Built without a basement & regretted?

So we lack a basement, however, here too the groundwater was to blame... otherwise we would have built with a basement...

Basement = sports room (table tennis table, gym equipment), workshop, bike apartment, utility room. Indispensable. Currently being partially tiled. Attic = office/archive, guest room, library, sewing and ironing room. Also luggage room and flower wintering area. We need both. However, we did not build it, as it is a converted existing property.

Hello,

and now let's be honest! When building your dream house, did you make an irrevocable, fatal mistake by skipping the basement & now regret it afterwards?

When I look at the handed-over construction projects, only a negligible portion built with a basement. Some could certainly have afforded it, others preferred to invest money above ground instead. For others, the issue was already settled in advance due to high land prices.

However, I can observe that a basement is actually only worthwhile - despite considerable additional costs - if it is also used; not just for the first two years because it's nice to have one. It is a myth to believe that once you move in, celebrations in the basement occur regularly during the cold season.

The topic of basements comes from a time when it was indispensable to have one. Nearly every household had a utility garden; the produce from the garden had to be stored somewhere. I clearly remember having to work in the garden from Easter (turning the soil) until the first frost (leek); not so great as a child (every family member had to help), but essential for the family’s livelihood. The basement literally overflowed with potatoes (early + late) and vegetables of all kinds throughout the year.

Starting with Aldi, this changed gradually; Aldi built its enormous success by buying up the Berlin reserves of the Federal Republic. Suddenly, peas didn’t need to be shelled by hand, beans didn’t need to be cut, fruit didn’t need to be picked and canned ... all at an unbeatable low price, which made the tedious gardening work seem insane. As a result, gardens gradually became purely ornamental gardens. From this point on, the phenomenon also appeared that existing basements were used as storage stations for everything "that might be needed again someday." Not infrequently, those stored "treasures" were later discarded unused as bulky waste. Until then, though, they were "well taken care of."

Recently I sat opposite young people whose partner is a trained master carpenter. They want to build with a basement and "of course" a workshop is to be created in the basement. Now, my grandfather was also a master carpenter and I know very well what discussions about noise (circular saws reach levels that make your head explode) and dust will be conducted in this household in the future. I am fairly sure that the dream of the builder will quickly dissipate into thin air; if the basement is actually built. Then it was quite an expensive dream.

Anyone considering building a basement should be very clear about what purpose the underground space is to serve. For example, for occasional table tennis – in my opinion, it’s much more fun outside when the weather is nice – it is an expensive decision. Meaning, no one should mistakenly assume that - just because it’s possible with a basement - the change of seasons and the usual activities will suddenly take place all year round in the basement. On the other hand, if snooker is played often and regularly and the table cannot be placed above ground, a basement is definitely worth a second consideration.

Among customers where we have built a basement, it is used regularly and year-round. For some as an office, for others as regular living space, and yet others have set up a small wellness temple in the basement. All uses have in common that they are carried out permanently and do not just reflect a dream.

HTH
Rhenish greetings

When I look around in the basements of relatives/acquaintances, I usually find the following:
-oil tank
-the old kitchen that was set up again in the basement, filled with things bought back in the 80s that you don’t actually need (classics like pressure cookers, egg cookers, Krups kitchen machine, old dishes)
-shelves that, as Bauexperte wrote, used to be filled with preserves and now hold some kind of junk
-even more things that might possibly be useful again (old wardrobe filled with the good coat from the 70s, the fine corduroy suit with shoulder pads, and the back-then really expensive leather jacket, boxes with “things”, several generations of Christmas tree stands, shelves etc.)
-washing machine
-drink crates
-“workshop”
-freezer chest

Honestly, I don’t need any of this. A heater today hardly takes up any space. I don’t want to walk stairs just to do laundry or get drinks.
Our utility room is not too small. There is enough space for a washing machine, drinks, shelves for “things”. Combined with a small storage room on the upper floor for Christmas decorations, winter jackets, extra chairs, a small room behind the garage, and a garden shed I have more than enough space.

Oh, and for all those who asked me before building how on earth one could sensibly build without a basement, the basement looks exactly as described above.

There may be the exceptions described by Bauexperte (billiard table, wellness oasis, ..), but I am not one of them.

We also initially thought that a basement "just belongs"... and were quickly pushed off course by the planner to rather build a bit bigger upstairs. Reason: cheap, basement not necessary. We have no hobbies that would require it. The wellness oasis will be included in the upstairs bathroom, and everything needed has enough space. I'm not a collector anyway, I regularly declutter, too much stuff just weighs me down. My husband is different, but he gets a few square meters assigned, and if they are full, he has to declutter too. And when I think of the houses we've had so far (my parents'), the basement was used exactly for the stuff mentioned above, which one should have long gotten rid of. In that respect, we gladly save the money.

Anyone prone to "cluttering up" will find something to clutter up even without a basement

whether attic, storage room, utility room or whatever...

You are absolutely right - but tidying up a corner or storage room still works, a basement, on the other hand, is no longer touched.

we surely would have kept even more toys and stuff instead of selling them, would have used the ping pong table in winter sometimes, had kids' birthday parties in the party basement and so on and so forth

That is - I think - exactly the madness: you hardly use the equipment set up there in the semi-darkness or basement room. Also, a party basement is a relic from the 50s, when the "good furniture" cost five times as much (relative to income). Who wants to drink from dusty glasses and stare at old beer mugs and laughing fish on the walls while a colorful party light flickers on the wall and the old junk is still supposed to serve here?! Just because you don't want to part with it...

-the old kitchen, which they have set up again in the basement, filled with stuff bought in the 80s but not really needed (classics like pressure cooker, egg boiler, Krups kitchen machine, old dishes)

I totally agree with you! For me, the equipment park/sports room that mentioned also belongs there.
The basement is for those who don't want to part with things (it did cost money once).

There are certainly exceptions: all those who have no possibility to create sufficient living space for the family on the ground floor or under the roof. Be it office, guest, play or something else.

As a real estate photographer, I have seen far too many basements. 80% of them had one thing in common: a collection of old items overall. None was inviting because there was stagnation in every corner. Yes, even in the laundry room there was always a nasty corner.