A quarter acre doesn’t seem like very much land. But can you build a comfortably sized home on this amount of land? The answer is yes, but how big of a home can you build?
Building on .25 acres (10,890 square feet) of land provides enough room to build an average size home of up to 2,500-square-foot. According to zoning requirements, a home should be built 15-20 feet away from any street and 5-10 feet from the side property lines.
To learn more about zoning and how big of a home you can build on it (including the number of stories), continue reading!
Zoning and House Placement Laws in the US
To build a home on any sized lot, you need to look into the zoning laws and other restrictions to make sure that the size of the home you want to build can be accommodated by the size of your lot, considering those zoning laws.
While the distance between streets and other homes varies by state (or even city), a general rule of thumb is that your home should be 15 to 20 feet away from any street it is next to, and it should be between 5 and 10 feet away from the property lines of other homes.
The reason that your home should be so far away from the street is that the city can use up to 10 feet of your property to expand a street or use part of your land for utilities. If the city tears up your front yard for infrastructure purposes, then you’ll still have about 5 feet of yard length in front of your home. We would recommend, however, that you build your home 25 feet away from the road.
If you want to purchase 1/4 acre of land with the purpose of building a home on top of it, you’ll have to make sure that there is either a water system or a sewage system. This is the minimum requirement to build a home on this size of land. If it has neither, then you’ll need to either install the system yourself, or you’ll need to buy half an acre of land.
When it comes to building your home at least 5 feet away from the property lines that divide your property from your neighbors, it can be a bit confusing to know exactly where those property lines are. You can get a zoning analysis to better understand the boundaries of your land.
Keep in mind that even with these restrictions on how close you can build to a property line, you’ll also want to keep in mind how close you want your home to be to your neighbor. Even if your neighbor is not close to the property line, they can still expand their home to be up to 5 feet away from the property line.
Related How To Figure Out Your Home Lot Size (13 Easy Methods).
The Average American Home and Lot Size
Knowing that the average American lot of land is approximately .25 acres saves us a lot of complicated calculations. A 1/4th acre is equal to 10,890 square feet. That said, we can take the average size of an American home, which is 2,500 square feet, and build a home of that size on a 1/4th acre lot. This leaves plenty of yard space surrounding the home to fill the remaining land.
That extra space could be utilized with a two-car garage, a large front yard with a walkway to the front door, a spacious porch, garden-sized sideyards, and a good-sized backyard large enough to fit a swimming pool or a basketball court. Zoning requirements can limit the amount of lawn space allowed for a property, and generally, especially in recent years, the backyard will be smaller than the front.
Keep in mind that while a 2,500-square-foot home will fit nicely in .25 acres of land, that square footage doesn’t have to be distributed between several floors. Rather, you can get additional square footage by building on top of that 2,500-square-foot main floor or by building underground to create a basement. This means that you could have a home of up to 7,500 square footage!
Check on the local zoning laws, though, as some cities and states have a set maximum amount of square footage a home can be per acre or per 1/4th acre. There are some cities that will allow you to build a home of up to 7,500 square footage on the main level, but there will be much less yard space, and you may not meet the distance between the home and street requirements.
Choosing the right neighborhood to build on .25 acres
There are several things to keep in mind when choosing a neighborhood with .25 acres of available land to build on. One of the first things you should consider is where the property lines are and how close the homes next to the land are to those property lines.
Just as you do, your neighbors have the liberty to build up to 5 feet from the property line, so if they are more than 5 feet away from the property line, this doesn’t mean they will stay there. If you’re uncomfortable with the possibility of your neighbor building closer to you, then you may want to choose a different lot of land to build on. The best areas of a city to build on are the edges of the city, as this is where most of the land is available, and you’ll get first dibs as to where you can build, especially if there are no other homes next to or surrounding your lot.
Another thing to keep in mind is the quality of the land in your neighborhood and, more particularly, in the lot you plan to build on. If the soil in that lot is no good, or the lot is on a slope, then it could add a ton of excess expenses to your build that normally would not be included in the total cost if you built on flat land with good soil.
To explain the difference between good and bad soil in the simplest way possible is to explain the difference between healthy and unhealthy soil. Unhealthy soil is compacted and feels hard and solid, which makes it difficult for construction workers to dig into and transfer that soil, and things like grass, plants, and trees will have a difficult time growing in that soil. Healthy soil will be spongy and lightweight, and it will be filled with air pockets, making the construction process go more smoothly and it’s overall healthier for plants to thrive in.
You should also keep in mind the utilities available in or near the lot you want to build on. Generally, according to the American Planning Association, you can only build on a 1/4th acre of land that has either a water system or a sewage system. If the lot has neither, then you’ll need to upgrade to purchase a half acre of land or find another piece of land that has either of those systems.
Thanks for reading!
For more, check out What It Costs to Build a 500 Sq Ft House.
Hey, I’m Jim, and the author of this website. I have always been interested in survival, fishing, camping, and anything in nature. In fact, while growing up, I spent more time on the water than on land! I am also a best-selling author and have a degree in History, Anthropology, and Music. I hope you find value in the articles on this website. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or input!