How Much Does It Cost to Remodel a Basement?

You can expect to shell out anywhere from $30-$75 per square foot to remodel your basement. A budget of $21,000 would be a good ballpark figure to start work with. Your main factors for basement remodeling cost are the amount of space and how elaborately you want to remodel.

Enhancing your basement to be all it can be is a fantastic way to maximize all living areas in your home. In the same way, you would optimize any room in your house, remodeling the basement, although often less prioritized than other areas, is the perfect opportunity to upgrade your home. Given the right intention and direction, a basement can transform from dark and dank to a cozy underground haven.

What To Consider When Remodeling Your Basement

Determine Your Basement’s Function

Knowing what kind of function the space will serve will help determine the cost of your basement remodeling.

Whether a modest remodel to add built-in shelves for more storage to a more elaborate remodel such as building an independent guest room, depending on what you want to turn your basement into, a remodeling project can cost you $12,000 to $33,000.

Determining what purpose your basement will serve is fun! Whether it will serve as a storage room, a hobby room, a social room, etc. It’s an excellent opportunity to get together with your family or those you live with to decide how to best use the space. Knowing what to do with your basement before making any changes will start the process in the best way.

What’s The Difference Between Remodeling And Renovating Basement?

To keep communication lines clear, especially if you’re working with basement contractors, let them know that you want your basement to be remodeled and not renovated. Basement renovations cover repairing areas in your basement, while remodeling means changing the function of an otherwise properly functioning space.

Although used interchangeably, saying that you want your basement remodeled instead of renovated can make all the difference in finding the right contractor to help you make your basement what you want it to be.

Understand The Process

Understanding what it takes to remodel a basement will help manage expectations. You may have on your mind everything you’re going to add to your basement, but know that a remodeling process will likely start with taking things out.

This especially goes for prepping costs we might not initially realize, such as taking things out before adding anything new. For instance, removing tiles cost $3.50 per square foot.

If you’re unfamiliar with the remodeling process, you can consult a contracting company to help you understand what costs you can expect with a basement remodel. The good news, many contracting companies, provide a free assessment and quotation to give potential clients an added incentive to hire them.

Outline What You Want to be Remodeled

Considering that you know what function you want your basement to serve, decide what changes will be made in your basement to achieve that.

You need to know what will need to be remodeled to fit into the function of your basement in order to gauge what sort of cash you’ll need to have ready to make it happen. The more elaborate the remodel, think home theater or at-home bar, the more costly a remodeling job would be. Highly involved remodeling projects can cost you upwards of $70,000.

If you’ve spoken with other people who have remodeled their basement (you’d be wise to do so!), they’ll likely tell you not to make any changes until you know exactly what you want to do with it as a whole. Don’t remodel your basement in increments because this costs more time and money for you. Contractors typically charge up to 25% of a given project’s total cost and this can quickly add up.

As much as possible, find one contractor to do the job and sign off on treating your basement remodel as one big project instead of multiple ones.

Contractors and Labor Cost to Remodel a Basement

Scout for the right contractor. The operative word here is scout because we guarantee you’ll get a range of prices for a basement remodel from various contractors. Like any healthy relationship, go with who feels right after getting to know your options.

Contractor fees can charge anywhere from 10% to 25% of your basement remodeling’s total cost or $50 to $150 if they charge by the hour.

Where building and construction is concerned, look at factors such as:

Cost breakdown: Materials, labor, transport, clean-up, etc are all costs you need to see separately. This can help you pinpoint where you’re spending and if there’s room to source a more cost-efficient option. For instance, you can supply some of the materials yourself, which is cheaper than having a contractor buy and source it themselves because they usually charge a markup of 7.5% to 10%.

Set the construction budget: Setting a budget in a working contract will stop any surprises in your final bill as a contractor is obliged not to go beyond a given figure.

Instead of getting charged for something you weren’t prepared to pay for (double pay for working during a holiday, for instance), a working contract allows you to be duly informed about added/increased costs beforehand. This is not to say that contractors are out to overcharge you from the get-go, but a set budget ensures that you decide when and where your money is spent when faced with unexpected costs.

Is Remodeling A Basement Worth The Trouble?

Anything that disrupts the natural flow of your home brings in all kinds of emotions. It’s understandable that with the excitement of remodeling a basement, a fair amount of feelings, such as stress and anxiety, can be expected.

Keep your eye on the prize. Remodeling your basement is a worthwhile investment, and when done right, it will feel like it pays for itself as you enjoy it through the years, both on a monetary and social level.

Instead of the typical treatment of passively using a basement as a storage purgatory, taking the time to make it into a space you want to use and be in will give that distinct content feeling you get from a well-established home.

Lastly, when the job is well done, a remodeled basement can give you an ROI range of 50% to 75% in the resale value of your house, so when you’re ready to move on, you’re selling your home for what it’s worth!