If you've finished a basement in the last few years....

[pehp]

Could you share what it entailed and the costs?

 

Ours is about 900 square feet. Walkout basement. Totally dry. Plumbed for bathroom. Our contractor drew designs that included new ductwork, new hot water heater, 3 new windows, moving a column and reinforcement with a steel beam, full bath. Vinyl plank flooring throughout, drywall and paint, a couple small (like a closet and mechanical room) rooms framed-out. NOT including the built-in cabinets we are designing the cost was $52k. With

built-ins it was $67k.

 

Does this seem high? We are in semi-rural Virginia. I think it feels high.

[Ottakee]

I wonder how much of that is moving a colum and reinforcing the beam? Can you design a plan that doesn't require that but is still workable?

[pehp]

That's what we are doing now (or, proposing). I think the beam thing was about $3-5k. Not astronomical, but a chunk! We are hoping to hear back from our contractor today about reworking the plans a bit....

[trinchick]

We had a flood and had to re-do our basement. Not sure of the size of the space, but our scope was a bit different, as we had to install a French drain and sump pump and remove all the nasty, soaked drywall. We also added a half bath. We did laminate flooring (pergo-like) and beadboard in the poolroom/bar. We replaced four windows. We added wiring for two wall-mounted TV's and added a couple of closets with shelving. I think our cost was about $30K and it looks beautiful.

[fairfarmhand]

I'd bet that the structural stuff is the big dealk./ He may be hiring a Mechanical Engineer to figure the sizing on that, which could be the expense.

 

In your shoes, I'd tell him what you'd like to spend, and ask how much you can get done for that amount. Then I would seek out a few other bids.

[Soror]

We did our work mostly ourselves, except drywall, which dh hates. I think ours will be at $15k when completely done. We've done it over a few years time though so it wasn't too bad. We didn't have any structural stuff though. We had to build the walls, put up sheet rock on walls and ceiling, doors, paint, plumbing for bathroom, flooring, light fixtures and stairwell- along with misc. Ours is 1150 sf. We have everything done now except the floor, putting up trim and finishing plumbing. We have the materials for everything except the floor. If we were going to stick w/ the paper bag floor we have the materials for that but I think dh has decided to go with allure click-lock. He was annoyed w/ some of the color variation on the paper bag and he has more money than time at this point and the paper bag is a lot more work and hard on his knees. That decision however really has increased our finish cost.

[NotSoObvious]

I think that is incredibly high.

Ours was in Utah, 750 square feet, plumbed for bathroom, not a walk out. When finished, it was a bedroom, bathroom, and large family room.

 

We paid for HVAC and mudders, but pretty much did everything else ourselves. Lowe's installed the super plush carpet, inlcuding all the way up the stairs. The bathroom turned out gorgeous, my husband installed surround sound speakers in the family room and had HDMI hooked up to everything (whatever that means).

 

It turned out beautiful. I think we spent a total of $15,000, and that included a lot of tools and a huge TV.

 

Our builder wanted $25,000 to finish it for us when we bought it (in 2006).

 

I realize things are more expensive out here (we are now in VA), but there is no way I'd pay that much for 900 sq feet. Can you do any of it yourselves? The flooring and painting would be relatively easy. Although, my dh is pretty handy.

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

We had 400 square feet (one large multi-purpose room and a full bath) finished for $12,000. The original estimate was $20K, but we negotiated with the contractor, offering to do the floor and paint ourselves and buy all the bathroom fixtures and flooring.

 

So the 12K included framing, drywall, plumbing for bath and wetbar, installation of toilet, sink and shower stall, , all electrical (6 lights), installation of trim and painting of trim, and 50 square feet of tile installed (bath, landings). Spraying of primer and ceiling paint throughout.

 

For the part of the project we did ourselves, we spent about 3 grand on the wet bar (Ikea), bathroom fixtures (Kohler and Moen), paint, and another 1200 on the flooring (Pergo). The contractor's original estimate included lower end fixtures and flooring so I was happy with the arrangement.

 

We are in Northern Va and hired a licensed and insured contractor that had his own crew and very professional plumbers and drywall people. I was not afraid to be alone in the home with them!

 

hth,

K

[jujsky]

We finished our basement ourselves about 7 years ago, I think? It cost money, but was no where near 52K. If I had to guess, I'd say the big money-sucks in your reno are the bathroom (even though it's already plumbed, bathrooms cost money), the reinforcement beam, and the duct work. Duct work is outrageously expensive! We looked at having some of ours moved/redone and adding in vents to the existing duct work so we could tap right into the forced hot air system. I don't remember off-hand how expensive it was, but for what we were asking, it was ridiculous! We ended up putting in electric baseboard heat because it was so much cheaper to do. We're not down there all the time, plus being a basement it was already well-insulated. We ended up dry-walling around the main duct, which sat lower on the ceiling,and we put in a suspended ceiling and recessed and track lighting on the rest of it.. The duct work was the only thing we were going to hire someone to do. We didn't have plumbing for a bathroom down there and knew it would be expensive to put one in, so we avoided that. We did all of the work ourselves. I THINK (not sure, as the project stretched over a 3 year period) we spent 10K-15K. There are two rooms (office and an entertainment/rec room) totaling 800-900 sf of finished space, I'd have to guess. The money includes a new staircase and tons of built-ins. For flooring we bought these special wood tiles for a sub-floor. They're designed for basements and have rubber grooves/channels on the bottom to leave a space between the flooring and the cement floor in case of moisture. We also have a dry, walk-out basement, but you never know when a basement can get moisture in it, and you don't want a nice floor ruined. Over that, we put a laminate floating floor that looks like wood.

 

The more work you can do yourselves, the more money you'll save. It will definitely cost you more than it cost us since you have a bathroom --- but it's also a great return on investment to have another bathroom in your home.

 

Edited because "duct" and "duck" do not mean the same thing ;)

[pehp]

Thank you all. I have gotten some food for thought. My husband called our contractor today and we're supposed to go do a line-by-line analysis tomorrow night to see what we can cut. We are very handy and I am perfectly content to do our own painting, flooring, installation of baseboards, and hold off on the built-ins. Even with that, and eliminating new duct work and eliminating the plan to move the pole, I think the price would likely be (my guesstimate) around 40K which would be for framing, drywall, putting in the bathroom, installing a few windows, installing some trimwork. I am interested to see how the conversation tomorrow goes. My husband is ready to walk on this project (for now, w/ this contractor) even though the contractor has gotten his guys lined up to start w/in a few weeks. eek!

[sbgrace]

Yikes. We are almost done with our 900 SF finishing job. We still have some electrical and ceilings left. I don't have final costs but it's no where near that. We got two estimates of about 20K. Are you just getting the one estimate?

 

We saved some by doing a little bit of it ourselves--installed the vinyl plank floors and painting. But I also picked some things (like foam board insulation for exterior walls, "green" materials, and on) that added to costs. I still think we'll come out about at the 20,000 point when done.

 

We have a dry walk out basement too. But there were some differences:

 

We're in a low cost of living area compared to you I'm sure (Indiana).

 

Our baths, full and a half, had to be plumbed. They had to break through the concrete to lay the lines so that was an expensive part of the job.

 

We had quite a lot of interior framing/wall work (two living space rooms (family and bedroom), two baths, laundry room, a utility room, three full closets, 9 doors to be framed). So it sounds like we have quite a bit more framing/drywall/trim work in our design. Those closets were pricey as the framing is so involved and the door frame and installs were also not particularly cheap.

 

We did not replace the windows. They did do extensive work to trim them/make them look nice though.

 

The existing stairs were much too steep and poorly designed. The contractor redesigned them for a longer run and replaced with oak. That part was expensive.

 

We did have ducts replaced but did that when we installed a heat pump with the heating/air company. I think the ducts alone were about $3,000. But that was part of a huge heating/air quote with more involved work so maybe it was cheaper than it would have been alone.

 

I remember feeling we saved a lot putting the flooring in ourselves. It was a pain though.

[pehp]

WOW, you got a lot done for $20K!!!!

 

So far we've only gotten the one quote, although we may be getting another after our meeting tonight. :) I do think the cost of living is higher here (my bff lives in Indiana and we compare notes sometimes on prices). But still, wow. I was all for getting multiple quotes, but my husband was more inclined to stick w/ one contractor (this is a guy he knows...that's why).

 

so the vinyl plank floor was a pain to install? We are sort of naively optimistic that it wouldn't be too bad, but we are comparing it to installing 1150 sq feet of unfinished wood on our main floor 3 years ago, which we then (hand) sanded ourselves and I (hand) stained myself (while 6 months pregnant). Anything seems better than that, but at the same time....we're kind of *over* DIY projects. But we might not be totally over them!!

 

We do not have much framing at all to do--just a bathroom and mechanical room, plus a small pantry. Our contractor quoted us $1k for replacing the stair treads, but they really don't need to be replaced, so we are forgoing that.

 

Our contractor told my husband on the phone yesterday that we can go through it but he doubts we'll be able to take off more than $10k. If we don't do our built-ins yet, then taking off $10K would get us to $42K or so. That still seems high-ish, but much more reasonable than $67k :) We'll see.............

 

Yikes. We are almost done with our 900 SF finishing job. We still have some electrical and ceilings left. I don't have final costs but it's no where near that. We got two estimates of about 20K. Are you just getting the one estimate?

 

We saved some by doing a little bit of it ourselves--installed the vinyl plank floors and painting. But I also picked some things (like foam board insulation for exterior walls, "green" materials, and on) that added to costs. I still think we'll come out about at the 20,000 point when done.

 

We have a dry walk out basement too. But there were some differences:

 

We're in a low cost of living area compared to you I'm sure (Indiana).

 

Our baths, full and a half, had to be plumbed. They had to break through the concrete to lay the lines so that was an expensive part of the job.

 

We had quite a lot of interior framing/wall work (two living space rooms (family and bedroom), two baths, laundry room, a utility room, three full closets, 9 doors to be framed). So it sounds like we have quite a bit more framing/drywall/trim work in our design. Those closets were pricey as the framing is so involved and the door frame and installs were also not particularly cheap.

 

We did not replace the windows. They did do extensive work to trim them/make them look nice though.

 

The existing stairs were much too steep and poorly designed. The contractor redesigned them for a longer run and replaced with oak. That part was expensive.

 

We did have ducts replaced but did that when we installed a heat pump with the heating/air company. I think the ducts alone were about $3,000. But that was part of a huge heating/air quote with more involved work so maybe it was cheaper than it would have been alone.

 

I remember feeling we saved a lot putting the flooring in ourselves. It was a pain though.

 

[Cera]

Never start a project without multiple quotes. Even if you decide to use the guy your husband knows you will be able to use the other quotes to negotiate price. I live in an expensive area and have had quotes vary by as much as 1/3 the cost of the project when we hire contractors. Often just telling them you need to wait on your other quotes before making a decision will cause them to drop the price or offer to renegotiate.

[threedogfarm]

I'll play devil's advocate here. How much this might increase your property taxes (especially with the extra bathroom)? Do you need this extra space to be completely finished or is it for just extra play space for the kids? One of my friends has her mother-in-law and mom visit for a couple weeks at a time at least twice per year so the fact that her basement is finished with a bedroom, living room and bathroom is ideal. But if you need it for a couple of nights per year or just as a kids' playroom it might not be worth it even if you can get it done for half the price you're being quoted. Besides, if it's a kids' playroom you do not want nice finishes, etc. because kids are notoriously rough on space. If you're planning to use it for a TV room think carefully as to whether you will prefer that space or the one you have in the main part of the house. I would be hesitant about putting a big, expensive TV where the kids play--anything can happen.

 

If it's just for a playroom maybe you could just do minimal finishing that you could do yourself easily and inexpensively over time without raising the taxes. As for heating--we use a Rennai heater that works great for heating up the area quickly. It was inexpensive to buy and have put in. It runs on propane--no duct work necessary.

[dsmith]

We had our basement redone 3 years ago. It had been partially finished in 70's style, so we basically demolished 90% of what was there. We put in one large room plus a smaller room that is separated by an unfinished utility/laundry area, for a total of about 500 sf. This included framing out walls, two doors, drywall, electrical and recessed lighting, drop ceiling, a cool enclosure around some heating pipes to allow heat to seep into the room, redoing some existing shelving and cabinets, carpet and painting supplies. (We painted ourselves.) The total came in at approx. $19000. We weren't sure if our heating solution would be enough to keep the room warm, but it works fairly well. When we are down there on very cold days I run a space heater on low and it is perfect. We would have done the whole basement, but the hot water heater and boiler are in the middle of the basement. There is a roughly finished bathroom that had been redone a year before for under $500. It is completely separate from the main basement rec room and the office. Our supposedly dry basement has had water issues two times now and a plumbing issue once, so next year I hope to replace the carpet with tile in the main room. The smaller office has an elevated floor, so water is not an issue there.

[kwickimom]

Hope you dont mind if I pop in here- For those of you that did most of the basement yourselves-

 

Did you seal the concrete floors and walls before framing or do you know if they were previously sealed? We're looking into doing ours ourselves and I didnt even think about doing that to the walls at first but came across it in my research. The sealer is EXPENSIVE!! My basement is dry and 7 years old, but was never sealed on the inside.

 

TIA!

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

Hope you dont mind if I pop in here- For those of you that did most of the basement yourselves-

 

Did you seal the concrete floors and walls before framing or do you know if they were previously sealed? We're looking into doing ours ourselves and I didnt even think about doing that to the walls at first but came across it in my research. The sealer is EXPENSIVE!! My basement is dry and 7 years old, but was never sealed on the inside.

 

TIA!

 

 

We didn't seal our concrete floor. Framing of wall was done on the unsealed floor. We've lived in this house for 11 years and never had a moisture issue. I don't know anyone who has sealed their floors in my neighborhood.

 

When we installed our Pergo laminate, we used a moisture barrier (thick, plastic sheeting) as recommended by Pergo.

 

We are in Virginia.

 

hth,

K

[pehp]

The tax increase won't be onerous.

 

The space will be library/homeschool room, family room and space for guests (we have family who visit frequently). It needs to be as livable as our main floor because we will be using as true living space--daily! (I will also have a sewing area and my workout area which I use as therapy, ha!) no playrooms in this house...I call those 'bedrooms!!" :)

[DawnM]

We finished a 1,000 sq. ft. basement after moving in to this house. We did 90% of the work ourselves, so the cost was much less than hiring out.

 

Supplies ran about $10,000 for wood to frame in the walls, insulation, drywall, and flooring, etc...

 

We spent another $2,000 for an electrician to run several new electrical hook ups.

 

We do NOT have a bathroom down there.

[pehp]

Thank you for all the responses! I shared some of them with my husband.

 

I have a happy update. We spent 2 hours this evening with our contractor. My clever husband created a spreadsheet he could use to calculate what to cut here or there, etc. It looked like my built-ins were the first thing on the chopping block! Anyhow, when it was all said and done, we were able to whittle the cost down quite a bit while still doing the structural changes my husband wants, replacing all ductwork, and some of the other things he wanted to do 'behind the scenes' AND we will be able to also get built-ins on two walls. Our cabinetmaker will design them so that they are all open shelving for now (more cost effective) but so that in several years we can go back and have him make cabinet doors for some of the fronts (b/c I wanted open bookshelves and cabinets for storage--but open shelving will be just FINE for me for now!). We made some compromises on windows, whittled down a few other areas here and there, my husband will install all closet shelving himself, and I will be painting it all myself (which I don't mind b/c I really enjoy painting), and took out my laundry room cabinets plus a few other things that we deemed less-than-necessary and we've got ourselves a contract. We are right around what our budget was when we began the project so we're pleased--and I'm extra-pleased that I get to keep my two walls of bookcases....my 'library' will exist! yay!

 

I am particularly grateful for my husband....he's so great at details!