What do you think a contractor would charge to frame out the basement?

[StageLeft]

I have a fully unfinished basement I want done. I want to do it myself, but heck, it may take a long time. I also have no idea (yet) how to do it. I'm thinking in the interests of saving time/swearing/fvcking it up severely, I may have somebody frame it out and do the electrical. Obviously without pics it's harder to guess, but basically this will end up with a large main room, a bathroom, and a bedroom and closet.

I would then do the floors, walls, bathroom.

Any guesses?

Also, is there anything else I should have a "pro" do that's particularly hard? I've heard that putting in walls (we're doing full sheet rock on walls and ceiling) is a bit of an artwork to get the seams good, but it doesn't sound terribly hard and it feels like a lot of potential time/cost savings could be had by doing it myself.

*PICS*

base1.jpg
base2.jpg
base3.jpg

Taken while standing in a corner next to the walkout. In pic 1 just to the right is the large window also suitable for egress. In the room with weights it will stay as a long section reaching back to the wall behind me. In the distance--the empty room--will be a bedroom. The storage area will be walled off and stay unfinished. In pic 2 it will be a continuation of the larger room mentioned for pic 1 and also have a bathroom in there. The plumbing is already in place (you can see the plastic cap on the floor between the two workbenches in front of that plastic shelving system).

This is a 12 course foundation, so the ceiling height will be ok. In pic 3 you can see that we have that metal support that we'll have to build around; it will be a "step" in the ceiling. Unfortunately, all of the vents were placed about two feet away from it, so I had planned on moving all of those close to it so that I can have just one step. That seems like something I'll need done fast (moving vents) so may pay somebody to do it.

 

[sjwaste]

Use screws, not nails, for the sheetrock. That will at least give you a fighting chance of getting the seams right, as your sheetrock will be flush with adjacent pieces.

 

[nerp]

A good contractor would be happy to stop by and give you a free estimate on wiring. Do you know of any decent ones in the area or have friends who've done something similar who could pass a recommendation?

 

[Safeway]

When we remodeled, he hired professionals to do the framing and the drywall + texture. We did the flooring, painting, cabinets, etc.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: nerp
A good contractor would be happy to stop by and give you a free estimate on wiring. Do you know of any decent ones in the area or have friends who've done something similar who could pass a recommendation?

Yeah, I was happy with the guy who did our deck last year. I just don't want to go quite to that step yet because then MrsSkoorb will be aware of it and it will be hard to put a stop on the process at that point (I am trying to hold off spending money on it for the time being!).

 

[nerp]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: nerp
A good contractor would be happy to stop by and give you a free estimate on wiring. Do you know of any decent ones in the area or have friends who've done something similar who could pass a recommendation?

Yeah, I was happy with the guy who did our deck last year. I just don't want to go quite to that step yet because then MrsSkoorb will be aware of it and it will be hard to put a stop on the process at that point (I am trying to hold off spending money on it for the time being!).

Stealth factor. If you can post the square footage and describe the number of connections, etc, I could ask someone I know to give a very rough ballpark. I carried tools around and hauled bags of plaster as a carpenter's helper years ago. This means I could never tell you how much it would cost. But I do know a few guys in the business, so I can ask.

 

[Exterous]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Also, is there anything else I should have a "pro" do that's particularly hard? I've heard that putting in walls (we're doing full sheet rock on walls and ceiling) is a bit of an artwork to get the seams good, but it doesn't sound terribly hard and it feels like a lot of potential time/cost savings could be had by doing it myself.

I can tell you from personal experiance that framing and installing the drywall isn't that hard. 3 of us who had - combined - 0 hours of experience were able to accomplish this. I was not available to help with the mudding so I cannot offer anything there.

As for electrical - you could probably run all the wires and place the outlets (If you do the framing yourself) and then just have an electrician connect them to the breaker

If you do frame it yourself I will tell you that having a stud every 16" is very important for properly hanging drywall. We learned that one the hard way

By doing most of this himself he is saving roughly $2500 on the cost minus the cost of many beers and a steak dinner for the two helpers

 

[StageLeft]

Thanks guys, great idea about the breaker, too. There are about five permits I need including inspection at various phases. If I did all the outlets and ran the wires and paid an electrician to come in and audit it all and do final hookup before inspection, that is probably a very good approach.

 

[Kirby]

Originally posted by: Exterous
If you do frame it yourself I will tell you that having a stud every 16" is very important for properly hanging drywall. We learned that one the hard way

this. and milwaukee makes a good drywall screwgun that makes it a lot easier.

http://www.amazon.com/Milwauke...ewdriver/dp/B000051WRV

mudding and sanding can be a pain to get smooth on tough corners and stuff, but it's generally not too bad.

 

[NoCreativity]

Not sure what code is where you are but a guy at work did the same as you are planning and had to add an alternate exit in the basement.

 

[Kntx]

Watch 10 episodes of holmes on homes and you should be good to go.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: NoCreativity
Not sure what code is where you are but a guy at work did the same as you are planning and had to add an alternate exit in the basement.

It's a walk-out and has an egress-worthy window. However, the one room that has a tiny window is where we want the bedroom. Apparently the inspector will interpret a closet as a bedroom and require an eggress built, which we're not gonna do. Trying to figure out ways around this, such as building the closet in later or something like that because no way I'm putting in a THIRD egress !

 

[dquan97]

Originally posted by: Kntx
Watch 10 episodes of holmes on homes and you should be good to go.

Which season?

I think I have 1 season on rapidshare and the rest waiting to be uploaded

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: NoCreativity
Not sure what code is where you are but a guy at work did the same as you are planning and had to add an alternate exit in the basement.

It's a walk-out and has an egress-worthy window. However, the one room that has a tiny window is where we want the bedroom. Apparently the inspector will interpret a closet as a bedroom and require an eggress built, which we're not gonna do. Trying to figure out ways around this, such as building the closet in later or something like that because no way I'm putting in a THIRD egress !

Its the same around here except I'd likely have to extend my septic if I had a closet and therefore "bedroom" added.

 

[ajskydiver]

With zero experience, I just recently attempted to remodel my kitchen and bathroom.

I tore out all the drywall, ripped up the flooring (tile with laminate underneath!) and learned a ton.

What I learned that may or may not apply to you:

1. However long you think it's gonna take to do a specific task, it's going to take much longer. If you think 3 hours, think 6 or 9...a day, probably two or three. Once I lost that initial enthusiasm, things started to drag.

2. Mudding sucks bad. It's not that difficult, but it's time consuming if you're new at it and it's very difficult to do well. Instead of mud, sand, mud, sand, finished...I had to do a few extra to get it to look decent.

3. Use pre-mixed mud.

4. Make sure you have the right tools -- this was the most important aspect for me.

If you can't tell, the only difficulty I really had was getting the seams mudded to look good. I used the mesh tape...maybe the paper would've been better -- which is what I'd use if I had to do it again.

My wireless keyboard is dying...

 

[Acanthus]

I hear blackwater is looking for work.

Get a quote?

 

[vi edit]

If there is anything I've learned from reading the "room construction" threads at AVS it's that drywalling sucks and it's easily worth the small cost to have somebody come in to do the mud, taping, and sanding.

Otherwise I think Exterous has a good list to start from.

 

[lokiju]

You didn't mention ceiling.

Don't to drop tile, it looks so shitty.

Drywall the ceiling if you can.

 

[DrPizza]

Watch youtube videos for each step of your process. There's no shortage of pros/experts out there who want to be famous because they have a lot of instructional videos on youtube. Some of them suck, some of them are great. Some of them give you great tips that you would never have thought of yourself & which are never mentioned by anyone else.

Get the right tools. Realize how much money your saving over hiring a contractor who is going to use the right tools. i.e. drywall. They make plastic tools for mudding. Just think of how much time the pros could save if they just threw out the plastic tool, rather than wash the 59 cent tool after using it for an hour or so. Hmmmm, I wonder why the pros don't use those plastic things? You don't need top of the line tools, but you don't want to go too cheap. Then again, sometimes you can do quite well with the cheaper tool. Example: wet saws. HD & Lowes have a low end model that's around $60 dollars. They go up to several hundred dollars. The $60 model works just fine for cutting tile.

 

[courtjester123]

No offense against your potential carpentry skills, but if you want it done right, hire professionals (or someone with significant prior experience) to do, at a minimum, the framing, electrical, plumbing, and potentially the drywall and taping. If you want it to look like someone learned on-the-job how to finish a basement, then do it yourself. Would you learn a hell of a lot? Yeah. Would you make mistakes? Absolutely. Will it cost more in time and money then you think? Definitely. Will you need to hire a professional to fix something you can't fix or don't want to fix yourself? Maybe. Would you save money doing it yourself? Absolutely...you just need to make a financial decision based on risk/reward and what you really want to get out of the project.

Someone who knows what they are doing will frame out the basement quickly and with an efficient use of materials, and everything will be square, level, and plum. Drywallers will slam out a basement in a day. Taping is an art form and I know contractors who are more than capable of doing it who leave it to the guys that do it as a profession. Even if you do everything yourself but leave the taping to someone else, you would likely end up paying extra for more time and materials since they will have to fix your mistakes.

Good luck and have fun whatever you do!

 

[lokiju]

Oh and speaking of tools, you can save a TON of money buying used tools from places like flea markets and garage sales.

There's one flea market not to far from me that has this one guy that has 10 booths worth of space that is just overflowing with used tools of any and every kind and in all conditions.

I've bought a few items for literally pennies on the dollar for items that are still sold in places like Home Depot.

Yeah they have some wear on them but so what? A lot of tools have life time or limited warranties even. They have power outlets also where you can plug stuff in and make sure it works.

 

[StageLeft]

You didn't mention ceiling.

Don't to drop tile, it looks so shitty.

Drywall the ceiling if you can.

I did, I want to drywall that bizatch floor to ceiling, including ceiling! I agree a drop ceiling looks like a basement, which I absolutely don't want. I want this to look the same in caliber as the rest of the house and I absolutely will be drywalling the ceiling.

If there is anything I've learned from reading the "room construction" threads at AVS it's that drywalling sucks and it's easily worth the small cost to have somebody come in to do the mud, taping, and sanding.

So I suppose I could drywall it and then just pay somebody to do the seams?

Example: wet saws. HD & Lowes have a low end model that's around $60 dollars. They go up to several hundred dollars. The $60 model works just fine for cutting tile.

Agree. I bought the entry $80 one from home depot a few years ago and after backsplashing my kitchen and lending it to a guy who tiled his entire bathroom, I have to say it's absolutely all that's needed, it was really nice.

If you want it to look like someone learned on-the-job how to finish a basement, then do it yourself.

Actually, that's not necessarily true for me. Everything I do for this basement will look professional in quality, I have no doubt of that. The problem is that I read/learn for a very long time first so that I get it right. All the other work I've done around the house, from furniture building to tiling looks at least as good as professional jobs I've seen, but it is because I obsess over it in very fine detail. Now, there may be certain things that truly do just take experience and no amount of reading/practicing will get it sorted, such as taping!

Oh and speaking of tools, you can save a TON of money buying used tools from places like flea markets and garage sales.

I'm on board with that, still searching craigslist for a good shop vac

 

[miniMUNCH]

I don't what electrical codes are in your area but definitely don't skimp on wiring. I generally encourage folks to run conduit for wiring or at least use 'flex'.

 

[TheSiege]

Originally posted by: miniMUNCH
I don't what electrical codes are in your area but definitely don't skimp on wiring. I generally encourage folks to run conduit for wiring or at least use 'flex'.

What the hell for? Its code in chicago. But pointless and expensive otherwise.

Use smurf tube for data, but 12AWG romex is just fine for residential

<----Electrician

 

[Sea Moose]

can i have your stuff?