Video comparing the cost of a basement to a slab on a single family home

[GON]

With home prices at record high levels, materials at record high levels, and labor a challenge, a question to ask-- is the additional cost of a bsement on a new construction single family home a wise financial decision?

Here is a video where a builder discusses the cost of a basement compared to a slab.

 

[JHZR2]

Basements and walk up attics are definitely the way to go. 100 years from now that marginal cost will be long forgotten, while the convenience and benefits will be ever appreciated.

 

[Pablo]

Really a shame the basement is almost forgotten in the boom town west. Our current house - if we had a basement = awesome.

 

[4WD]

We are more likely to see a return of garage apartments bcs of soil conditions ...

 

[opus1]

Basements and walk up attics are definitely the way to go. 100 years from now that marginal cost will be long forgotten, while the convenience and benefits will be ever appreciated.

When I was buying my current house, I was debating whether to have a bathroom rough-in in the basement and I remember the sales rep saying that if I, or anyone else ever living in the house wants to put in a bathroom in the basement, it's cheaper to do the rough-in while the house is being built vs tearing up the floor and doing the rest of the plumbing work.

I haven't watched the video so I don't have details, but $25K for a basement??? I only paid $3K extra, but that was over 20 years ago and the builder was providing a half-basement in the base price of the house so they were digging anyway and this was probably the incremental cost of doing the rest of the job. I was one of the first buyers so I got to see a lot of things during construction and it amazed me how many people sprung the $3500 for a fireplace, but cheaped-out on a (cheaper) full basement. Different strokes I guess...

 

[IndyIan]

Basements and walk up attics are definitely the way to go. 100 years from now that marginal cost will be long forgotten, while the convenience and benefits will be ever appreciated.

Yep, you can double your square footage for 10-15-20% more? and only about that much more for heating and cooling. And a walkout basement is nice to have if the lot allows it. I would think twice about a basement in a low lying water saturated area and need to rely on sump pumps most of the year to keep it from flooding and odds are it will be pretty damp.

 

[Pablo]

Yep, you can double your square footage for 10-15-20% more? and only about that much more for heating and cooling. And a walkout basement is nice to have if the lot allows it. I would think twice about a basement in a low lying water saturated area and need to rely on sump pumps most of the year to keep it from flooding and odds are it will pretty damp.

Our upslope (east wall) would definitely need a super sealed wall. We were not directly impacted by the 2021-2022 floods (yes people died, and we were stuck on our mountain side)) but absolutely the ground was super saturated and "new" streams were formed. That said, there was very liquid water at our foundation level