i live in new brighton as well and our basement development was ~$15,000.
right now 2/3rds of the basemnt is developed (one room + bathroom) - i also drywalled the entire perimeter of the basement with some closets in the back - i did most of it myself - although we did farm out the mudding & taping, painting and carpeting. the project took me almost a year start to finish. we did a suspended ceiling with roxul.
generally speaking the formula to develop a basement is 1/3 materials 2/3 labour - to me quotes of $35,000 or more are not unreasonable. the op's quote of $23,00 seems very reasonable
if you decide to take on this job yourslef, my thoughts are as follows:
- get a home depot credit card - it makes it easy to go and get stuff, and even easier to return as they can scan the item and find it on your account
- if you are uncomfortable with electric get a book - hd has a pretty good one
- if you are going to pull a permit you will get framing, plumbing and electircal inspections (i did not know about teh framing one and was fortunate that the guy did not aks me to take down a bunch of drywall)
- i like the flexibility of a suspended ceiling - but will concede that a nicely stippled drywall looks much better
- draw your plan out on the floor - you will likely need to drop some heat and cold air vents/returns
- consider a sub-floor. our basement is cool - but i like it - keeps the wife away.....
- as mentioned above think about your home theater needs/wants and plan accordingly
- it is easier and cheaper to use full sheets of drywall instead of little pieces that need extra mudding and taping
- buy some better than average tools to do the job
that is about all i cna think of for now
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