Concrete Garage Buying Guide
Everything worth knowing before you buy a concrete garage (styles, sizes, bases, planning and prices) in one honest guide from the factory team.
A concrete garage is a prefabricated building made from reinforced concrete panels, manufactured in a factory and assembled on a concrete base at your home, usually in a single day. It costs a fraction of a brick-built garage, needs almost no maintenance, and a well-made one will outlast most cars parked inside it. Nucrete has been manufacturing them in our Bradford factory for over 45 years; this guide is everything we'd want a friend to know before buying one.
Which style of concrete garage should I choose?
Choose the roof style first. It drives the look, the height and the price. An apex roof (pitched, like a house) suits most driveways and is our most popular choice. A pent roof (one gentle slope) is the budget-friendly option and handles tight height limits near boundaries. From there it's about your space and use.
- Apex Garages: the classic pitched roof; our most versatile building.
- Pent Roof Garages: one sloping roof, simpler build, keener price.
- Double Garages: two cars, or one car plus a serious workshop.
- Elite Garages: our flagship range with upgraded doors and finishes as standard.
- Lean-To Garages: bolts to your house wall for handy utility storage.
- Extra-Height Garages: headroom for vans, campervans and racking.
- Battery Garages: banks of garages sharing walls; ideal for multiple vehicles or rental rows.
- Concrete Sheds & Workshops: the maintenance-free upgrade from a timber shed.
| Range | Best for | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Apex | Most driveways, classic looks | Best-seller, eaves storage in the roof |
| Pent roof | Budget buys, tight height limits | The most economical style we make |
| Double | Two cars, or car + workshop | Clear span or centre dividing wall |
| Elite | The best-looking building on the street | Real brick front and uPVC finishes as standard |
| Lean-to | The strip beside your house | Bolts to the wall, can link to a house door |
| Extra-height | Vans, campervans, caravans | 7'0" or 7'6" walls with taller doors |
| Battery | Three or more garages in one build | Comes with a dedicated project manager |
| Sheds & workshops | Garden storage that outlasts timber | Doors and windows positioned to suit you |
What size concrete garage do I need?
Measure your longest vehicle, add room to open doors and walk around, and then be honest about storage, almost everyone wishes they'd gone one size up. A modern family car needs more space than the classic 16ft × 8ft single garage of the 1970s. Our ranges come in dozens of width and length combinations, so you pick the size that fits your base rather than compromising.
Our building sizes guide lists the common dimensions, and the guide what size garage do I need? walks through the decision in detail.
Do I need planning permission for a concrete garage?
Usually not. A concrete garage sited behind the front of the house, within the height limits, and leaving more than half the land around the original house uncovered normally falls under permitted development in England and Wales. There's no floor-area limit in the planning rules: the 30 square metres you'll see quoted everywhere is a separate building regulations threshold. Listed buildings, conservation areas and homes with removed development rights are the exceptions worth checking.
The detail is in our guides to garage planning permission and building near a boundary.
What base does a concrete garage need?
Every concrete garage needs a flat, level, square concrete base, approximately 150mm (6″) wider and 150mm (6″) longer than the garage size, and at least 100mm (4″) thick, ideally thickened to 150mm (6″) around the perimeter. It's the single thing that most affects how well your garage goes up and how long it lasts: a poor base causes doors that stick, panels under strain and leaks. New concrete should cure for at least a week before your building is delivered. Nucrete lays bases professionally through our own base-laying service, or you can use your own contractor working to our base specification.
Nucrete manufactures concrete garages at its own factory in Bradford, so the building and the groundwork come from one company. Read about our concrete base laying service, or check an existing base against our base checklist. Replacing an old garage first? We handle garage removal, including asbestos garages, removed legally and safely.
How much does a concrete garage cost?
Every Nucrete price includes VAT, delivery AND installation by our own teams, and because delivery and installation genuinely cost different amounts around the country, prices are set by delivery postcode area. That's why we ask for your postcode letters before showing figures: the price you see is the price you pay, with nothing added later.
What happens when you order?
Ordering online only authorises your card: like a hotel hold. A real person then reviews your order, confirms access and details with you, and only takes payment once everything checks out. Most standard garages are installed in around a day by our own fully insured teams, and every building carries our 10-year structural guarantee.
Quick answers
How long does a concrete garage last?
Decades. The reinforced concrete panels are weatherproof and rot-proof, and every Nucrete building carries a 10-year structural factory guarantee, one of the longest in the industry.
Are concrete garages cheaper than brick?
Substantially: typically a fraction of the cost of a brick-built garage of the same size, because the panels are factory-made and installed in a day rather than built by trades over weeks. If you want the brick look, our Prestige range gives you it in brick-effect cladding over an insulated steel frame.
Can I put a concrete garage up myself?
Installation by our own teams is included in every Nucrete garage price, so there's nothing to arrange and the guarantee covers a building we installed ourselves.
Do concrete garages get damp?
A correctly installed concrete garage on a good base stays dry. Condensation can appear in any unheated building; ventilation and, if you want a workshop-grade space, insulation deal with it. See our guide to insulating a prefab garage.
How quickly can I have one?
Once your order is confirmed and your base is ready, installation is booked in and most standard garages go up in around a day.
In short: a concrete garage is a prefabricated building made from steel-reinforced concrete panels, manufactured in a factory and assembled on a concrete base at your home, usually in a single day. It costs a fraction of a brick-built garage, needs almost no maintenance, and a well-made one outlasts most of the cars parked inside it. Four decisions shape the building: the size, which is the one you cannot cheaply undo, so measure the car with its doors open, add everything else that will live in there and allow a margin; the roof, apex for the traditional pitched look and more internal height or pent where height is restricted or budget leads; the door, standard up and over or a roller door where the drive is short or the roof space is wanted; and the extras, meaning windows, a personnel door, guttering and fascias. Every building needs a flat, level, square concrete base approximately 150mm wider and longer than the garage and at least 100mm thick, cured for a week before delivery, and getting the base right matters more than any other part of the job. Most garages need no planning permission or building regulations approval, though listed buildings, conservation areas and homes with permitted development rights removed are exceptions worth checking. Nucrete has manufactured concrete garages at its own factory in Bradford for over 45 years, installs more than 1,100 buildings a year with its own teams, includes VAT, delivery and installation in every price, and guarantees the structure for 10 years.
Written and reviewed by the Nucrete team. We've manufactured concrete garages in our Bradford factory for over 45 years and install more than 1,100 buildings a year, so this guide reflects what actually happens on real driveways. Still deciding? Call us free on 0800 849 9036.