A friend of mine, who also has mobility issues, built a house a house about seven years ago. One of the issues he encountered when talking to prospective builders was ensuring the house was wheelchair friendly. Most project home designs include an integrated garage. Some builders plans also incorporate a stepdown from the house to the garage. As far as I can tell the reason for the stepdown is to prevent flooding via the garage into the house. If you have a driveway which slopes down from the garage to the road the risk of flooding is somewhat reduced. However I have also seen an explanation that suggests that a stepdown assists in the containment of petrol vapour.
The use of garage stepdowns is far from universal even for project builders. For example, Henley, a reasonably large project builder, charges extra if you want a stepdown. Unfortunately. Porter Davis designs do include a stepdown. They told me that they were not prepared to vary this and suggested a ramp as an alternative. But why put up with a ramp when you know it is possible to eliminate it ?
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