Why Some Model Homes Have Landscaping Instead of a Driveway

Concrete shortage? Builder incompetence? No on both accounts!

You may have seen some of the model homes I've featured here on the blog and wondered…

What were they thinking?

Where's the driveway?

How do you get into the garage?

Well, you're not crazy to ask those questions, but I promise you the builders aren't crazy either!

It is common practice here in Florida to put landscaping in front of a model home garage instead of a driveway for several reasons.

For starters, most new home communities have a sales center parking lot where the builders/developers want people to park. Then they'll either walk through the sales center on their way to the models, or if the models are apart from the sales center, the salesperson will usually take you to the models themselves or have you follow them over.

Another reason is safety.

Most communities have several models right in a row and with lots of people walking back and forth between them it can be a little dangerous if people are pulling their cars in and out of a driveway in front of a model home.

Some communities are able to fit all of their model homes on a cul de sac or a street that nobody lives on yet and close down access to the street itself with a gate or fence, but not all communities are set up that way.

So in a nutshell, that's why you see landscaping in front of model home garages instead of a driveway.

And rest assured, when the builder is done using the home as a model and the new owner moves in, the builder will put in a brand-new driveway, which, as a nice benefit to the new owner, has not been parked on/leaked oil on by thousands of cars while the home was being used as a model.

Now you know!