Sacrifice the basement for 20m² more living space?

Hello,

we are still in a very early phase of our construction project.
-> Brainstorming; about 2-3 years before the start of construction
Therefore, I am already diligently reading here in the forum.

Now about us...

When I draw my wife's special wishes on paper, I increasingly realize that the living space planned so far is not sufficient. My wife wants the following rooms on the upper floor:

- 2 children's rooms (about 14.5 m²)
- 1 bathroom for children (about 6 m²)
- 1 master bedroom (about 14 m²)
- 1 dressing room (about 7 m²; adjacent to the master bedroom)
- 1 bathroom (about 11 m²; adjacent to the master bedroom)
- Corridor (about 6 m²)
- Stairs (about 2 m²)

We visited the prefabricated house center last week and looked at similar floor plans (the size of the rooms). It became increasingly clear to me that 150-160 m² will be very tight because the rooms are simply quite small. In addition, because of the large upper floor downstairs + in the desired basement, I have relatively a lot of space for free distribution.

My idea is therefore to scrap the basement and increase the living area to about 180 m². We can definitely use the 10 m² on the upper floor well, and downstairs these are also necessary because of the technology.

The question now is how this will affect the cost of our construction project?

Previous idea: 160 m² + 70 m² basement
New idea: 180 m² without basement

Can you even roughly say something about this?
Thank you very much for your help!

Welcome to the HBF!

Where in Bavaria would you like to build?

Rhenish greetings

Hello,

south/east near Regensburg.

Hello also to everyone else

Hello,

south/east near Regensburg.

My sister-in-law has been living northeast of Straubing for a good 20 years; that's why I know well about the distances that have to be covered there from place to place - which is not so rare

The question I now have is to what extent this will affect our building project in terms of price?

Previous idea: 160 m² + 70 m² basement

About EUR 298k with a pure utility basement and in the "turnkey" variant plus additional construction incidental costs, etc.

New idea: 180 m² without basement

About EUR 279k including the base plate and in the "turnkey" variant plus additional construction incidental costs, etc.

Rhenish greetings

You have a space requirement of about 80 sqm on the upper floor... accordingly, you can already make something out of the ground floor WITHOUT a basement. What is the purpose of the basement? ... in relation to the room program? Do you already have a plot of land? If not, and you find one with only a single-story building, there is plenty of space on the ground floor for a utility room and storage options. The standardized opinion is that washing and storage are done in the basement... be sensitive to whether you want to use two staircases in the house several times a day just to fulfill tasks that, in relation to doing laundry, can also be done on the ground or upper floor and, regarding storage, can also be omitted or alternatives can be found on the ground floor.

The question of what the price difference between a slab foundation and a basement is depends to a considerable extent on the condition of the building plot. Additionally, the planning depends on the property and the permissible development. So, the question cannot be answered in general terms.

And with the basement, the question arises what it should accommodate besides heating, washing machine, and storage room. Thanks to timers, the washing machine can be placed in any niche in the house; I personally prefer ironing in the living room with a view of the garden. We get groceries just-in-time from the supermarket, energy comes from the grid, and a heat pump or gas heating only requires about one square meter of space. Bicycles and sports equipment are most practically stored on the ground floor, e.g., in the garage, and do you really want to impose on your grandchildren to be pushed around in a 30-year-old stroller or wear the parents’ children's clothes?
That does not mean a basement is a priori superfluous. It just has to make sense.

The size of the rooms on the upper floor naturally also depends on the roof slope, lighting, and layout.