Wells and basements

[Trainwreck20]

East of Austin is clay country, and the ground can shift quite a bit (relatively speaking), so I am not sure that works well for basements. In Houston, the water table is at, oh, about 4" down, which makes a basement much more akin to a pool, regardless of how hard you try to keep it from leaking.

Pools probably aren't much, if any, easier/cheaper to put in (maybe a little, what with no structure built above so engineering a little easier); however, I know many a pool that cost $50,000 to put in. While a good bit of that is the finishing of the pool, a lot of it was the digging/blasting. It is just cheaper to build space up (two story) than space down (basement), and no real reason to do both - go sideways to get more space.

As for pools - I would much rather have a pool in the dead of summer than a basement .

Wells: We grew up using a well out in NW Georgetown, and while the water was excellent tasting, it did need to be softened and the electricity is not inconsequential. The overall cost of water is cheaper on a well, but not as much as you might think after figuring in elec and softener installation. Also, you will still have sewer costs unless you are on a septic system.

[FalconheadWest]

When people want 3000 sqft and under $200k, how does the builder build that along with a basement? Yes, a basement "could" be built through the rock, but it's all money at that point, and people won't spend the money for the extra cost, so builders don't spend the extra money either. They try to hit certain price points, and build volume for those price points. Costs of the houses go up, and less buyers can now buy their product. It's not cost effective for a basement.

[calel]

There's a neighborhood "Shenandoah" right off 620 & Lake Creek near Lakeline Mall that still has houses with wells. I recall my realtor mentioning this when we were doing a search in that area.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

Never thought of in-ground pools in relation to the lack of basements. Good point. The frost heave explanation only means there is not that particular incentive to build basements, its doesn't preclude their being build around here. I have another reason since black land prairie soil is easy to dig through.....culture. Texans don't like things they aren't used to, and construction companies tend to be conservative. That's too bad b/c having a cool basement on a 104 degree would be awesome.

Putting a pool into blackland prairie soil could be even more expensive, since the structural walls of the pool have to resist not only vertical structural loads, but also horizontal loads imposed by swelling soil pressures. They could crush your pool like an egg.