Basement Development Quote question

[Northendzone]

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

[V]

Holy crap, this thread scares the crap outta me!!

I have a 1750 sq. ft unfinished basement, so I guess I'm going the DIY / slave (family) labour. I can't believe some of the numbers that are being thrown around in this thread. It sounds like I could be getting quotes of 75k!

One thing I was wondering, is there a cheap / free CAD program I can find so that I can draw up a plan for the basement?

[Antithesis]

I don't know if this is what you are looking for but these IKEA planners may be able to help you with what you need, though it doesn't look like it is an exact fit:

http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_GB/rooms_i...hplanners.html

[JohnnyB]

Originally Posted by V

Holy crap, this thread scares the crap outta me!!

I have a 1750 sq. ft unfinished basement, so I guess I'm going the DIY / slave (family) labour. I can't believe some of the numbers that are being thrown around in this thread. It sounds like I could be getting quotes of 75k!

One thing I was wondering, is there a cheap / free CAD program I can find so that I can draw up a plan for the basement?

Google Sketchup is free and user friendly. May work for you.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by V

Holy crap, this thread scares the crap outta me!!

I have a 1750 sq. ft unfinished basement, so I guess I'm going the DIY / slave (family) labour. I can't believe some of the numbers that are being thrown around in this thread. It sounds like I could be getting quotes of 75k!

One thing I was wondering, is there a cheap / free CAD program I can find so that I can draw up a plan for the basement?

Holy crap that's huge.

[Antithesis]

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[Northendzone]

Originally Posted by V

I have a 1750 sq. ft unfinished basement, so I guess I'm going the DIY / slave (family) labour. I can't believe some of the numbers that are being thrown around in this thread. It sounds like I could be getting quotes of 75k!

it is very easily possible - it just depends on what do you wan't - a square room vs something with a wet bar and a soaker tub......

as mentioned about - holy crap a 1750 sq ft basement is massive - my entire house is is a little over 1800.

[gildo]

Thanks everyone, I am not very handy so the great tips about doing yourself are out of the question...my wife will not let the kids go in the basement if I do it! Anyways to be honest with you the quote we got for $23,000 ish was from Basements R Us, they do things like when your building a home they let you make selections from a selected list and if you want to "upgrade" you can, we have got another quote for $48,000 and a few others others.

[stampsx2]

^^^ Maybe also check Plan it Builders. I don't know how expensive they are but I hear their advertisements all the time. They seem like a reasonable company.

[Sliver]

What should a new bathroom cost to have somebody do for me? I want to gut the basement bathroom we have, put in a shower/tub combo, new vanity and toilet, as well as heated tile floor. I had a guy ballpark me $19,000 which seems outrageous.

[zarrell]

Originally Posted by stampsx2

^^^ Maybe also check Plan it Builders. I don't know how expensive they are but I hear their advertisements all the time. They seem like a reasonable company.

Lol. I'm in the industry and admittedly don't know much about this particular business, but I do know that someone is paying for that advertising. And it's the customer. Bigger and more well known almost certainly means more expensive and crappier quality.

[Flames_Gimp]

Originally Posted by Sliver

What should a new bathroom cost to have somebody do for me? I want to gut the basement bathroom we have, put in a shower/tub combo, new vanity and toilet, as well as heated tile floor. I had a guy ballpark me $19,000 which seems outrageous.

i had a quote for 12000$ for a bathroom. 19 seems high

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Sliver

What should a new bathroom cost to have somebody do for me? I want to gut the basement bathroom we have, put in a shower/tub combo, new vanity and toilet, as well as heated tile floor. I had a guy ballpark me $19,000 which seems outrageous.

Depends what finishings you want in a bathroom. You could spend easily spend 5-10k on materials alone. The 19k quote doesn't sound unreasonable if it is a walk in tile shower with tile on the walls and floors and a jetted tub. If it is a fiberglass one piece tower/tub with painted walls and vinyl floor that seems very high.

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by gildo

Thanks everyone, I am not very handy so the great tips about doing yourself are out of the question...my wife will not let the kids go in the basement if I do it! Anyways to be honest with you the quote we got for $23,000 ish was from Basements R Us, they do things like when your building a home they let you make selections from a selected list and if you want to "upgrade" you can, we have got another quote for $48,000 and a few others others.

Perfect.

[Rossmacdonald]

If you are comparing quotes and costs, make sure you have detailed quotes. That way you can compare apples to apples.

Also, ask your contractors what is not included in quote. There are always details not decided upon till the last stages...that's why many renos always go over budget. For a small basement, while hiring a contractor quotes between $20-30K would be in the ballpark. The specifics of what you put into the job effect the price.

I am a local Calgary contractor. We do lots of basements. I just finished one start to finish for $24,000. Customers were thrilled. Completed in 5 weeks. If you are looking to simply get it done quick, and in the most cost effective way, call me for a quote, and I will show you all the corners to cut and the ones not to cut so you can do the job properly. Quotes are free!

www.macdonaldcontracting.ca
403.399.0459

[bomber317]

Originally Posted by stampsx2

^^^ Maybe also check Plan it Builders. I don't know how expensive they are but I hear their advertisements all the time. They seem like a reasonable company.

I gave Plan-it Builders a call a few months ago and they were pretty pricey.

I'm looking at building a new home and wanted to know the difference between the builder's charge and an outside contractor price. Apparently Plan-it builders do a lot of basements for builders and asked me who I was building with to make sure it is not one of theirs.

I told them it was possibly Cedarglen and they said they don't do work for them but won't be able to beat their price.....

I gave Tony Williams contracting a call and they quoted me a price that was about 10k cheaper, but not a detailed quote, so as mentioned above, could overrun the price.

Was just looking at a basic, 1 bed, 1 bath floorplan with a large open space, so nothing fancy.

[SeoulFire]

Thanks all for the input in this thread - I am in the same boat and am looking to do my basement in the near future. As with many it will be a simple design - 1 room and 1 bathroom with an open recreation area that is already planned (sports viewing, billiards, darts and bar).

I enjoy doing the work and am in no hurry - which is good because I do not want to drop 20k+ at this moment in time.