Is building a basement still justified today?

Most people hardly use the elliptical trainer in the living room anyway... I think you can skip the gym in the basement.

If you see a gym as a good resolution, then yes. If you have been doing sports for a longer time, you will be glad to have the room.

Good day,


I don't know how it happened that I opened this thread as the OP; in any case, the different perspectives of the users involved are quite interesting!

From my job, I only know 3 explanations why homeowners decide on a basement:

[*]"A house without a basement is not a house"
[*]professional must-have
[*]the topography of the property

What is, in my opinion, overlooked here in the discussion thread is that a basement - whether a utility or living basement - also entails considerable costs due to earthworks. If a sufficiently load-bearing, natural soil with a soil pressure of at least 200 kN/m2 uniform soil layer is found, the costs are *still* manageable; if the existing terrain deviates from this specification, it *can* become quite expensive. Therefore, I find it too shortsighted to reduce the costs of a basement solely to the required framework of people and materials.

Below I describe a construction project with a partial basement; as far as the image material is harmless to our client, I have attached it. The basis is our building specification, which I would place in the healthy mid-range.

Single-family house living/usable area 280 sqm, ready to move in as a complete house with covered terrace, Energy Saving Ordinance 2014

Patio, plastered finish, 14.48 x 14.46 m, with partial basement 9.28 x 10.46 m
Clear ground floor height 2.75 m
WD basement
Partially colored plaster
Colored windows (one-sided foiled)
Concrete staircase
Controlled residential ventilation with heat recovery
Electric shutters
Preparation for photovoltaics
Laundry chute system
Stove flue stainless steel
Painting work + floor coverings
Flat roof

Fixed price of €429,000.00

(the costs for the basement including excavation and lateral storage amounted to €65,000.00)

Costs single-family house ready to move in/sqm: €2,166.00; costs utility basement/sqm (so far): €793.00


Additional costs incidental building costs (Baunebenkosten)

Incidental building costs Package 1
Surveyor including site plan, setting out and final survey

Incidental building costs Package 2
Construction power, provision of construction water

Incidental building costs Package 3
Complete removal of topsoil, assuming clean soil
Complete removal of excavation soil, assuming clean soil
Delivery of fill gravel
Delivery of unsieved topsoil and leveling
Clearing of the property, disposing of natural debris
Felling and removal of 1 root
Creation of storage area
Covering the road up to 50 m² in front of the property

Incidental building costs Package 4
Sewage pipes for wastewater from the house to the northern property boundary including installation of inspection shaft DN 1000 up to 2.00 m depth
Installation of drainage pipes from the house to the northern property boundary

Incidental building costs Package 5
Paving work in the area of the terrace, parking space and driveway, max. 50 m²
Creation of paving sub-base, delivery and installation of anthracite kerbstones
Creation of paving surface and sweeping material value up to €25/m², e.g. Kann La Tierra
Platform made of the above material up to 1.00 m² with palisade edging

Packages 1 to 5 total € 37,400.00


From this, it can be very well deduced that the basement does not end with the original construction costs; the additional expenses for earthworks were by no means small, as the excavation could not be stored on the property. It was made more difficult by the fact that the property had to be accessed from the rear boundary; I have left out the costs for this in this contribution as it is not typical.


In contrast, a current project planning of a classic single-family house:

Single-family house, living/usable area 160 sqm, ready to move in, as a complete house, plastered finish,
9.00 x 10.00 m on slab foundation, Energy Saving Ordinance 2014
Interior gable roof

Colored windows (one-sided foiled)
Steel-wood staircase
Decentralized ventilation system
Electric shutters
Preparation for photovoltaics
Painting work and floor coverings

Fixed price of €302,000.00

Costs incidental building cost packages 1 to 5 for new construction on slab €33,000.00 (due to development in the hinterland). The costs for a utility basement including excavation and lateral storage are €41,000.00. Since the soil report has just been commissioned, I cannot say anything about the soil composition or possible additional costs due to earthworks yet.

Costs single-family house ready to move in/sqm: €1,887.50; previous costs utility basement/sqm: €594.00

In the first example, the basement is used exclusively as a utility basement; in the second example, the finished attic with 28.16 sqm is available both as living and utility space.


In the presented examples, only utility basements are mentioned; if the underground space is to be developed for living purposes, the heat generator must be adjusted to the required output, living room windows and a second escape route as well as fittings analogous to the above-ground area must be provided. In the end, the living basement then costs no less than the above-ground area.

For comparison: a prefabricated garage 2.96 x 8.96 x 2.45 m with door and window to the garden, sectional door and necessary strip foundations currently costs €10,500.00; the sqm rounded up €396.00. The car is sheltered, just under 9.00 sqm available as usable space.

Basically, I can state that a basement is only missed - as long as it is not professionally required or interesting due to the topography of the property - if the above-ground area was planned beyond the need. There are examples on the internet that write about €300.00/sqm for a basement, I hope I have been able to straighten this abbreviated representation a bit; also another myth on the internet (lobby pro basement) that a basement *at most* costs 10% of the building cost. I also do not see that a single-family house without a basement can only be sold with a loss of value. In the coming years, it will rather be the rule to build without a basement, as the soil risks must not be underestimated and construction prices will continue to rise.

Therefore, from my point of view, it is important to create a design planning oriented to the need; a planning which, for example, provides a utility room where laundry mainly occurs. For one homeowner, this can be the ground floor, whereas for families it is often the upper floor or attic. Do I need a basement and if so, what do I want to use it for? If an office is desired - often the case with teachers but also increasingly with home office workers - the attic should be included in the consideration; the possibility of side doors under the slopes is a nice storage place for materials; space for technology is - for a small additional cost - quickly separated off and created.

I also keep reading that planning is done with a view to the future - living on one level in old age - but what actually happens to the basement if one is present? Apart from the fact that I hardly know any designs that do not fragment the ground floor plan (interestingly, an important point, often the shower-toilet, is treated stepmotherly in this consideration), everyone should ask themselves whether they really want to limit themselves to the worst case? What if it - which I can only wish everyone - never happens, life circumstances change? Experience shows that in recent years, existing properties have been sold in later years of life and instead transformed, downsized (condominium) or new construction with children (granny flat) is considered. I have often seen parents pass on the property to their children and settle again as tenants. Not the worst decision, I would say; especially when a large garden area to tend to belongs to the property.



Rhenish greetings

even though I have nothing important to contribute to this: great post, thank you very much

All well and good and comprehensible. But if building outwards is not possible and the height is limited by regulations, then the only way left is downwards to gain sufficient storage space. In the age of increasing densification, the basement, despite all the costs, is often still not "out".

I understand what you mean but I think many people cannot define "adequate storage space" for themselves.

Tip: google storage space

... and look at the multitude of images and get ideas of where storage space can be located

Regards