Without looking at it and not seeing where mechanical equipment is and if it needs relocation etc. it could be done for under $30k if you do not need major relocations or upgrading existing electrical panel etc. If you need assistance with permitting and planning etc. shoot me a private message and I can assist you in getting an architect to do the plans, help you write a scope and then send to contractors to bid the work (I do this for a living on the commercial construction side and just did it for my own house). Also, where is the house located?

We just used a general contractor, but we did have plans from our builder with a proposed basement layer (which we left unfinished when we built). But I think we would have been fine without those. For the bar and the bath, I drew the layout and sizes of the cabinets and fixtures myself (by hand on a piece of paper).

Anonymous wrote:We finished a basement along these lines, but also with a nice size bar (with granite tops, custom cabinets and a lot of appliances). The cost, not including the bar appliances, was around 42K.

OP here. Did you use a general contractor or did you arrange the subcontractors yourself? Did you use an architect? Its pretty obvious where all the rooms need to go, so do we still hire an architect? We've never done anything like this before thanks.

We finished a basement along these lines, but also with a nice size bar (with granite tops, custom cabinets and a lot of appliances). The cost, not including the bar appliances, was around 42K.

We are thinking of putting an offer on a house with an unfinished basement. Most of the other homes in the area have finished basements and we are trying to decide A.) how much less this house should cost and B.) what it will cost us to finish the basement, which we would want to do in pretty short order if we bought this house.

Similar properties have basements in the 1000-1200 sf range with 1 full bath, 1 den/bedroom (if there is a window or not), and 1 open "rec room" type space. We would be looking at mid-grade carpet down the stairs and through out the space, and mid-grade tile/sink/vanity etc. in the bathroom. Nothing fancy but not cheapest of the cheap either.

Ballpark?