Looking for some advice as I think about future plans. Right now I live in an apartment and have a small machine that I use for prototyping and a small amount of side work now and then. Probably not technically legal, but not too worried about the current situation.

Right now I'm looking at the possibility of buying a lot and building a small house for my family of 3 and mother in separate part. Sort of an offset size duplex with garage in middle, mother in smaller side.

I have a full time job that I have no intention of quitting any time soon, but over the last couple years I've developed a couple products that I can manufacture myself in a pretty small space. Easily done in the garage of my future house with a couple small machines. Most likely just side work, keep my job.

What im wondering is, for this type of "garage work" do I really need to limit myself to lots without restrictive covenants? Because that REALLY limits what I'm able to buy. I want to be close to my day job and for that, most lots have covenants. I don't want to buy a lot that's 45 minutes from work just so I have the option of possibly having a small business in my garage.

I realize this has a lot more to do with property law than machining, but was hoping to hear from guys that have been in this situation of making money in their garage shop while living on restricted land. I'm sure this is a very case dependent thing. One thing I'm sure of is that I definitely can't be bothering neighbors with noise, and that would be kept in mind when building. For sure insulated garage door, maybe even dividing wall at back of garage to separate shop to isolate noise further and make it cheaper to heat.

Any advice or personal experience is greatly appreciated.