Florida houses don’t have basement !

Florida is basically at sea level, so the water tables in most communities is very high. Dig down just a few feet and you’ll most likely be below that level. Because of this, it takes a LOT of engineering to keep a crawl space or basement dry.

I have a friend who wanted to build a house with a basement wine cellar. In order to get approval, he had to have a triple-redundant system installed of sealants, free drain backfill, and sump pumps installed to make sure the basement remained water-tight. This is a considerable expense and not worth it to most folks.

There are some locations in Florida at higher elevations where basements are more common. However, for the majority of the state, basements just aren’t practical.