Basement built thread. Getting city permit with my awesome drawing :-)
 

Here is what i want for my basement
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=5204 The total living area is 1038 sqft. without the furnace room

and anyone know a good contractor and what is the average price per sqt full finish including subfloor with carpet/laminate floor?


Getting a quote 24K without fixture and flooring.


Try to save some money so i can put it in the fish tank lol

pm sent

When I started my basement build I asked around and got quotes anywhere from $30/sqft to $60/sqft. I ended up doing all the work myself. The downside is time. If you're your own contractor you can't get mad if it takes too long to finish. :lol:

Thats a big price tag!!! I am so glad that I am able to do everything myself, it takes a little longer but I save a ton of cash.

want to do mine? lol :-)

I can do it but afraid i will screw it up just like how i did to my old house. Don't want it to happen again

Hah, if you're OK that I come and do the work between midnight and 4am, sure ! :lol:

You'd be amazed what your family can learn to sleep through.


I hear you. You can certainly save a lot and in all fairness some of it is actually kind of fun. I sort of see it both ways: I understand why it costs a lot, but on the other hand .. it costs a lot! :lol:

Opportunity cost. Sure you can save a lot of money by doing it yourself, but getting someone else to do will also free you up to do other things, like spend time with your family, sit around and admire your tank (or curse your tank).

Not everyone can afford to burn that kind of money on a reno, but not everyone can burn those kinds of hours spent on a reno either.

At any rate, perhaps look into the middle of the road options as well. That is, instead of getting one person (or company) to do the whole thing, break it down into parts or smaller projects like, framing, drywelling/mudding/taping, electrical, etc, and maybe do the smaller easier projects yourself while hiring someone else to do the bigger "projects".

Of course, if you can afford to have someone come in and do the entire thing you mind as well :lol:

OMG, you remind me of economic 101 all over again. Does breaking down will be cheaper than one person do it all?

is that a good or a bad thing? :lol:

The nice thing about hiring someone over doing it yourself is that it actually gets finished. My bf owns a home building company, knows how to do a basement and started ours....5 years ago....still not finished. Last thing he wants to do after 12-15 hour days. The hard part is he doesn't want to pay someone to finish it either....even though it seriously should only take a couple of weekends to wrap up. We've brought in electricians and plumbers, he did the drywalling himself and it looks like it...if you can do some yourself, great, get the family to help.

I doubt it, but it would have the benefit of spreading the cost out somewhat rather than a lump sum.

The last few times I renovated (two basements and a total kitchen reno) it was cheaper for me to part it out. I think it all boils down to who you contact and what contractors you hire. Some of them will try to do the whole thing themselves which may be a good or a bad thing I dunno. Some of them will part out and if they part out they will either give you the cost of the sub-contracted labour or mark it up to make a few bucks out of it themselves.

I guess you won't really know unless you add up all the numbers.

got any good contact for me? So to break it down, here is what i need?


1) framing + dry wall guy

2) plumber

3) electrician

4) muding / taping

5) painting

6) flooring guy

Does this sounds right?

Insulation. Duct work if you have a furnace/forced air.

My dad is a contractor and him and I used to do a lot of jobs. I would give you his contact but he's really busy these days and typically doesn't like to work in Airdrie :lol: sorry.

Your list looks right, minus a lot of the details, like doors, trim, etc.. I would agree with Tony in that it probably wouldn't be cost effective if you hire individual contractors to do ALL the projects. However, if you can say, do the framing, flooring and painting yourself, then you stand to save a lot of money by just hiring a mudder and taper, an electrician and plumber, etc.

Need a finisher (trims, hanging doors)

& that would just about cover it.

24K without flooring is probably very close if you get someone to take care of everything. You might be 5K less if you act as your own general contractor.

I did my entire basement myself for under 15K (closer to 10K I think, never added the $$ up) It took me 3 years to do though. But my bacground is construction/design, the only thing I didn't do myself is electrcial (friend is an journyman) & the drywall. Oh, carpet in 2 bedrooms & floor tile in the bathroom was hired out. I did everything else, including a tiled shower.

Being your own general contractor is not that difficult, but you will need some time to follow up on subs.

HVAC too, depending on how the duct work is to begin with.

Hmm, last time i checked my house address, it is in Calgary and property tax mailed to be is by City of Calgary so not sure why you keep saying i live in Airdrie so maybe he will give me an estimate?

hehe, i'm just kidding (sort of), but he doesn't like driving north to work. He has enough jobs in the south to keep him busy so he typically doesn't take any jobs up north, sorry :(

where's the fish tank?

right beside the wet bar

And the kicker is, or at least that is what my real estate agent tells me. If you sell your house you really only get 10-15k depending on whether you have a bathroom or not. Pretty much a break even prospect if you do it yourself and a loss if you hire someone.

He told me not to bother to develop my basement if I was going to sell soon.

I would try to do what you can yourself. There is also the permit issue you will have to deal with.

i hope not to impose but i took liberty to change your floor plan in what i would do if it was me and i had that floor plan. first id do majority work mysef save for plumbing and electrical. although i think a curved br in middle would look really cool infront of the fish tank running the plumbing under the false floor would work ok but hey you get a 10' tank this way and fish room
http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/a...loorplan-1.jpg

The posted plan was my old plan so i welcome any suggestions. My current plan has the fish tank the same spot as you. To move the bathroom out a little bit can be a pain because all the plumbing is already rough in. But yeah any better design or suggestion is welcome

Cheers

Realistically you can most of that yourself, anyone can really. Everything you need to know is on the web.

First get your permits.

Next framing, this is the easiest and quickest part. Keep your hallways 36" or wider, frame the doors properly (2" wider than door size or you purchase pocket door kits and they go in with framing), 32" door for the furnace room and that's pretty much it. Get it inspected and if you pass then you know you did it right.

Electrical next, honestly scares people but it's super basic stuff. Again it will be inspected so any problems will be pointed out and you can fix them.

Plumbing next, use all pex fittings to avoid soldering. You can pressure test lines if you're worried about leaks and again inspection will be required. I see no shower so that's easy but check your rough in positions and DO NOT be afraid to break up your concrete, it's not only easy but lots of fun.

Next hang your drywall. Pretty easy as well if you have someone to help you. Measure your walls and plan to hang the boards horizontal, for example if one wall is 12 feet long order 2 12ft sheets for it. There is a glue you can use to stick the drywall to the framing which means less screws which is good. Planning for a flat ceiling is cheapest, you put ceiling drywall up first, princess auto sells a lift that works fine and will make your life much easier.
You can order drywall from Alberta Drywall exactly how you need it online, they deliver right into your basement for $75!

Higher a mud and tape guy, don't do this yourself. I know a guy, super cheap and really good, shoot me a PM when you're ready.

Doors usually go in next, prehung doors are only $100 a piece and go in easy. Make sure you plan ahead with left or right hinge to match where your light switch is and when you do the framing make sure one side of the door frame is perfectly level so you can just screw your doors up to that side and then shim the other side.

To get to this point I'd estimate under $8000.

After that it's all finishing stuff which is where some expertise and experience is needed for things like flooring and cabinetry but casings and baseboards are simple things.

I agree for the most part here as I did drywall and taping for 6 years, the only pain can be getting 12' sheets into a basement a lot of the time, unless you can get them down your stairs or through a window. If you use glue, make sure its only the interior walls, dont use it on the exterior walls that are on the foundation. IMO in a basement, its nice to have the drywalled ceiling, however, its always to have access to your pluming via panels in the ceiling or just a straight t-bar ceiling. If i live done in calgary still, I would be more then happy to do your taping and what not for you. but thats not going to happen as I'm 2 1/2 hours away! Keep us posted, feel free to ask me any questions about the taping and what not, anything from insulation, to paint is my general area of expertise. its what I went to school for, before I went to school for business and sales lol:lol:

I know someone that can get the whole shebang done mang:wink:......lemme know if you want me to put you in touch with him....

I did most of my basement 2 years ago cost me 10,000 for the main living area, hallway landing area, bedroom and the stairs. I did all the work myself except the taping and carpet, taping was 1,000 and carpet was about 4500.
I learned to shop around, found several places to buy things at much better deals than HD.
Too bad your in Calgary I know a pretty good electrician here in Edmonton, lol.

Wow, lots of information to chew on. I guess my first step will draw it out and get city permit and call around to get all quotes together. More money i save, more money i can put toward the tank i guess.

There is a full bath if you look at my sketch :-) not look rookie. Also it is walk out basement and the contractor told me that it must have reforce bar steel so it can be lots of work to move things around.

Hmm, now there is motivation to get it done myself lol


Thanks for everyone inputs and keep it coming

Sorry I was looking at the sketch with a fish room. Either way a shower isn't hard. Is it all roughed in? Pee trap installed already for the shower?

I'm not sure about the reinforced steel, my basement is walk out and that wasn't the the case with me. On the plus side walk outs are perfect for getting large sheet of drywall in :biggrin:

My basement is in the works as well, at the stage drywall is all done and primed. I have record of all the expenses if you're interested I can post more details.

Well I think I'll just post some details anyway.

This before anything happened....
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...e/DSC_6460.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...e/DSC_6461.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...e/DSC_6462.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...e/DSC_6463.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...e/DSC_6464.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...e/DSC_6465.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...e/DSC_6466.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...e/DSC_6467.jpg

Here's the plan, basement is about 1400sqft, Carpet was only put in the two bedrooms and the shower is not really as shown.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...s/Basement.jpg

Here's the expenses to date, should give you a good idea. It's kind of unorganized as we just entered receipts as we got them so to find totals for framing, electrical or whatever a little math is needed:

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...texpenses1.jpg

Certain things can save you money like we spend quite a bit on the shower, I think around $2800 so far, and underfloor heating can be expensive as well. Anything you see on there with a description being totem, lowes or whatever you can probably omit as something critical.

And here's some more recent pics.

Fish room is in the bar pantry:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1..._01_2012_1.jpg

The bar area, note we're doing suspended ceilings most places, if I can find the right stuff.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1..._01_2012_2.jpg

Hallway to bedrooms:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1..._01_2012_3.jpg

Living/game area or whatever you want to call it:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1..._01_2012_4.jpg

Spare room 1, not done yet.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1..._01_2012_5.jpg

Spare room 2, almost done, just baseboards.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1..._01_2012_6.jpg

And this my bathroom/shower, actually just about done now.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1..._01_2012_7.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1..._01_2012_8.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1..._01_2012_9.jpg

Hopefully that helps a little. Honestly I'm no expert, before we bought this house I had next to no experience with any of this, majority of it was first time but it's not rocket science, if I can do it, anyone can.

You guys and your walkouts! To get 12 footers into the basement is a godsend!

I think you could do a lot of the work yourself. At the very least dricore, putting the drywall up and painting are easy as pie.

If you suck at taping don't do it! It will take you forever and you can't undo how crappy that looks later.

yeah, everything is rough in that is why i hesitate to move things around
Well there is no way i can find this out unless start digging, hmmm

But here is what i have for my latest floor plan


http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=5227

I don't really like the bedroom, that space between the bed and closet appears to be pretty awkward.

Is it possible to use the space under the stairs as a closet, move the bedding area where the closet is now and use the rest of it for a nice desk?

And 14 footers :mrgreen:

Initially, i plan to put the bed where the closet is now but there is no window in that area so it will be dark. The only window it has right now is right above where the bed is now.


you just remind me that i am missing a fireplace lol, hmm now where can i put that

wish i have space to fits that long tank. Can you even get a glass tank that long?