Typical Cost to Finish a Basement???

[Pazil]

You will always find a big difference in price between having a homebuilder complete the basement at the time of development and having a renovator complete your basement after possession.

The builder will ALWAYS maintain a certain margin on a home.... and it is cheaper for them to have the same trades people who are already there work on the basement.

A renovator will always charge more. More often than not this amount will be close to 1.5 - 2x what the builder charges. As you can imagine the builder is buying the materials cheaper, the labour will be cheaper (guys and tools are already there). Additional permits must also be pulled (electrical, plumbing, and development).

If you can swing it I would always have the builder complete this for you. As stated above not only will it save you money but it will also be covered under thier warranty.

As for people developing thier basements for $5K themselves... Not sure what is being used or where they are getting thier materials but speaking as someone who owns a renovation company I really can not see this being realistic. I completed 7 basements last year and the average cost for a modest basement development is just over $16/sqft. including a bthroom. This figure does not account for wages, insurances, permits, workers comp, profit, overhead..... etc.... etc... etc... Most of the time the flooring ( tille and carpet and install) will just pop that $5k buget alone.

Cheers and I hope this helps,

Lawrence

[Pazil]

Originally Posted by Pazil

I completed 7 basements last year and the average cost for a modest basement development is just over $16/sqft. including a bathroom. This figure does not account for wages, insurances, permits, workers comp, profit, overhead..... etc.... etc... etc...

Material costs ONLY...


Cheers
Lawrence

[VFX]

Originally Posted by Pazil

Material costs ONLY...


Cheers
Lawrence

So total costs would be roughly $16 + ($16*1.5) = $40/SqFt ?

Roughly $4000/ 100 Sq Ft?

Approx. $32,000 for a 800 Sq Ft basement?

I guess getting the developer to do it is definitely way cheaper.

.

[toxic111]

No I am not an interior designer, but a Building Technologist, and have been designing Residential & commercial buildings for over 12 years. I have experience with colours and finishes. I also work with 2 interior design techs in my office (very good ones I may add)

[RobynR]

I did not read the entire thread but I run the office of a builder/real estate developer and we do a lot of basement suites (while we are building homes), we are usually in the mid range of your quotes. As far as the size of business we are; we build about 10 - 15 homes a year. Our staff is about 10 people and no one on our staff drives Hummers

One thing to remember though, is that a contractor that is fully insured (liablility & WCB), has staff on payroll (not subcontractors), and is up to date with a warranty company will have a higher overhead and will need to charge more to have any kind of profit margin. I think that most developers are looking to make about 10 - 15% profit, but also add a 10% contingency to esitmates as well, in case anything goes wrong.

Lately we have been working with homeowners on a cost plus basis and are saving them money (usually at least the 10% contingency). This might be something for you to look into, just make sure that if you go that route, you agree upon the wages you will be paying the developer and his staff (ask for the developer to supply their timesheets when they invoice you), and that they supply you with copies of all invoices pertaining to the basement suite. Full disclosure is really important in a cost plus contract to make sure bills are not being padded before being passed on to you.

If you cannot legally install a kitchen in your suite, and your contractor does, it most likely will not be covered by your contractor's warranty company and you would be dependent on your contractor's good will if anything goes wrong down the road.

HTH R

[yeeg]

I paid a $56k for about 920 liveable space...

[lastlight]

I can't recall exactly what size my basement is but I believe it's 1000 sq ft. It wasn't anything fancy. Small bathroom with toilet and pedestal sink, (3) 4-bulb t12 fixtures, Dricore floor, drywall, paint, cheap baseboards, t-bar ceiling and cheapest vinyl stick-on tiles I could find. It's all dayhome space so repairability and cleanup were factors.

Cost me maybe $4500 for the materials. I worked for free and extremely quickly. Wife cracked a hella mean whip for a few weeks there.