ᐅ Building with or without a basement in southern Germany – experiences?

Even though I am still looking for a plot of land, I am already thinking about the house.

In the south of Germany (Baden-Württemberg), it is quite common to build houses with basements, and my family also owns homes with basements.

However, I have always hated basements. As a child, I disliked having to go down to the basement to get something—the stairs, the darkness, and so on. Now, in my rented apartment, we have a shared laundry room in the basement. I hate it! If the washing machine were in the bathroom, I would probably prefer doing laundry.

I am fairly certain I don’t want a basement—also for financial reasons. But of course, everyone has their opinion. In an initial design plan, I included a utility and storage room of almost 10m² (100 square feet), an office of 15m² (160 square feet), a laundry room on the upper floor of just under 10m² (100 square feet) with a sloped ceiling, and a storage room behind a garage. When I think about the things currently stored in the rented basement, everything fits into these planned rooms, and the rest is basically junk…

So my question is for experienced home builders without basements in southern Germany: Do you miss anything? Are you concerned about potential resale value? What are your thoughts?

Thank you!

You don’t want a basement, then don’t build one – not even for a potentially higher resale value later on. We currently have a basement and are glad not to have one in our new house. We are even "foolish" enough to build on one level on a steep slope.

Build your own house, not someone else’s. Otherwise, you might as well just buy one.

Thank you for the kind words.

Do you remember the drink delivery duty from your childhood? That was the sibling who had to go down to the basement to get new drinks every time the other sibling finished their bottle... I admit it – when it comes to climbing stairs, I’m a bit lazy...

Ideally, I would prefer a bungalow, but with the local land prices, that’s not possible.

A basement is one of the best features you can have. It stays nicely cool, offers plenty of storage space, and you don’t need a huge plot of land. With large windows, it can also be bright and pleasant.

However, I understand if you don’t want one and would definitely advise against building one in that case!

Camille1984 schrieb:

I would prefer a bungalow, but with local land prices, that's not feasible.

Then you just have to build two bungalows on top of each other...
I see storage space as a burden. You fill it with stuff you don't really need. After moving, that's over.

Without necessity (such as building on a slope or similar), for me there is only one reason to build a basement beyond just "wanting to have one," and that is when building without a garage and with a flat roof.