Two questions come up constantly in a shared garage: how deep can a bench be and still leave room to park, and how high should the top be. This calculator answers the first one with arithmetic you control, and treats the second as a measurement you take at your own wrist — not a height we invent from your stature.
Planning aid only. The clearances you type are yours; this calculator does not recommend a safe margin, a building-code setback or a parking standard. Measure the car and the garage.
Enter your figures and choose Calculate.
The example vehicle length is the official 2026 Honda Civic Sedan overall length of 184.8 in, from Honda’s specifications page. It is an example only. For a to-scale plan with width, door swing and individual tools, use the garage workshop planner.
Depth, if the bench sits behind the car
The length of the garage, minus the length of the car, minus the front and rear gaps you type, is what remains for a bench that stands on the wall behind the bumper. If that remainder is 18 inches, an 18-inch-deep bench would use all of it; a 24-inch bench would not fit unless you reduce a clearance or park differently. The gaps are yours. They are not a building-code setback and not a recommendation from us.
A bench along a side wall is a different geometry: its depth comes out of the garage width, and door swing matters. Use the fit planner for that.
Height, from a measurement rather than a formula
A common starting point among hand-tool woodworkers is to set the bench top near wrist height, measured with the arms relaxed at the sides. Some people go a little lower for heavy planing, or a little higher for close assembly. This tool will echo the wrist height you enter and will not compute one from your height. Try a temporary top, then fix the height that is comfortable.
Sources. The example vehicle length is the official 2026 Honda Civic Sedan overall length of 184.8 in, from Honda’s specifications page (checked 13 November 2026). Wrist-height as a starting point is a widely used bench-setup practice; it is not a standard and we do not treat it as one. For a to-scale plan, use the garage workshop planner.