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
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