I don't know where you live, but if you live where there are extremes of heat/cold, the walkout basement will stay cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.

zone8grandma,
I am your 'neighbor' to the South, :) we are building just south of Portland, OR. Thanks for your reply, it is an important consideration.

In many areas anything below ground level is not assessed as "living space" regardless of how beautifully finished it is. Could save you on your RE taxes.

Personally I would not like BRs in a basement unless it was open on three sides. The rec room would be best UNDER the house, noise-wise. It always seems odd to me to have bedrooms under the main living level, even though that is often the case for single family homes near our Maui condo -- people want to have ocean view from the public rooms while keeping the BRs on the cooler lower level.

In many areas anything below ground level is not assessed as "living space" regardless of how beautifully finished it is.

Our location (Pacific Northwest) definitely is not one of those areas.

Without question, basement footage is the cheapest you can buy.

As opposed to a slab foundation, all you are adding is the sidewalls. As opposed to regular foundation, all you are adding is a taller sidewall and a slab floor. And it is cheaper to heat and cool-- I've been in my current home for 20+ years, and both in the coldest and hottest times, the basement is the most comfortable part of the house.

Second floor is usually cheaper than main level, though there can be exceptions-- You pay less for material since your roof and foundation aren't larger, but more for labor, since it takes a bit more time and trouble.

But:

My bedroom has been in the basement all this time, and I'm sick to death of it. No light, no views, very little air. Its very irritating when you need to turn on the lights, even at noon, to put away laundry or change the bed. We didn't do a french drain, and it's flooded a couple of times, leaving a pervasive mustiness that's never far away. We should have added a floor drain to the bath [a curbless shower would have done that] instead of just the mechanical. We should have used full sized windows. We should have orriented the public spaces to the west ['back' of the house], and re-graded back there for more light.

These weren't around when we built, but we should have had an HRV unit to keep the air fresh and dry.

My new house does have a basement, but the public spaces are fully walkout, and the guest rooms have lots of full size windows: Much easier to have good, liveable basement space if the lot is sloped and the approach is from the 'high' side.

If the lot isn't sloped, give some thought to how to make it less 'basement-y', and how to use the space. Mechanical and/or store rooms are fine, don't really need a window, put them in the darkest corner. Have the stairs enter in a central area so it doesn't seem like a long slog through a dark cave back to the bedrooms [or whatever]. Use big windows, try to place them on the south or west, and really, really good ventilation.

I'm a firm believer that good design makes life better. This is the time to take your time. So much easier to move a wall when it's still just a line on paper. If you aren't up to coming up with your own plan, make sure the one you choose suits life as you live it, not just as you'd like to live, if you were in a movie. And tailor the plan to your exact lot, it views and exposures.

No light, no views, very little air.

In a well planned walkout basement, you have light, air, and views. Our guest bedroom is in the basement. It has a large bay window with a view as well as a smaller side window. The TV room has an 8' sliding door. The other bedroom (used as an exercise room) has a 6'sliding door and an additional smaller window. Ceilings are 9'. Only the guest bath has no windows.

The first floor plan that th OP is considering appears to be a well-thought out walkout basement plan. Those style homes are very popular here in the Pacific northwest.

luckymom,
I failed to ask about your lot. Is it sloped with a view? If that's the case, the first plan seems like a no=brainer. If it's level, that's a different story.

What are the covenants in the development, if any? In Port Ludlow (near me), the covenants forbid building second stories (supposedly they destroy the "ambiance of the community".....)

The plan you choose really needs to work with your lot...that's the most important consideration I can think of...
best of luck in your build.

Chisue,
If Only! If we could not be assessed on the lower level we would definately go that route. The basement will have all rooms open to the view side except the bathrooms.

Oruboris,
Thanks for your well thought out and 'experienced' response. Some of the things you mentioned were among our concerns, my husband and I both grew up in homes with basements and they had their good & bad points. Our property is sloped and the view side of our property has a western exposure so that should help. The plan we are looking at has alot of large windows and french doors facing that direction. I agree with you on advance planning and good design. We have spent alot of time trying to 'live in' the spaces mentally to see how they would function for our family.

Zone8grandma,
Do you happen to have any pictures of your basement? It sounds great, you may remember me emailing you asking questions about the geotech on your property? I remember you had alot of extra costs when you did your excavation & foundation. Would you mind telling me again the size of your basement and the what the foundation cost? We would love to have 9' ceilings if we do the basement plan, is it significantly more or just one of those...while we're at it...might as well...expenses? :)

Thanks for all of your input, it is helping. When people see our property they always assume-daylight basement but we were not sure if it would be a huge expense to have a basement vs building up. Sounds like the basement actually might be more cost effective and then we could 'do it right' with all of the large windows and tall ceilings.

Posting at the same time!
There are no covenants or restrictions we are on 5+ acres. Like I said and you mentioned, sloped view lot...daylight basement. I liked going 'up' as a way to capture the higher views and make sure the children's rooms were nice and bright. I am now leaning towards the daylight basement plan and am grateful for the reassurance that a basement need not be a dark cave I would feel guilty for putting my kids in!

We are also on a lake with a sloped lot - lower level walkout and both ends are exposed.

Finished rooms include a den (2 triple french doors), DS room (1 triple french door), exercise room (1 double french door and 1 window) and DD2 room (2 windows). Windows are almost 6ft tall x 9ft wide. Ceilings are over 10ft tall. Bathrooms also have windows.

With the high ceilings, large windows/doors, great views and nice finishes it doesn't feel any different than our main level. As Z8G said, the temp stays pretty consistant year round which is nice.

None of the children live here (out of state colleges, etc) but DD1 actually prefers to stay in DD2's old room when she's in town rather than the main level guest room.

luckymom,
I'll try to take some pics today. We did not have the builder finish the basement - we did that ourselves and only recently finished. The cabs for the wet bar still have not arrived and I don't have anything yet for the guest room windows, so please take that into consideration.

We didn't intend to have 9' ceilings, but when the foundation was poured it was necessary. I love it (even though it did add to the foundation cost). Had I known then what I know now, I'd have put it (higher ceiling) into the plans.

Yes, our excavation/backfill and foundation ran over. The square footage of the basement is 1370 (same as the main level). The extra costs were due to the depth of the foundation footings (in places the footings are 8' deep) and to the extra height of the basement walls. The extra costs of the excavation were due, in part, to the fact that they had to truckload out the fill dirt that had been put in 20 years ago. (I'm told it took 40 truckloads). Then, when they did the backfill, they trucked in more fill to raise the ground level around the house by about 2'. It's too bad there was no place to save some of the fill from what they took out.

A walkout(daylight) basement makes so much sense for a sloped lot with a view.
Have you had any sort of feasibility study done?

As a point of reference for the cost of the deeper foundation, the footprint of our house is 1900 sq ft. A 9' poured foundation came in at $15000. Doing a 10' instead to raise the ceiling height added $3500.

We struggled with going up or down also. We actually went a long way down the design road initially with a ranch house plan. However, we settled on a 1 1/2 story. The master is on the main floor for when we are "old". We have a walkout daylight basement which backs up to a lake which holds the guest room/bath and family room. However, for the bedrooms for my two boys, we went up. Call me paranoid, but it just seemed to easy for them to sneak out if they were below us. I'd rather have them have to sneak past us. (Note, they are 4 and 2, so it's not an issue today, but if they are anything like their dad...)

Call me paranoid, but it just seemed to easy for them to sneak out if they were below us. I'd rather have them have to sneak past us. (Note, they are 4 and 2, so it's not an issue today, but if they are anything like their dad...)

I had to chuckle at this - my youngest son (who will turn 40 this year) was quite the hell-raiser when he was a teenager. At the time, I was living in a townhouse-style condo (living area below, bedrooms above). DS's room had a window over the attached garage. Found out (later) that at night, he'd often sneak out the window, go galavanting off, and sneak back in.....
No, you aren't being paranoid.....

Back to the present - we actually went both directions as well. We had to keep the footprint small, so I have a rather spacious office/sewing workroom upstairs. The basement has the TV room, exercise room (bedroom on the plan) and guest bedroom with full bath. With DH retiring soon, I wanted each of us to have our own personal space. Mine is up/ his is down. :)

I am grinning while I read these posts...I mentioned that my DH & I both grew up in homes with daylight basements...and yes the sneaking out thing has occurred to us...;) However, our property is rural and I'm not sure where the kids would go...we'll cross that bridge when we come to it I guess.

We have not done any sort of feasibility study. We did have a builder we were interviewing out to look at our property and give us some ideas, he couldn't see anything 'out of the ordinary'. He took us to a home under construction that he had to literally cut away half a hillside to create a building site.

There is another builder who we are strongly considering who has offered to bring out her excavation & foundation contractors to give us their opinions. The foundation guy specializes in sloped lots and does those foundations almost exclusively. She has just completed 2 spec homes on very sloped lots.
Our lot has a 200 x 70 flat area on top so we have some flat and then slope giving us some flexibility in our design. However we do have an access easement that will push our home out over the edge regardless, creating a deep crawl space or a daylight basement. We know that a 'full 2 story' wouldn't look right on the lot but a 'lower profile' home with 1 1/2 story would work.

We are planning this home for our family now and to work for us if we are still living there when our children are grown. The practical considerations of less expensive to build and less expensive to heat are very important to us. I have a friend who is a flatwork contractor who kept telling me: Those 'dayranches' are really spendy. Now I know what he meant, compared to a single level ranch. Duh. I thought he meant compared to a 2 story!

Thanks to all for your input, it has really helped us feel good about 'building down'. We had a list of pros and cons and the basement plan was winning even then. After doing some more searches on this site and getting responses to this post we have been able to check a couple of 'cons' off that list as well-expense and less attractive living space.

z8grandma-looking forward to your pictures, will the doggies be in them?! :)

luckymom,
Here's a link - I tried to organize them - sort of. I took photos during the process and want to keep them in the same album.

One thing I'm really glad we did - the landing going down had an ugly bump where the foundation ended. When we framed out the basement, I had the framer frame out the arched recess in the landing wall. It looks much better now than when we moved in.

Another note re stairs - you might want to check the width of the stairway. Apparently, most builders, unless you specify, will make it as narrow as possible. I didn't want it to feel like a tunnel, so added about 6" to the width. Now I wish I'd added more.

In the basement, DH didn't want them to fir out over the foundation - that's why there's a "bump" in the exercise room. I did have them completely fir out the guest room. I still need to cover the window seat. There's still so much to do, but with the weather getting nice, it will have to wait til fall. We are working on landscaping now (as you can see by the mess under the decks). The guest room is under the large deck off the master bedroom. There's just a walkway over the TV room - so that lets more light in. Something else to consider if you want a lot of light there. Also, the light patio reflects light, I've noticed.

Here is a link that might be useful: Basement project

We built a 3500 sq ft single level home and finished 3000 sq ft of the walkout basement. In reality, it is just a 3 bedroom home. But, we have two in the basement. We could not list our home (here anyway) as a 5 bedroom home.

My basement does not feel like a basement. It has a wide open staircaase to the basemnt, tall ceilings, lots of windows and french doors and a southerly exposure. We used the same finishes in the basement as upstairs. I hope this home will be perfect for our older years.

We also used 5 zones in the home, and will be able to adjust the ac/heating when all of the kids are gone.

As someone mentioned above--here (midwest) we are taxed on a 3500 sq ft home with a basement--not on 6500 sq ft.

Cost-wise, I doubt that it's any cheaper. Larger footprint, roof, concrete, etc.

As someone mentioned above--here (midwest) we are taxed on a 3500 sq ft home with a basement--not on 6500 sq ft.
Cost-wise, I doubt that it's any cheaper. Larger footprint, roof, concrete, etc.

I wish we were taxed the way you are. Out here (where luckymom and I live) we are taxed on the finished space.

In our case, the footprint was exactly the same size, ditto the roof. We had to excavate anyway, so it would have been foolish to pour a 9' foundation then fill it with dirt - For us, it was a no-brainer.

Around here, finished basements are counted as square footage. It is cheaper to build down, but with everyone adding a bar, an entertainment area, a theater room, etc.., it is actually more expensive to build down.

We went with a reverse story and a half for our new house. Our last house was a two story and I hated climbing down to the main level (bedrooms up) and going down again to the basement. I love this arrangement in our new house and it's very senior citizen-friendly to build down than up.

z8grandma-I couldn't use the link, it gave me an error message. Don't bother with it if it's too much trouble though.

I know that the choices of finish materials will drive the end cost, but I was more questioning if the basic 'box' of a basement was less than the 'box' of the upstairs area..if that makes sense. One thing that did not occur to me before but does now is that HVAC install would likely be easier and simpler for a forced air system as you would not have to run ductwork up to a second story. My husband & I have been discussing all the ideas brought up here and some new ones we had not considered before and it looks like the daylight basement is our choice. We are going to meet with our potential builder in a couple of weeks and share the plan with her and get her opinion. Then we will decide if we need a custom design or if the stock plan with some modifications will work.
Thanks to all who posted!

luckymom - I fixed the link (had it set for "private" viewing vs "public", so go ahead and give it a try.

Several things to consider re the basement. We had the builder frame it out the way we wanted the finished basement to be. Had them rough in the bath and wet bar. Put the minimal electrical to pass code (DH later did a lot of electrical wiring before drywall). We also plan to put in a wood burning stove, so we had the builder run a cold air intake and a chimney. We did not have the builder finish the basement (felt their bid was too high, also we were already making so many decisions).

After we moved in, I had my son tweak the framing (I wanted a window seat under the bay window in the guest room, and some built in bookcases framed by drywall). Then DH did all the electrical/telephone/satellite wiring. We contracted out the drywall, then I painted. Then we bought trim to match the trim on the main level. My son did the trim work. (He's also a contractor)
After that we purchased carpet and contracted the same carpet people who had done the main level.
Overall we spent about the same amount of money as we would have paid the builder, but we got a lot more for it.

Z8Grandma,
We will have to complete the basement at the same time as the rest of the house...or have 3 kids sleeping in our room with us! Thanks for the pictures, I really love your bay windows. I noticed that you have windows on the 'sides' as well as the walk out side. Do you know if anything restricts where you put windows in the basement foundation wall? I realize it will depend on what is excavated vs not and where the grade is but the plan we like only shows windows on the walkout side. We need to add one more bedroom and would love a bay window for that room-it will be the smallest and I want something to make it more special. Did you have a natural 'flat spot' lower on your property or did you have to 'create' one for the walk out?
Your basement is really pretty, and not 'basementy' at all. :) Your land looks beautiful, and it was exciting to see all the 'green' out the windows-ours will be like that! Looks like the whole PNW was gorgeous this week!

luckymom,
I had forgotten (slapping forehead) about your little ones - of course you have to finish the basement..... (DOH)

Do you know if anything restricts where you put windows in the basement foundation wall
When we were planning the house - I told the designer that I wanted those side windows "if at all possible" (I was trying to get light from different sources - re Susanka). Turned out not to be an issue. When they backfilled, the excavator just worked around the windows.

Did you have a natural 'flat spot' lower on your property or did you have to 'create' one for the walk out?

No, we had no natural 'flat spot' - the excavator created it. I've moaned about the cost of the excavation, but the excavator really did a great job. We were building so close to the edge of the slope that I didn't think I'd have much land around for planting, but he gave us more space than I had expected.

Things are so green right now. I'm so anxious to get started landscaping, but right now we are putting a french drain in the front yard. I'm lurking on the landscaping design forum, reading books, and researching plants. I have six trees heeled in waiting for their homes.....

Here's the view from the covered deck.

If given the choice, I would always build down. We finished our house in October 06. The basement is the same sq footage as the main floor with each floor being 3600. The temp never gets above 77 in the basement and those units rarely run. If you build a basement, make sure to use Superior Walls as you won't have any musty smell.

I have been noticing that finished basements are being included as living space in square footage for real estate purposes. It appears to be a new trend in my area. My town assesment does not include our basement in the total square footage, only as finished basement.
As we prepare to place our current home on the market I find it interesting to see same style homes as mine offering more square footage than we have including our ground level addition. As the home prices fall can the extra square feet in a home can possibly justify a higher price ;) Buyers today are savvy shoppers.
We initally wanted our basement finished in our new home and decided to wait for a year or so. We chose instead to use the very large bonus room upstairs. It was more cost effective for us at this time. I also wanted to see if the basement would have any water issues before we finished it.