On Feb 17, 6:24 pm, "Ralph Mowery" wrote:
"EXT" wrote in message

anews.com...



Southern climates allow the builders to skip a lot of expenses, and call
it
standard practice, which keeps more money in their

Lousy thinking. The builder who spends an extra $10,000 to fight with
jack
hammers and explosives to build a basement may not get that extra $10,000
in selling price. Only an idiot will spend $10,000 to get back $3,000.
Send me your $10,000 and I will give you $3,000 for it.

You are very opinionated and don't seem to think very deeply. Yes, solid
rock may be a major deterent, but hard pan clay and other soils should
not. In this region, houses without a basement have problems selling. That
extra $10,000.00 can double your square footage, great for hobbies,
storage and other uses. The cost per square foot is quite small. Only your
idiot would be too cheap to turn down doubling your square footage for a
small price.

Several years ago I was able to afford another house. I wanted to build
one, but could not find any land like I wanted to build on . I had to look
around for a while to find a house with a basement that I could afford in an
area I wanted to be in. This is in the South. I would not have a house
that did not have a basement. It may add $ 10,000 to the building price,
but to live in , the sqft is worth it. There are very few houses being
built with basements in the area. Sometimes it is hard to build the
basement like I want. That is one that you can walk out of without having
to climb steps.

The kind of house I absolutly would not have is the slab houses. Especially
if there is any plumbing or wiring under the slab.

$10,000 for a basement? That's dreaming. Last project I did with a
basement, the excavation and masonry for the basement (basically 20 x
50 with a 36x32 attached garage) was $70,000. Granted, it was ICF
which is more expensive than block, but still, 10,000?