Building your own home – basement: Is it worth the investment?

More space, higher risk

Is the basement still worth using when building a house?

Practical but expensive: The basement is one of the biggest cost factors in building a house. Whether it still produces results depends on several factors.

Party room, storage room, hobby shed or space for a heating system: the basement offers many possible uses. But building a basement is often expensive.

Builders planning their own homes are faced with an important decision: Does it make sense to abandon the basement for cost reasons? When is it worth investing? And how much does a basement actually cost?

“There are two big drivers for saving costs when building a home: reducing the square footage and not having a basement,” said Erik Stange, a spokesman for the Builders’ Protection Association. How much money builders should budget for their basements is difficult to answer in general. The cost depends largely on how the basement is to be equipped.

For minimum standards without heating, plastering work, etc., Erik Stange estimates costs of 150 to 200 euros per square meter. For an area of ​​100 square meters, the total is around 20,000 euros.

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However, if you want a living basement, you’ll have to dig deeper into your pockets. “Here the costs range from 800 to 1,200 euros per square meter,” says Stange. In comparison, 80,000 euros or more will soon be paid for a basement.

The huge construction costs are one of the biggest drawbacks. This is not only caused by additional material costs. To prevent moisture damage, basements need to be sealed more tightly than simple floor slabs, Stange says. “It also extends construction time.”

Speaking of moisture: In flooded areas, basements can quickly become flooded with water and therefore pose additional potential dangers, according to the Bavarian Chamber of Engineers. Depending on the location, a basement can be a disadvantage.

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But cellars also have advantages. Most importantly, they offer space and storage space. Good for building technology, table tennis tables and living rooms. With a basement you can even enlarge the living space. And this has value in itself: “Properties with basements generate much greater profits on resale,” says Stange.

Before developers make a decision, they should carefully examine their needs: Do we really need the space? And if so, for what?

Basements are great for housing building services, but this is no longer absolutely necessary, especially as oil and gas are often no longer used in new buildings. “In the past, people were trapped in basements because burning occurred there, something people would have preferred to ban,” said Alexander Lyssoudis, a board member of the Bavarian Chamber of Engineers-Bau.

Today’s modern systems are so small, quiet and clean that they can be accommodated in adjoining rooms without much effort. “Four to six square meters is often enough,” says engineer Lyssoudis.

If you don’t want to have this system in your home, you can look for other alternatives. “Garages often get small extensions or are extended. The room at the back is where everything is stored,” says this building technology expert. With a heat pump, part of the technology is placed outside the living space to utilize the outside air as a heat source.