[rascul]

> A basement is a line item that can be added or deleted at will.

If you already need a deep foundation and basements are common enough in the area so people know how to do them well, maybe. For other areas, it's a significant expense, a lot of work, might require design changes, and it'll probably leak.

[bluGill]

Basements are always expensive. They are common where the soil demands a deep foundation as when you already need to move a lot of dirt you may as move more and get something useful out of it. Realistically though even in places that need deep foundations you are probably better off building a floor up and no basement.

Either way though, they are easy to remove from plans if you don't want one.