Is the basement really that much more expensive?

Hello everyone,

The question about the basement doesn’t let me go.
I wonder whether a normal basement isn’t actually cheaper overall than enlarging your living space so enormously. Using my example once again.
If I were to build with a basement, I would only build my house above it with 120 sqm (two-story), meaning there would be a 60 sqm basement.
In contrast, assuming I build without a basement, I would have to enlarge my living space by 20-30 sqm. And maybe also enlarge the garage for lawnmower etc.
A basement is supposed to cost about 800 euros per sqm and a house at least 1700 euros per sqm. The foundation slab alone for a house of this size already costs 20,000.
Am I overlooking something here?
☆ I assume normal soil conditions ☆

Of course, if I base both variants on a 140 sqm house and say I compare both once with a basement and the exact same house without, then it is of course clear that the one with a basement is more expensive.

Somewhat provocative: my shed cost 150€/sqm and I am happy that my lawnmower is housed there.... it weighs 30 kg, you see.

A basement is a great solution when you have little space, I would always recommend it in that case. If you have enough space, you can easily do without it. As I said: putting up a good garden shed helps a lot; enlarging the garage, planning a bigger utility room. And then everything is barrier-free.

If you calculate the same area as additional floor space for a house, it will certainly be more expensive. But as I said, if you have space, there are cheaper alternatives.

Here is a post in the forum about 10 pages pros and cons of the basement including prices.

Try using the search, I would like to link it but it's awkward with a phone.

Hi,
in principle, your calculation is not wrong. Building the house larger above ground is ultimately more expensive per sqm than the basement. Even if you get below 1700 euros/sqm when increasing from 120 to 140 sqm. You don’t need an additional staircase, no extra heating, and the bathroom also doesn’t get more expensive.
But with the basement, you’re not adding 20 sqm, but 60. And that quickly becomes more expensive than the 20 sqm above ground.

The problem is usually a different one. With normal plot sizes, the building land is far too expensive and too precious to turn it into a utility room. In my opinion, a basement makes absolute sense there.
If I were building in the middle of nowhere, where building land costs 16 € per sqm (really seen that), I would probably just build an extension to the house. Although with roof, insulation, etc., that wouldn’t be so cheap either.

Best regards,

Andreas