I understand "code" now on basement is to have a secondary (besides
stairs) egress from basement if you want to put living quarters in
basement. I have seen products to make basement windows large enough
to make them emergency exits, but they are a big project, and involve
cutting the basement walls. They are expensive as well.

How about this instead:

Take a built-in ladder, meant to be installed in an attic, and install
it into the ceiling of basement/floor of first floor. Obviously it
would leave a big folded up ladder on the floor on the first floor,
but you could hide it with a built-in bookshelf, maybe a built-in
bench. Maybe you could design it into the floor of a broom closet.
Or maybe you could install it in such a manner (drop it down) that it
could just intall it with a flat trap door over it.

It seems a clever manufacturer could design a ladder that sits flat
from above, and has all the ladder hanging below. (as opposed to the
current attic design, which is flat from below, and all the ladder
parts sit up high). It would make it a lot easier to build to code in
a basement.

Thoughts