When building a house, one thing you have to think about is, what size of a garage do you want? The best way to start is to think about what you want to store or what work do you want to do. Most of the time when you meet with a home builder they have a standard minimal garage size, and minimal it usually is!
So, what items will you be storing in you garage? Most garages are built to store two cars and a few miscellaneous items such as a mower, garbage cans, a wheel barrow and a few garden tools. At 19 x 19 feet you would be lucky to have these items in your garage with two cars. And if you were able to squeeze into the garage with all these items, don’t expect to be able to open your car doors.
What size of a garage would better accommodate the items mentioned above? Currently I have a 22 x 24 foot garage that allows me to have all these items and park my two vehicles. The problem is that it is a bit tight and I have difficulty opening one side of one of the vehicles without interfering with the items in the garage. A better choice of garage size would have been a 24 x 24 foot garage but the ridge of the garage roof interfered with the soffit of the house roof so 22 feet was the widest I could go.
Now if you are interested in a workshop or an area to tinker and do projects while still having cars parked in the garage then you will have to be figured out the size of garage you will need. A good rule of thumb is to start with 20 x 20 garage and then add for the additional garage working area and items. Or better yet draw a scaled diagram of cars, mowers, workbenches and other items you may have and design the garage around them.
The last thing you have to consider is that there are restrictions in size that your garage can be and still be structurally sound without addition support beams and posts. So, the best thing to do is design your garage the way you want but keep an open mind because as the garage gets bigger the construct of the garage becomes more complex and the cost will increase. You builder will be able to help you figure the garage that will be the best size at the most effective cost.