5 free starting plans
Detached garage plans
A detached garage stands on its own slab, so you choose where it sits. Five sizes, each drawn from the footing to the trusses, checked for snow and wind and priced line by line.
- Plans
- 5
- Floor, sq ft
- 400 to 1,200
- Materials, about
- $10,000 to $21,500
- Preliminary checks
- All passed at 30 psf
Every size, drawn by the designer
Pick a detached garage size.
Each one is a full starting plan: framed, checked for 30 psf of ground snow, 115 mph of wind and a 36 in frost line, and priced. Switch the view to see the frame or the dimensions.
Drawn by the designer from this plan24x24
24x24 two-car garage
The classic two-car garage: a 16 x 7 ft door, a walk door and two windows on 9 ft walls. At 576 sq ft it can skip the frost-depth footing where the code exemption applies.
- Floor
- 576 sq ft
- Walls
- 9 ft
- Doors
- 16' x 7' overhead, walk door
- Trusses
- 13 at 2', 24' span
- Slab
- 4 in, thickened edge
30 of 30 automated checks passed · 4 external items remain. Local approval not checked. 1 item for your builder or engineer: seismic design category.
Materials about $11,900, before tax and delivery
What it needs
What a detached garage has to clear.
Distance, size and cost decide most of it. The designer checks the first two as you draw.
01Distance
How close to the house and the lot line.
The code asks for a fire-rated wall closer than 5' to the lot line and allows no openings closer than 3' (IRC R302.1, rule GAR-04). The designer takes the lot-line distance and checks the walls, the eave and the openings against it. How far the garage may stand from the house, and the setbacks, height and permit, are set by your zoning and your building department; the plans mark local approval as not checked.
03Snow and wind
Every check runs at your loads.
These starting plans are drawn for 30 psf of ground snow, 115 mph of wind and a 36 in frost line. Change the snow, the wind or the frost line in the designer and the headers, the studs, the trusses and the footing follow. Above 70 psf of ground snow the roof needs an engineer, and the designer says so.
Side by side
The 5 detached garage plans compared.
| Plan | Floor | Walls | Doors | Trusses | Materials, about | Labor if hired, broad reference | Build time | Checks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 20x2020x20 two-car garage | 400 sq ft | 9 ft | 16' x 7' overhead, walk door | 11 at 2' | $10,000 | $8,000 to $20,000 | 75 to 110 h | Passed, 1 for your builder |
| 24x2424x24 two-car garage | 576 sq ft | 9 ft | 16' x 7' overhead, walk door | 13 at 2' | $11,900 | $11,520 to $28,800 | 85 to 130 h | Passed, 1 for your builder |
 24x3024x30 two-car garage | 720 sq ft | 9 ft | 9' x 7' overhead, 9' x 7' overhead, walk door | 16 at 2' | $14,400 | $14,400 to $36,000 | 125 to 185 h | Passed, 1 for your builder |
 30x3030x30 two-car garage | 900 sq ft | 10 ft | 9' x 7' overhead, 9' x 7' overhead, walk door | 16 at 2' | $17,600 | $18,000 to $45,000 | 135 to 195 h | Passed, 1 for your builder |
 30x4030x40 three-car garage | 1,200 sq ft | 10 ft | 16' x 7' overhead, 9' x 7' overhead, walk door | 21 at 2' | $21,500 | $24,000 to $60,000 | 155 to 230 h | Passed, 1 for your builder |
Each row is the starting plan as drawn, for 30 psf of ground snow, 115 mph of wind and a 36 in frost line. Materials are rounded: shelf prices plus the estimated trusses and concrete, before sales tax, delivery, labor and site work. Each plan page keeps the shelf prices, the estimate and the exact sum apart. Labor is the published range for hiring it out, a broad reference and not a quote; build time is total labor hours. Passed means the preliminary checks passed for those loads; local approval is not checked.
What they cost
What a detached garage costs.
Materials for the five plans, at dated store prices and $17.88 to $24.89 per sq ft of floor. Labor, permits and site work come on top.
- Materials, about
- $10,000 to $21,500
- Per sq ft of floor
- $17.88 to $24.89
- Labor if hired
- $8,000 to $60,000
- Lines priced
- 46
Excluded: sales tax, delivery, permits, site work and excavation, engineering, electrical, door openers, paint and equipment rental
The garage cost guide breaks it down by group, and the garage cost calculator runs the same numbers for your own size.
Materials for each detached garage plan
Shelf prices from Lowe's, Home Depot and Summertown Metals, read Sep 30, 2026 to Oct 25, 2026. Trusses and concrete estimated from published ranges.
Each total is the shelf-price lines plus the trusses and the concrete, estimated from published ranges and kept apart on each plan page.
Labor if hired, 20x20: $8,000 to $20,000. A broad reference from published price guides, not a quote or a forecast for your site.
The $79 builder's plan
Free to plan. $79 to build from.
Every plan above is free to open, check and price. The builder's plan is drawn from the garage you finish, for one payment. These are real sheets from the 34-sheet plan for the 24x24 garage.
Free
- The design in 3D, and every change you make to it
- Every preliminary check, with its rule
- The materials list priced line by line
- A summary PDF of the design and its checks
$79 once
- The dimensioned layout
- Every wall framed, with openings and heights
- The roof frame
- The cut list, the shopping list with store prices and the build, step by step
You check out in the designer, with your design loaded. If the plan has an error, we fix it or refund you within 30 days. Guarantee terms.
Real sheets from the 34-sheet sample plan for the 24x24 garage
01Foundation and slab
02Complete before construction
03Build steps
04Shopping list
Questions
Anything else? Write to us or read the questions about all plans.
Questions about detached garage plans
We only draw detached garages, so we cannot compare it with an attached one. What the plans show is the materials per sq ft of floor: $17.88 to $24.89 across the five sizes, excluded: sales tax, delivery, permits, site work and excavation, engineering, electrical, door openers, paint and equipment rental. A detached garage needs its own slab, all four walls and its own roof, which an attached one shares with the house on one side.
It follows the cars and what else goes inside. For two cars our plans start at 20x20 and run to 24x30; a 30x40 fits three cars, or two and a workshop. Pick by the largest vehicle and the door it needs, then add room for a bench or storage.
There is no single distance. The code looks at fire separation: a wall closer than 5' to the lot line must be fire-rated and openings closer than 3' are not allowed (IRC R302.1, rule GAR-04). The distance to your house, the setbacks and the height limit come from your zoning, so ask your building department before you stake the slab.
Other ways to browse
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Your loads, your garage
Start from the 24x24. Make it yours.
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