I tend to do the same, unless the meeting place is somewhere you might go anyway (say a bar or cafe). It's always felt slightly impolite to me to arrive anything more than a minute or two early.
As a rule, I always arrive exactly 15 minutes late to people's houses, I'll even wait in the car. Chances are they are late preparing everything, taking a last minute shower or vacuuming.
Basketball coaches that would make me run a suicide for every minute that I was late to practice and not out on the floor ready to go, have forever instilled in me the habit of getting places at least fifteen minutes early.