Rowhouse basement underpinning

[Anonymous]

I have a 6' high basement and would like to dig down to 8' to make it legally rentable. Basement is almost 900 sqft and already has two means of egress. To anyone who has done this before, can you please give me a brief walkthrough of the process, risk, permitting, cost? And finally, any recommendations for reputable contractors?
I had someone give me a quote of $135K which I found ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Your quote is right on. Might end up over that to the extent there are surprises.

I've had a few friends do this project with around 700 sf of basement, but slightly higher ceilings, i.e. walkable ceilings already but not legal height. Costs around $100k-$125k to dig the extra 1 foot, move pipes, condition, drywall, frame, drop a cheap bathroom down there. Our basement is a crawl space only 4.5 feet high and 600 sf and we were getting estimates on upstairs work, so we had three contractors stick their heads downstairs to give me an on-the-spot ballpark quote and all three said $200k. This is very, very labor intensive work. You'll see other people on here talking about merely "finishing" a basement (i.e. no structural work, no moving pipes - just a simple suburban home where they never put up drywall) and the quotes are usually $50k.

[Anonymous]

I had a quote of about $120k. That was from 4 brothers, which I consider a pretty high end place. So, you could probably do better, but pp is right that it is a crazy big job. We have put it off indefinitely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your quote is right on. Might end up over that to the extent there are surprises.

I've had a few friends do this project with around 700 sf of basement, but slightly higher ceilings, i.e. walkable ceilings already but not legal height. Costs around $100k-$125k to dig the extra 1 foot, move pipes, condition, drywall, frame, drop a cheap bathroom down there. Our basement is a crawl space only 4.5 feet high and 600 sf and we were getting estimates on upstairs work, so we had three contractors stick their heads downstairs to give me an on-the-spot ballpark quote and all three said $200k. This is very, very labor intensive work. You'll see other people on here talking about merely "finishing" a basement (i.e. no structural work, no moving pipes - just a simple suburban home where they never put up drywall) and the quotes are usually $50k.

Are you in DC? The permits are crazy and your neighbors have to sign off. Work with a great engineer and expediter. Your quote is pretty good. But to be safe, just get a couple more quotes to compare. Don't pick the lowest bid!

[Anonymous]

I got another quote for $45K from a design build company. I think I will go with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a quote of about $120k. That was from 4 brothers, which I consider a pretty high end place. So, you could probably do better, but pp is right that it is a crazy big job. We have put it off indefinitely.

I just checked 4 brothers on houzz.com. They look pretty high end indeed. Love love love the pics of their work.

[Anonymous]

there are at least two types of underpinnings. bench underpinning is less expensive. check it out.

[Anonymous]

Hi, I am an architect with experience renovating (and underpinning!) basements. The fee you were given is not out of the norm but may be a bit high.

Give me a call and I can walk you through the design and construction process.

Ileana Schinder, Architect
202.431.6760
[e-mail]