Buying A Home
ChiaWombat
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Building House -- Finish the Basement?
Hello all!
My fiance and I are looking at building a house right now and met with the builder tonight. We're up in the air about the basement -- they have a package where they will finish the basement (including a bathroom) for 8500.
Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? Is it better to have them do it and have it included with the rest of the home warranty/mortgage or is it better to do it with an independent contractor after the fact?
I appreciate your help!
TTC since 2.2012
BFP 1: 7.18.12 Chem Preg: 7.25.12
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All AL always welcome!
BFP 1: 7.18.12 Chem Preg: 7.25.12
BFP 2: 12.1.12 Chem Preg: 12.17.12
All AL always welcome!
Re: Building House -- Finish the Basement?
If you know you want to finish the basement, you might as well do it now with your builder. I'm of the opinion that the fewer contractors I have to coordinate, the better. Also, once your new home is done, you're not going to want to turn right around and make it a construction zone again by getting a different contractor in to finish the basement, you know? I think $8500 sounds like a good price for a basement finish that includes a bathroom, but of course it all depends on the size of the basement, where you live, the type of materials used, etc. You could get estimates from a couple other contractors in your area just to be sure.
On the other hand, if you wouldn't use the basement for awhile or if you're still unsure if you want to finish it, I would hold off. You can always find someone to finish it later. But if it were me, I'd probably pay the $8500 and get it done now so I didn't have to worry about it in the future.
We are not getting ours finished, only because DH wants a project that he can work on later. We did have the builder rough in plumbing for a bathroom, because we didn't want to cut into the floor later.
If you're not going to do it yourself and will have to hire someone later, I would just have your builder finish it.
I think 8500 is an outstanding price to finish the basement, including a bathroom. I would say to go for it.
We are building a house right now, and it would've cost us at least $25K extra to finish the basement with a bathroom. We want a finished basement, but we didn't want to add another $25K right now on the final price of the house. We'll wait at least 5 years before we can look into it again...when we're finished paying for daycare!
Our builder does provide the rough-in in the basement at least, so we'll be good with that in the future.
This. Ours was about $30,000.
We're building right now and choose to not finish the basement ($30k). 1. We don't need the space right now 2. we didn't want to wrap another $30k into our mortgage.
$8,500 seems crazy cheap...are you sure that includes everything?
I would have the builder do it absolutely!
Ours (about 900 sf) cost $18,000 through the builder. It included a rec room/family room, full bathroom and bedroom with walk-in closet.
We got outside quotes to do it after we built and was quoted $35,000 on the low end to $65,000 on the high end.
I like that it's finished to the same quality as the rest of our home, and has egress windows so the area is counted in our total square feet. We use it often. H's media room is down there and our home office is in the basement bedroom. I believe we would have regretted it if we hadn't had the builder finish it; would have been a long time before we could afford to do it on our own.
We had the builder install extra recessed lighting so it is bright and doesn't feel "basementy" even though it's not a look-out or walk-out.
We're in a similar position and assuming it could be a walkout that could realistically be a usable space, we'd certainly get it finished upfront.
Also depending on the town you live in, you may need to get approval if you want to finish the basement later. The town we've been looking at is super strict and we'd need approval to finish a basement and also approval (and an extra septic inspection and possible upgrade) to add a bathroom.
My Valentine Bookends (2~13~13, 2~15~09)
8500 sounds like too good to be true honestly. We spent 25K on our previous new construction home to finish the basement WITHOUT a bathroom.
IN the home we are building now there was a consideration of having the full bathroom jack/jill style with the bedrooms in our lower level PLUS an additional small bathroom with shower stall (for use after pool).
That small bathroom with shower would have cost us like 5K. We decided not to do it because we wouldn't get anything on appraisal and just re-arranged the shared bath.
Anyway - if this builder is really quality and you will use that space - at that price, go for it.
I'm with all the PPs that think that $8500 is super cheap for a finished basement with a bathroom. I'm not sure what the total SF is of your home, but if you'll be able to use the extra space and you can afford the upgrade, IMO, it's a good one to add on. Finishing a basement as a DIY job is really time consuming and I would be surprised if you could get it finished for that price AFTER the home is done.
I think a finished basement on our new build was a $30K upgrade and since 1. we don't need the extra space and 2. we don't want the extra SF added to our tax assessment, we decided against it.
Thank you all so much for the advice on the basement. Sounds like independent contractors are definitely pricier (makes sense, I suppose -- these guys are already working on the house so it's just an extra few days' work).
Our contractor leave a couple "storage areas" unfinished in the basement, so the finished square footage is 640 square feet (square footage not including the bathroom... not actually sure how big that is [note to self: look into that]).We actually think we could potentially finish one of those storage areas into an extra bedroom if need be down the road, but the main space is daunting.
There is a $900 plumbing rough-in fee, but I didn't include that in my original post because we were going to do that regardless (the gent and I are terrified of plumbing).
They had an offer for a deeper pour that would give it 9' ceilings down there, but that was an additional 8k and we're opting not to go with that. Normal depth is a-okay with us.
Again thank you for all of your help, we're so new to this and we're afraid to make mistakes.
BFP 1: 7.18.12 Chem Preg: 7.25.12
BFP 2: 12.1.12 Chem Preg: 12.17.12
All AL always welcome!
Go for it. Ours was about $17k including the bathroom and added ~750 sq ft of living space.
The only things I'd do differently: no carpet or wood floors, and adding battery backup for the sump pump when we purchased. Our basement flooded during a hurricane this past summer and we've spent $10k redoing everything, including drywall, flooring, furniture - in a 3 yo house.
What is your contractor considering "normal ceiling height" for a basement?
My Valentine Bookends (2~13~13, 2~15~09)
DO NOT FINISH YOUR BASEMENT YET !!!
I am astounded that your builder thinks this is OK business.
Mold can form behind the drywall, since the foundation is still semi-wet and not 100% dry. It takes a few months to dry completely. Our builder refuses to finish a basement within 1 year of the completion date of the home.
We were told the foundation needs to set for awhile before it is finished, and it often expands enough over the 1st year to cause significant 'damage' to the work that has been done. Carpet will not fit correctly, drywall will crack, caulking can gap, etc.
I dont think it is a wise choice, and I think the fact that it only costs $8500 is a clear sign that it is not going to be top of the line work.