The average price of a home in the US is just under $200,000.

That cost covers a range of sizes, ages, and conditions, depending on your market. But one sure way to increase that value in any market is to add space to your home.

Adding space can mean anything from finishing your basement to adding an additional room to the back end. But another, less expensive way to increase property value is to build a steel garage.

If you’re looking for ways to make more money on your home, look no further. Below we explain exactly how a steel garage increases the value of your home.

Increase Property Value With a Steel Garage

On average, adding a single-car garage to your home increases its value by over 11%. Adding a double car garage can increase property value by as much as 20%.

That’s because, although age and condition affect the value of your home, the biggest factor is square footage. And a garage counts toward that square footage.

Garages can come in a variety of materials, but a steel garage will give you the biggest return on your investment—and we’ll tell you why.

Add Functionality to the Home

When buyers see a garage on a property, they see something that increases the functionality of the property. It’s a place to park vehicles and store belongings.

But a steel garage does more than that. It can be transformed into a number of functional spaces. It can act as a private workshop, a studio or extra office space, or even a home for livestock.

And adding square footage to your home with a steel building doesn’t necessarily have to mean building a garage. Steel buildings come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

In fact, the ability to cut your raw material means you have unlimited design freedom to build whatever type of structure you wish. Learn more about what you can build with steel before starting your project.

Steel Versus Wood

When building a garage, your material options come down to two choices: wood or steel. 

A garage made from wood typically takes the form of a pole barn made from wood timbers. These aren’t built on a sturdy foundation. Instead, timbers are placed into the ground and the roof is built from wood trusses.

Maintaining a garage made of wood takes a lot of work. Timbers can warp, rot, twist, and bend. They need to be replaced often, straightened every 5 or 10 years, and sealed to stave off rot and insects.

Steel doesn’t have any of those maintenance issues. It maintains its shape and termites can’t penetrate it.

Steel is also extremely durable. Not only is it a fire-resistant material, but it will also stand up to natural disasters better than most other building materials.

All that to say, when buyers see a wood garage, they see maintenance. Maintenance takes both time and money. Whereas a steel structure gives them all the extra space and functionality with none of the repair costs.

What Raises Property Value Like Steel?

When it comes to affordable, flexible, and maintenance-free options, not much else can increase property value like steel. It adds square footage to the home, automatically increasing its value. But it also adds functionality in the eye of the buyer—functionality that comes without repair costs.

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