file.

If you want a full-size home with a workshop rather than a garage with a small apartment, see barndominium with shop plans. For a house with its garage in a separate building, see barndominium plans with a detached garage.

FAQ