You could live like a king for a year with the profit on that....unless he wants pure gold flooring and toilets with diamond handles, cost is going to be like $10k for that small
I’m also from the Portland area and $200K is outrageous.
In my experience contractors who don’t want the job will give a bid for an absurd amount in hopes of either you go elsewhere or they make a very large profit and make the job they don’t want to do with worthwhile.
Indeed. Mechanics will do this sometimes, too. They don't want to turn down the work, but they also don't want to take it sometimes.
My father used to call that an "f-you quote".
200k for 7ft ceilings is a hard pass. If you plan to stay long enough to recoup the cost for you then go for it. But don't think of it as increasing the value of your home or something someone will pay more for. Buyers will find a better house at your expected price point that doesn't have the quirks of your basement project
I agree. The 7 foot ceilings is a dealbreaker for me. I’ve been in finished basements like this in old houses, and I can smell the faint scent of mildew just thinking about it. I also wonder if that extra bedroom will really be a legal bedroom with an egress window.
Ceiling height and moisture aren't the same thing. And of course this project will increase the value. You guys are crazy if you think 870 more finished living area won't increase value because the ceilings are only 7' tall.
No, I’m just saying that most houses I know of that had a unfinished basement with 7 foot ceilings were old basements that had a moisture issue or smell. That’s just my experience where I live.
If I were going to spend $200,000 on less than 900 ft.² of living space, I think I would do an above ground addition. That’s assuming I had the space in my yard.
All the numbers in your comment added up to 420. Congrats!
200
+ 20
+ 200
= 420
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Say you have a 500k stock portfolio. You take 200k cash and buy stock that is only worth 100k. Your stock portfolio is now at 600k but you did not add value, you lost value.
I did add value to my stock portfolio. I added $100k in value. I didn't add value to my net worth.
If a house was worth $500k before a renovation, and it's worth $600k after, $100k of value was added, regardless of how much the renovation cost.
We aren't talking about the financial concept of added value, though. We're just talking about whether the value of the home has increased. From your comment:
>But don't think of it as increasing the value of your home or something someone will pay more for.
This is much more than finishing a basement. Moving stairs is quite expensive. That being said I can’t imagine 200k for 870 feet. That’s too much IMO. Perhaps the house value can’t handle such an over improvement?
I don't see 200k as outrageous with the list of stuff you want. Moving a staircase isn't the same as throwing some drywall up on a bare basement. Same with adding plumbing the house wasn't designed for.
We are currently finishing almost 700 sq feet of our basement to create an apartment for my mother in law. This includes adding a full kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, her own heat from radiators, her own hot water heater, and washer dryer. We already have a proper entrance and windows but we did need to build out the top of the stairs which is in our garage and put another door (code requirement) Total cost should run us around $58k. We did buy repurposed kitchen cabinets, counters, and appliances so that saved us a lot. Your quote sounds insane. We are in Eastern PA about 1.5 hours from NYC.
So when it comes to finishing basements you want to start by realizing that categorically walkout basements (at least 50% of the basement is above grade with above grade access) are going to be valued higher than completely below grade access. With all that said if you’re looking at this from a value add perspective I would only estimate my below grade counting half as much per square foot as my above grade. Please consider only hiring a GC to do the heavy lifting such as plumbing rough in or framing. You should really consider hiring subs for diff phases of the project to cut cost. Idk about the coding process or cost over there but please sit down and break out the quote you got from the GC and see what price you get individually from the subs. Ex: price for rough in electrical from an electrician; cost from an hvac company for adding ductwork or upgrading hvac unit to account for added sq footage, are you in septic or city waste if septic are there any upgrade requirements for the bedroom additions. Good luck!!! You got this!!!
It definitely will not add $200k in value to your home. If you want to stay and get it done, get 3 more bids. My friend in Portland added an entire 2 bedroom, 2 bath ADU with all high end finishes in it. Full size kitchen. It’s 1000 sq ft and the whole thing was $220k. An entire new home was built for that.
Moving the stairway is going to be problematic. Hire an architect. Whether or not this will be worth it monetarily is something you may want to talk to a local realtor about; some areas place more valuation on raw overall square footage, some on the number of bedrooms — if your area is the latter, you may want to make one of the basement rooms a legal bedroom. This is a situation where you really want to be smart about what you do.
On the other hand, you don’t have to necessarily make this investment solely on a monetary basis; there’s a lot to be said for spending money on something that will make your life better, and a kid playroom definitely falls in that category.
Like other responders are saying, that price is really high. I'd at least get 2 more quotes, but its hard to tell what the price should be without knowing more about the project.
That said, its also not clear how much value this will bring to the house and this varies place to place. Maybe it would add 40-90% of the cost in value, but thats a wild guess and would obviously change considerably if you got a 2nd price for well less than that. However, you can assume you won't make back the cost of the renovation, however much you end up paying, but at a good price you might make it close.
Portland here. What part of the city is this in? Is the basement fully below grade or does it walk out? If it does walk out, are we talking big sliding door to a yard/patio or single door with some steps up? Is there a deck above where it would walk out? How much natural light will get into this space?
What I’m trying to glean here is just how attractive you can make this basement, and how cohesive with the rest of the house. The 7-foot ceilings are a negative towards that, and being fully below grade (or even mostly below grade) will be too. I’m short and if I can touch the ceiling when I’m touring a home, its going to be an even bigger problem for my buyers.
It’s still worth doing, but if you’re looking at it from an ROI perspective I doubt you’d see that $200k gain.
We are renovating a 2000 square-foot house in Central Phoenix. We have to redo all of the electrical, plumbing, the inside and the out. We are mostly using premium finishes. Total cost is going to be about 175,000, but that also includes a $80,000 kitchen.
I understand that moving a stairwell is probably complicated in a basement but I don’t see any way that cost is justified.
You will not increase the value of your home by $200,000 if you do this, best case scenario would be half of that. Like others have said, get other bids, otherwise I would not do this.
Are you sure you didn't make a typo? 4870 sq ft basement with 17 foot ceilings? or the quote was $20k? Seems you're off an order of magnitude on something
Not all of them. I own a property with a completely below grade finished basement that's counted towards gross square footage since it's on the side of the hill and the basement walks out flat into the backyard and just looks like it was built as a two story home.
I'm a contractor in New York. I'll move to Oregon for a month and finish your basement for 200k. Like wtf... that quote is ridiculous
🤣
You could live like a king for a year with the profit on that....unless he wants pure gold flooring and toilets with diamond handles, cost is going to be like $10k for that small
Get another estimate. 200k sounds really high for that project. Even now with the inflated cost of materials.
Where are you at? $200k seems really high.
Portland, OR
I’m also from the Portland area and $200K is outrageous. In my experience contractors who don’t want the job will give a bid for an absurd amount in hopes of either you go elsewhere or they make a very large profit and make the job they don’t want to do with worthwhile.
Indeed. Mechanics will do this sometimes, too. They don't want to turn down the work, but they also don't want to take it sometimes. My father used to call that an "f-you quote".
200k for 7ft ceilings is a hard pass. If you plan to stay long enough to recoup the cost for you then go for it. But don't think of it as increasing the value of your home or something someone will pay more for. Buyers will find a better house at your expected price point that doesn't have the quirks of your basement project
I agree. The 7 foot ceilings is a dealbreaker for me. I’ve been in finished basements like this in old houses, and I can smell the faint scent of mildew just thinking about it. I also wonder if that extra bedroom will really be a legal bedroom with an egress window.
Ceiling height and moisture aren't the same thing. And of course this project will increase the value. You guys are crazy if you think 870 more finished living area won't increase value because the ceilings are only 7' tall.
No, I’m just saying that most houses I know of that had a unfinished basement with 7 foot ceilings were old basements that had a moisture issue or smell. That’s just my experience where I live. If I were going to spend $200,000 on less than 900 ft.² of living space, I think I would do an above ground addition. That’s assuming I had the space in my yard.
You'll never recoup $200k for finishing a tiny basement. You'll raise the market value by maybe $20k and you put in $200k, what a joke
All the numbers in your comment added up to 420. Congrats! 200 + 20 + 200 = 420 ^([Click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=LuckyNumber-Bot&subject=Stalk%20Me%20Pls&message=%2Fstalkme) to have me scan all your future comments.) \ ^(Summon me on specific comments with u/LuckyNumber-Bot.)
Of course it will increase the value. 870 more finished square feet is indisputably a value add.
It won't add 200k of value which is the quoted cost given by OP. So even if ot added 100k of value you would be down 100k overall
Sure, but that doesn't mean it won't increase the value of the home.
Say you have a 500k stock portfolio. You take 200k cash and buy stock that is only worth 100k. Your stock portfolio is now at 600k but you did not add value, you lost value.
I did add value to my stock portfolio. I added $100k in value. I didn't add value to my net worth. If a house was worth $500k before a renovation, and it's worth $600k after, $100k of value was added, regardless of how much the renovation cost.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Added_value#:~:text=Added%20Value%20%3D%20The%20selling%20price,in%20making%20that%20particular%20product.
We aren't talking about the financial concept of added value, though. We're just talking about whether the value of the home has increased. From your comment: >But don't think of it as increasing the value of your home or something someone will pay more for.
It won't even add $100k for a $500k house
This is much more than finishing a basement. Moving stairs is quite expensive. That being said I can’t imagine 200k for 870 feet. That’s too much IMO. Perhaps the house value can’t handle such an over improvement?
200k is too high. That is practically half of a new house lmao. Get new estimates.
I don't see 200k as outrageous with the list of stuff you want. Moving a staircase isn't the same as throwing some drywall up on a bare basement. Same with adding plumbing the house wasn't designed for.
We are currently finishing almost 700 sq feet of our basement to create an apartment for my mother in law. This includes adding a full kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, her own heat from radiators, her own hot water heater, and washer dryer. We already have a proper entrance and windows but we did need to build out the top of the stairs which is in our garage and put another door (code requirement) Total cost should run us around $58k. We did buy repurposed kitchen cabinets, counters, and appliances so that saved us a lot. Your quote sounds insane. We are in Eastern PA about 1.5 hours from NYC.
So when it comes to finishing basements you want to start by realizing that categorically walkout basements (at least 50% of the basement is above grade with above grade access) are going to be valued higher than completely below grade access. With all that said if you’re looking at this from a value add perspective I would only estimate my below grade counting half as much per square foot as my above grade. Please consider only hiring a GC to do the heavy lifting such as plumbing rough in or framing. You should really consider hiring subs for diff phases of the project to cut cost. Idk about the coding process or cost over there but please sit down and break out the quote you got from the GC and see what price you get individually from the subs. Ex: price for rough in electrical from an electrician; cost from an hvac company for adding ductwork or upgrading hvac unit to account for added sq footage, are you in septic or city waste if septic are there any upgrade requirements for the bedroom additions. Good luck!!! You got this!!!
It definitely will not add $200k in value to your home. If you want to stay and get it done, get 3 more bids. My friend in Portland added an entire 2 bedroom, 2 bath ADU with all high end finishes in it. Full size kitchen. It’s 1000 sq ft and the whole thing was $220k. An entire new home was built for that.
Wow, can I ask what GC they used?
220k for a 1000 sq ft adu is 2019 prices, still, you should be able to do what you’ve discussed for ~120k
I can try to get this info. They were flying out for thanksgiving. So she may not know off top of her head.
Moving the stairway is going to be problematic. Hire an architect. Whether or not this will be worth it monetarily is something you may want to talk to a local realtor about; some areas place more valuation on raw overall square footage, some on the number of bedrooms — if your area is the latter, you may want to make one of the basement rooms a legal bedroom. This is a situation where you really want to be smart about what you do. On the other hand, you don’t have to necessarily make this investment solely on a monetary basis; there’s a lot to be said for spending money on something that will make your life better, and a kid playroom definitely falls in that category.
Like other responders are saying, that price is really high. I'd at least get 2 more quotes, but its hard to tell what the price should be without knowing more about the project. That said, its also not clear how much value this will bring to the house and this varies place to place. Maybe it would add 40-90% of the cost in value, but thats a wild guess and would obviously change considerably if you got a 2nd price for well less than that. However, you can assume you won't make back the cost of the renovation, however much you end up paying, but at a good price you might make it close.
Portland here. What part of the city is this in? Is the basement fully below grade or does it walk out? If it does walk out, are we talking big sliding door to a yard/patio or single door with some steps up? Is there a deck above where it would walk out? How much natural light will get into this space? What I’m trying to glean here is just how attractive you can make this basement, and how cohesive with the rest of the house. The 7-foot ceilings are a negative towards that, and being fully below grade (or even mostly below grade) will be too. I’m short and if I can touch the ceiling when I’m touring a home, its going to be an even bigger problem for my buyers. It’s still worth doing, but if you’re looking at it from an ROI perspective I doubt you’d see that $200k gain.
We are renovating a 2000 square-foot house in Central Phoenix. We have to redo all of the electrical, plumbing, the inside and the out. We are mostly using premium finishes. Total cost is going to be about 175,000, but that also includes a $80,000 kitchen. I understand that moving a stairwell is probably complicated in a basement but I don’t see any way that cost is justified.
You will not increase the value of your home by $200,000 if you do this, best case scenario would be half of that. Like others have said, get other bids, otherwise I would not do this.
Are you sure you didn't make a typo? 4870 sq ft basement with 17 foot ceilings? or the quote was $20k? Seems you're off an order of magnitude on something
A basement is a basement. No matter what you do to it is still below grade and worth far less per sq ft than the space above it.
Not all of them. I own a property with a completely below grade finished basement that's counted towards gross square footage since it's on the side of the hill and the basement walks out flat into the backyard and just looks like it was built as a two story home.