Wataer management nightmare without a different lot slope.

There are a few houses near us with a garage like this down a sloped driveway. They have a drain before the driveway that helps with water issues.

I would not be a happy camper in the winter snows. or summer rains.

Not any more. We HAD such a driveway. It had a long drain in front of the garage to catch water, but we have to clean it every year because so much silt etc would collect. And one torrential downpour, the water roaring down the driveway overshot the drain and went 4’ into the garage. No damage, but ugh. Advice: put everything, everything, on shelves.

The house is in the Midwest. On icy days it could be scary. One night, my dad couldn’t back his rather light-weight car up and out, all the guys pushed (and THAT was scary). Advice: 4-wheel drive, and yak trax for shoes.

Hard to shovel, having to throw the snow over the retaining walls. At the deepest point, the snowblower couldn’t throw the snow high enough. Advice: electric snowmelt system?

When you open the car doors, they can fly open due to gravity. If the car is parked next to the retaining wall, dings result. Advice: If you can, pull the ground away from the driveway, don’t have the slope or retaining wall right at the edge of the driveway.

The driveway is among the things we don’t miss from that house.

Edited to add: when we bought our first minivan, we test-drove it home to see if it would enter the garage without hitting the door, because of the driveway slope. We determined that if we didn’t get roof racks, we were good. Roof racks would have hit the door. And, when we borrowed my mom’s boat of a Lincoln Continental, we had to drive verrrrry sloooowly in so as not to hit the front end on the garage floor.

Fully depends where you live and your climate

I find it difficult to be optimistic about your project because the funnel driveway and the geometry involved in getting a car into the garage opening . Keep us informed.

A friend owned a house with that type of garage, the one on the left. She never dared park in it. The next owner filled in the driveway and converted the garage to a rec room.

Basement garages disappeared.

Also, if you’re attempting to DIY retrofit that? You can easily collapse your house without proper shoring and internal support.

Here is a home near me with a garage in basement. It’s lovely

The above example looks to be at least four feet above grade. Note the five steps to the front entry.

Much has to do with the approach angle and driveway width.

Here's a rental property I owned in the late '80s. Once my truck slipped in gear and rolled a few inches towards me when I was opening the garage door. Not for me!

The pic I shared is basically same as the Sims pic. If the second pic in the original post is the home then it’s already a disaster waiting to collapse anyway so this discussion is moot

A S, the home you showed is very nice. I like the garage door. But I’ll never have a driveway like that again.

I noticed the large drains in front of the garage doors in the last two images.

@Mark Bischak, Architect of course there are drains out front! Gosh our driveway even has a drain. Granted it's a more linear lovely looking one. This Vancouver drains are needed.

Thanks for the input everyone. The photos posted were just examples, not our current build. We haven’t broken ground yet.

Whew. I hope we have given you some good observations.

Our driveway slopes down toward the house too. Not below grade but still down. When it rains it pours but we don’t have a huge amount of snow so whatever. This is the drain in front of our house and also our fun positive chalk art

My father’s driveway slopes, ever so slightly, down from the street, around the house, to the back garage. If you give a very slight push on your bike, or a tiny step on the pedal of the car, at the mailbox, by the time you reach the garage you are putting the brakes on hard. We just spent a tidy bundle fixing the broken drain for the driveway so it doesn’t flood up over the front stoop or overwhelm the drain tiles.

Water flows downhill.

When we built our new house, I spent a fair amount of attention and money to ensure the grading and final slope pulled water away from the house. My first home had a flat, no lip at all entry into the garage and even that had water intrusion issues a few times a year. I would not willingly build a giant funnel that poured water into my cellar. If you've ever dealt with a flooded basement, it's not an experience one wishes to repeat.

Where do you all live that you can have these flat driveways. Honestly our house is on a hill and slopes toward a creek. Basically impossible to avoid a driveway sloping toward the house.

Even in hill country, the 1st choice, and most desirable and expensive choice, is a flat spot. If that can’t be had, mechanical dirt moving to create a flattish spot is #2. A 10’ slope away from the home is kinda required. Properly built Swales move that water away before it ever reaches the house. Just like building a cricket for a chimney. You’ve got to divert the water away from the house.

But theres lots more flat ground being built on than extreme slopes ground. It’s cheaper for one.

Avoid that design at all costs. As everyone else said, you'll need an outside driveway drain, as well as inside in the garage floor. Might even consider heating the driveway if you get snow. Because of the slope, you won't be able to realistically park anything outside on the driveway... or have kids play, or bbq on it, etc. Too much slope and cars could bottom out, trucks might not fit in the OHD...

I do see a lot of "basement garages" here in the midwest, but generally they open to the back yard and the grade still tapers away from the house.