Why don't builders in the UK build houses with a basement and 3 floors?

[SirChenjin]

Drove past yet another insipid new housing development that is being thrown up built and as always, the houses are teeny and only 2 floors. I know that land is at a premium around here, so why don't builders in the UK build bigger houses over the same sized patch of land by building a basement and a 3rd floor?

I live in a house with 4 floors, including a basement and I love it (it's not huge, just tall and narrow/shallow). I get quite depressed when I see new builds as they're generally uninspiring and would love to see some more radical/intelligent stuff being built. However, my house is on a hill (it slopes down away from the house), hence the basement being there - not sure how it would work on most houses. Also, I think the amount of stairs would drive most people nuts!

I think digging downwards is quite expensive too? And I must admit my basement is damp in parts, but at the same time it's lovely and cool when the weather is hot.

i expect it will be because it will cost them more, take them longer and be more effort. I agree though - the dimensions of modern houses, lower ceilings etc frustrate me.

I'm sure cost comes into it, but building in this way seems to occur in other countries - so why not the UK? I wonder if we're too accepting of tiny, overpriced new builds?

The lack of basement is probably due to the water table. I live in a town where all houses have basements, and they have to pump out millions of liters first before they can build them. They everyone wonders why their cellars get flooded.

Don't know why houses aren't taller.

I suppose because people in this country are prepared to put up with cramped, cheaply built homes. I think making self build a practical option would help. I'm sure I read somewhere that about 40% of houses on the continent are self build, although I'm not sure how true that is. But if people has the option of building their own place, it would raise the bar.

We are - I read somewhere we live in some of the smallest housing square footage wise in Europe.

They are building lots of houses round here with 3 floors, to be honest I don't like them and they are a pain. They have gone for a funny like townhouse design, they don't look family friendly

I read that too Iamnormalish . That's interesting about the water table, I hadn't thought of that.

What to we need to do to get house builders to change, I wonder? Self build is a great idea, but with land the price it is it seems that only the developers can oafford it

A lot of countries have houses with basements because it gets so cold that they have to have deeper foundations, so it doesn't make much different to the build cost to put in a basement while they're working down that far anyway. Basements in the UK and Ireland are quite expensive because of the relative difficulty of keeping the wet out, plus I think most of the pipework (water mains, sewage system) is not that far underground which can lead to problems if you want to use the basement for a purpose that needs plumbing.

I'm not keen on tall, thin houses personally. There are quite a lot of 3 and 4 storey houses where I used to live in East London, and I preferred being in a flat. In those tall houses everything that you need seems to be on a different floor, and if you have DC you are forever returning things that they have moved.

I'm not sure about the water table problem... in Canada, almost all houses have a basement, and most new houses are guaranteed for 50 years against water seeping into the basement, so they must have got the sealing worked out.

As regards cost, surely in England the builder has to dig down at least 4' (1.3 m) for the footings and foundations, so what's the problem in digging an extra few centimeters? Again, in Canada, most houses are raised off the ground a couple of feet (60cm) so the basement is about 3/4 below ground level, which allows for small windows in the basement.

Often, inexpensive new-build homes have the basement unfinished - that is, concrete floor and insulated walls, but no wallboard, and the ceiling is unfinished. The basement can be used as-is for the furnace, hot water tank, washer/dryer, storage, or as a kids playroom.

Or, of course, you can have someone finish the basement, or do it yourself.

I think part of it is that we are putting up with poorly designed homes, but having a basement is also not as simple as digging down - everyone I know in the US who has one has to have and maintain a sump pump because the foundations of the house are generally below the water table.

Even in the US they are not generally used as regular living space - they tend to be used as dens/dumping grounds for most people I think. Some people convert them and rent them out - I would hate to live in one full time as there is very little light in them. Then you have the problem of complying with fire regs if it is being used as regular living space.

Houses are probably only 2 floors because of planning permission. Get the planners to approve 3 story houses & I'm sure the builders would love to put them up - sell for more with not much more work.

I know quite a lot of 3 storey new builds around where I live. They are still bland, and involve a lot of stairs. They always have lots of bathrooms.

we need to get a celeb on the case ! any got Kevin McClouds number ?!?! he could do for homes what Hugh FW did for fish !

3 storey houses aren't as attractive to most buyers as 2 storey houses with the same sq footage. In 3 storey houses round here you either get the odd townhouse layout without all of the reception rooms on the ground floor or you have the reception room and kitchen space of a 3 bed but with 5 beds above. Most families aren't huge, so prefer more reception room space rather than bedroom once they have enough bedrooms. Locally 3 storey houses mean sloping roofs and veluxes/dormer windows and no loft, so not enough storage. And all of that is if you can get planning permission for 3 storeys as mostly you can't build higher than the other local buildings.

Lots of 3 storey new builds around here. The historical style as it were is weaver's cottages with big open too floors, so there is a precedent for 3 floors. Basements are difficult and costly to engineer, as has been mentioned. Canafa has also been mentioned, but many parts of Canada are permafrost environment, so groundwater is not such an issue. Third floors also require bigger/ deeper foundations, possibly a more costly type of foundation construction, and also fall under.much stricter fire regulations - eg escape systems, sprinklers on third or higher floors, all of which adds cost.

Sadly I don't have Kevin McCloud's number - wish I did, and not just for the purposes of this thread

I'm not so keen on some of the self build monsters on Grand Designs - I think too many of them look like civic amenities - but surely to goodness we could build more attractive, spacious housing and make better use of the land we have in the UK without encroaching on the valuable, remaining green space (which, in the central belt of Scotland here is disappearing fast)