slab movement 1.5" within 40 feet

[Mike Dobony]

It can easily cost an *extra* $10,000 over a simple footing and crawl space in areas with lots of rock to build a basement.

[aemeijers]

I understand what you builders are saying- as a seller of spec houses, you have to put the bucks into what brings the customers in. However, 'no basement' also turns a certain percentage of customers off. I probably looked at 100 houses before I settled for this one (because interest rates were about to spike bigtime). Any houses without basements were scratched off immediately, even if they had a tall floored attic or barn out back. There just wasn't enough storage space that wasn't subject to freezing or superheating like happens with sheds and attics. And like I said in a previous post, I working on mechanicals in a crawlspace. (I grew up in the business- I know the trades hate crawlspaces, too.)

Probably why I'll never buy a prebuilt new house, if I ever get that rich. The gingerbread and frou-frou that sells houses these days means nothing to me. A full basement, to me, is worth more than the fancy rooflines, granite counters, etc, that are the current fashion. If I can't afford a custom house built like want it, I'll make do with the closest existing house I can find, at a lower price point.

Just sayin'.

aem sends...

[Mike Dobony]

And a point you seem to miss, what will recover the cost. I would never put several thousand$ into something that will not get more than that back in sales price. I agree that a house with a basement will sell faster than an identical house without a basement. The question is whether or not it will sell for more than the cost to put one in. In areas where boulders or solid rock are a problem a builder will not likely recover that cost. He sells the house faster, but at a lower profit margin. Not good business practice.

However,

I just got done doing a full summer and fall hanging drywall in mostly new construction and some of the crawl spaces were not at all bad to work in, a minimum of about 3' of headroom. The house I am fixing up now in one area has enough crawl space for my 2 and 3 yo grandsons to crawl in. If only I could teach them quickly to do plumbing . . . I understand your preference for purchasing a house with a basement. I agree with your preference. What I disagree with is the statement that it is statement that builders as skimping on not putting in basements in the south. I simply am making the claim that many times it is simply not a feature that will increase the selling price of the house by the extra $$$ needed to put in the basement. It is often a simple business decision to not waste money on something that will not recover the cost of the additional feature.

And when you are rich and can afford to throw away money you can certainly do that. Until then . . .