Every single stairway that I have seen has a drain at the bottom of the stairs, and I have never heard a customer complain about water intrusion.  I get it, it COULD happen, but it happens in the northeast without ANY exterior exit as well.  Basements flooding without property drainage is most definitely a thing.

LOL gotcha.

The house I built in Michigan has a Bilco door (steel outer cover with a second door at the bottom). It's great for moving big and heavy stuff in and out of the basement. Beats the hell out of trying to maneuver stuff down the stairway inside the house.

I had to look up Bilco as well, despite my last house having had one.  I think it's one of those Jello vs. gelatin dessert type deals.

We always called them cellar doors.  The conceit being that a basement has inside access versus a cellar having outside access only.  So, Bilco brand cellar doors? I don't know.

A drain/dry well is usually at the bottom of those cellar doors.

wrong on both counts.

1) i have a 5" drain, not a clog-prone 3" drain as shown in that picture.  
with that 3" setup, and enough rain, enough wind, enough leaves, enough snow, etc, the water will be in under the doors.
i guess you can call your landscaping crew at 2am in the middle of the storm and tell them there are leaves clogging the drain.

2) ask the arfcom contingent or google pics what my (DIY) property looks like, it won't take too long for you to find pictures.

ar-jedi

I've seen pictures of your property, but they are pretty much meaningless as to whether things were done properly or not.  I get it, YOU have problems with your stairs.  When done properly, most people will NOT have problems, and in OP's case, bilco doors are more than acceptable on his style home.

If the house is over 700 or 750k then bilco doors are inappropriate.

Same here. Our house when I was a kid had one, but made of wood. Much better for getting large objects in and out than having to navigate through the house. Hadn't thought about it in years, but kind of wishing my house had one now.

Not sure if serious.

Around here that would be full of leaves and debris in under a week.

$.5M to $13M homes here.

lol

We are probably all in the same area, and I am in those homes every day.  They don't have problems (especially with leaves and debris...because landscapers).

Our house is a custom designed one-off build - about 3500 sq ft. We live on an old farm serviced by an "improved farm road" (dirt/gravel) in northeast PA. The original plan called for a walk-out basement in the rear. Only the center portion of the house has a basement under it - the rest is on slab. When we got the final price we opted to cut the walk-out and added a bilco door in the front tucked into one of the angles of the house to blend it visually into the side of the front porch. Honestly, we're much happier with it as it is now. Lynn put plants around it so you barely notice it most of the year. Functionally, it is much easier to access from the driveway than walking around the back of the house - especially in winter. The door accesses our utility room from where you can get to the finished portion. We also have a full freezer and extra refrigerator freezer in the utility room. Carrying heavy items for the freezer, beer for the fridge, etc is much more convenient directly from the car downstairs without going through the house..or around the house works for me.

I wish I had a basement.

You won't get plywood down those stairs...

Kharn

For basement bedrooms some local codes require one.

Not going to lie...I didn't either and had one on a house I grew up in The house the wife and I just bought has the French doors with the walkout from the basement, hell it looks just like the picture someone posted with the only difference it walks out to a good sized patio and stairs to a deck.

Some of those Bilco doors are really well done.

The one hidden in the deck looks great

I have a basement stair causing issues in my landscaping/deck design,  I might just copy that.

Kharn