Where I live a walk out basement is usually on a sloped lot where it is particle to have a level yard out side the basement door. Some times front, sometimes the back or even on the side some times.
Seldom you would see one on a level lot. Then it would most like be described as a slab on grade.

 

At least in my mind they are very different. As Neal described, a walkout is where the exterior grade level to the basement floor (or at least very close). A walk-up on the other hand is where the basement floor is below grade and you go up steps to get to grade.

 

It is not an easy change over from one style to the other. The depth of the footing will be different if you are in an area with frost depth in the winter, as the footing has to be that deep. Drainage can also come into consideration.

 

Walkout vs. walkup (front door on left, basement door on right).

 

As part of your education, there are 3 types; walk-out, walk-up and pit (no exterior exit usually built on a flat or gently sloping lot).


It is not uncommon for a builder to use a standard contract and fail to change some terms when signing one. That happened to us regarding our driveway. The contract called for a 17' wide drive which we did not get with a side entry garage. We got the same amount of concrete but our extra width went to the pad.


In the case of basement the lay of the lot, the depth of the water table and sewers determine the style of the basement.

 

In the case of basement the lay of the lot, the depth of the water table and sewers determine the style of the basement.

Does that mean that the builder can legally claim this as the reason?

 

Needed to make some adjustments to the other comments borrowing a good start for a diagram. There are 4 types of basements based on grade level:
- typical all below grade, access from 1st floor interior only
- walk-out, access to exterior grade at floor slab height
- walk-up, access to exterior stair going up to grade
- look-out, no exterior access but windows over a partial-height grade

Having a walk-out or look-out is dependent on the grade elevations that exist on the lot. Usually, lowering existing grade will not be altered to create either of these two types, as that defeats the purpose of each. Having either though will increase the value of your home.

A walk-up is common in older houses where the basement (cellar) wasn't considered living space. They would have a bulkhead and dealing with surface water is always a concern. They are not as common in current construction.

I would agree that you had a boiler-plate contract that was overlooked in editing, as the grade elevation would dictate the allowance of a walk-out basement (note depth of sewer does not dictate anything). A judge would probably agree as well. However, you state you have "7 steps" for a walk-up. That means that grade elevation is partial height at around 48"-56" above basement slab, and you could have had the opportunity for a look-out basement. That scenario might require a lawyer to see how far the contract could be litigated.

 

Many thanks to all for the advice and education. Weirdly the contract, in some places mentions daylight basement as well.


I will review the contract in detail again. Please advice if it is worthwhile seeking legal guidance as some of you have suggested.



I live in Northern Virginia.

 

If the land around the house has that kind of slope, then I would complain like mad, their contract should have said some like when applicable or something. If you are on a level, it can be done but it just adds much more water to deal with.

 

Just to give a reference point, if you had a typical suburban house built in a planned subdivision around here, the price would be at least:
Look-out: +$10K lot, another +$10-15K for house
Walk-out: +$20K lot, another +$15-25K for house

I personally don't see walk-up basements built with a sliding door, usually just a man door by a builder or owner who has unique requests. Really this has me stumped, he could argue he combined a little bit of walk-out with look-out, even go so far as to compare SF of the slider's glass to 3 or 4 potential windows, or state the extra cost of the concrete/railing work that wouldn't happen in a look-out.

Similar sloped lots in the neighborhood, what they built and the prices on those might help decide if you have a case.

 

Our houses are built to fit the lot and non of that would change the price, they go for the square footage and more for extras built in.

 

With that lot I would actually prefer a walk-up there than a walk out. It will be easier to grade it to drain water away from the house. But you should definitely make the builder grade the lot properly.

 

We build on hill sides here so all or most of our houses fit one of these descriptions as the houses on the lower side of the road are often lower than the sewer line and have a pump system to deal with basement plumbing.



https://www.gimme-shelter.com/basement-type-50085/

Walkout

Walkout basements are just that – basement that you can walk out of. This designation should be reserved for true walk out basements and not basements that just have a staircase out of them. A walkout basement house is almost always built into a hill. Sometimes this is a natural situation and sometimes a developer will artificially build a hill to place the foundations into – often around a pond or lake. Walkout basements are considered valuable to buyers. Walkout basements are sometimes called walk-in basements. They are considered opposite from a conventional ‘closed basement’ where there are no doors to the outside.
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Walk-up

Walk Up basements are those that are just like walkout basements, but turned around. That is, the front of the house has a basement entry. These are built into hills as well. They are not very common in homes in Edmonton.​

 

One important thing, that I learned with my first home purchase, is to verify the zoning of any vacant land adjacent to the property. It is not nice when they start the apartments after all the single family lots are sold.


With this purchase the realtor told us the land behind the house was green space forever. I knew he was lying because I already had a copy of the master plan showing more houses back there.


Always investigate and ask questions.

 

With that lot, how would you expect to get a walk out basement without having to walk up to ground level somewhere? You have to go "up" to get to ground level, or regrade the whole lot significantly. I'm a little lost on how you signed a contract, got the house done, and only noticed now when reviewing the contract that what it says isn't what you got. If you got what you expected and there aren't any problems, why seek legal representation?

 

Am I the only who thinks this is just a bizzare question?
you bought the house either prebuilt or had the builder build it for you....

if it were prebuilt, what are you trying to accomplish, it was that way when you bought the house and for the price that the builder charged.

If you had the house built, I'm assuming you requested X with the basement If you requested and paid extra for something different than what you got....... why did you close? The grass is green, the basement has been built for a while....

getting into semantics on whether what you have qualifies for a walk up, walk out, daylight is an academic question, and maybe you found the right audience for it on an internet forum, but i don't see what your're questioning to ever amount to anything.

 

Am I the only who thinks this is just a bizzare question?
you bought the house either prebuilt or had the builder build it for you....

No, basically what I was trying to say without being blunt. Sounded more to me like someone was trying to see if they could make a case to get something for "free" or make some money off the semantics of the contract, despite that they got what they were expecting. Otherwise, you wouldn't need to ask.