As buyers try to get the most space possible out of their new homes, things are looking up for basements.
Whether it`s unfinished space or customized basements that offer many of the luxuries found on the upper levels of a home, basements are big in the Chicago area, according to local home builders.
Basements are so well-liked by Chicago-area buyers, in fact, that they are sometimes included as a standard feature in many new developments.
”We once offered a full basement over a half-basement option, and more than 75 percent of our buyers opted for the full basement,” said Julie Mall, vice president of sales and marketing for the Grove-based Landmark Homes. ”So now we make a full basement standard in every one of our homes.”
”In recent years, we`ve seen more and more of our buyers opt for a basement,” said Jim Hughes of Wiseman-Hughes Development. ”People have been a little more conservative with their money in recent months, but I would say as many as 75 percent of all of our buyers add a basement to their homes.”
”Basements are an option at our development because we don`t want to preclude buyers who might not want a basement,” said Carl James, project director of Hunters Ridge in Grayslake, a single-family development where prices range from $159,000 and $200,000.
”But so far, we`ve only had about two out of our first 55 buyers who did not choose the basement option. So they`re fairly popular, to say the least.” ”Basements are a Midwest phenomenon,” said Hughes, whose Timber Oaks at the Fox single-family development in North Aurora includes basements as a standard feature. ”On the West Coast and in the Southwest they don`t have basements and most of the homes are built on slabs. But people in the Chicago area have grown up with basements. They`re part of our way of life for several generations now.”
To cater to this market, builders are offering a number of basement features, from walkout basements to raised ceiling heights to roughed-in bathroom plumbing for those buyers who plan to create future living space in their basements.
Also popular are English basements, which are partially above ground and feature large windows similar to those found on the upper levels of a home.
”Walkout basements and English basements are extremely attractive to buyers because they allow for more natural light in the basement,” said James. ”It negates the perception that basements are dark and dank places.
”And if we have some interesting topography with our land, we try to build the home so the basement opens up to the outside to let more of the natural light in.”
Raised ceiling heights in basements are also proving more popular with buyers.
”On our walkout English basements, we always add a foot to the foundation to give the basement a nine-foot-high ceiling,” said Dethmer.
”That extra foot of height really makes a difference and can cost as little as $2,000.”
”A nine-foot ceiling height really allows a buyer to cover up heating ducts and other systems without compromising ceiling height,” said Mall of Landmark Homes, which offers the nine-foot option at its Beacon Hill community in Kildeer.
For families who plan on one day expanding into the basement, roughed-in plumbing is also proving an appealing option.
”With rough-ins, we put in the bathroom plumbing underneath the concrete so that at a later date the homeowner can finish the basement and install the bathroom fixtures on their own,” said James. ”The rough-ins cost about $2,000, but that`s a lot less than having to add the plumbing at a later date.”
The major attraction of basements, said the builders and buyers, is the additional square footage they offer to a home.
At the Timber Oaks at the Fox development, a walkout option can add 750 to 1,400 square feet of living space to standard basements. The walkouts are priced between $11,000 and $17,000 and includes finished stairs, utilities, sliding glass doors, windows and a large outside deck. At Hunters Ridge in Grayslake, $10,000 will add an unfinished basement of about 1,000 square feet. Furthermore, said the builders, that gain is a fairly inexpensive one.
For example, adding an unfinished basement to a Hoffman Home at the Woodland Hills community in Bartlett can cost about $15,000, said Dethmer.
”That`s about $15 per square foot, compared to the $70 or $80 per square foot it costs for upper-level living space,” he said.
Basement space is affordable, said Dethmer, because it`s inexpensive for builders to add.
”The foundation has got to be built into the house whether you have a basement or not,” he said. ”But it`s not that much more expensive for the builder to add that four feet of wall and a floor to the foundation to create a basement.”
Because of the rolling landscape, two-thirds of the 99 homes at Windhill in Palatine can accommodate walkout or English basements.
”We estimate that it costs up to $100 per square foot to add a room above grade after a home is complete, but at Windhill walkout basements are a fraction of that cost,” said Gene Kripak, director of planning and marketing for the Mitroff Cos., the developer of the 46-acre Windhill community.
A majority of homeowners eventually convert their basement into family space, said the builders, despite the popularity of family rooms on the upper living level.
”We like the idea that there is space to grow into,” said Kirk Clausen, who with his wife, Judi, bought a home with an unfinished basement at Hoffman Homes` Woodland Hills subdivision in Bartlett.
”Right now we are using the basement as a storage area,” added Clausen. ”But as our young daughter grows older, she`ll move into the bedroom I`m using now as an office. So within a few years, I`d like to build some office space for myself in the basement.”
”We would first like to finish off our basement to create a space for kids,” said buyer Pat Heneghan, who with her husband, John, last year purchased a home with a basement at the Timber Oaks at the Fox.
”But eventually my husband would like to turn the basement into `his room` and maybe add a bar with a sports motif,” added Heneghan, who has one infant child. ”We like to make it an adult rec room, a place that would be different from our family room.”
While basement space can be as elegant as upstairs space, most finished basements have an informal air to them, said the builders.
”Finished basements are usually a lot more casual than the upstairs family room,” said Hughes. ”The upstairs family room has sort of become the formal entertaining area for many families. So the basement becomes the place that people feel a little more relaxed about.”
”Most people like to keep a basement simple,” said Dethmer. ”On the custom side, however, we`ve done $100,000 basements with full kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms and fireplaces.”
Basements also add to a home`s resale value, said Hughes. ”(Compared to) a home sitting on a slab, a home with a basement will always be more marketable,” he said.
One disadvantage to a basement is the chance of flooding, said the builders.
”There`s no basement that`s totally flood free,” said Dethmer. ”But all homes built today with basements have drain tile around the perimeter that leads rain water into sump pits. The water is then pumped away from the house. There`s often even battery-powered backup sump pumps in the event of a power failure.”
Exterior foundation walls are also treated with a waterproof asphalt coating to help minimize flooding.
”Thanks to this technology, probably 99 percent of our basements are dry and don`t leak,” said Dethmer.
