How to Finish a Basement | 30+ Things You Should Know

You want to finish your basement and have a few questions like “How can I finish my basement myself?” and “Where do I start when finishing a basement?”

I have finished two basements on my own and am here to share ALL THE THINGS!

I even made you a checklist to print off and help you plan so keep reading!

You might need to pour another cup of coffee.  This is a long one PACKED with info.

Here are 30+ things to think about when you finish your basement.

How much does it cost to finish a basement?

Consider how much time you have to dedicate to the project, your skill level, and your budget.  I have finished two basements and for each one, I hired out about 40% of it and finished the other 60% myself.

Most of the cost is in the labor so any work you can or are willing to do will save you $$$.

My recent bids for our current basement were between $80k – $100k for a general contractor to arrange and coordinate the subcontractors, permits, supplies, etc. and get the basement finished.

That included 1800 sq ft., 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, a bar area with sink, a family room, a storage room, etc. These bids didn’t include any built-ins, shelving, or any real customizations and this was also at the time that lumber prices were sky-high!

Given the estimate, I decided that I was going to be the general contractor and hire out all the trades for the work that I couldn’t do and then finish the rest of the work myself.

Our most recent basement finish cost me about $45,000 in total including our bar, custom shelving in our storage room, a beautiful bathroom and more!

That is A LOT of savings!

How to find a good general contractor for your finished basement?

Get recommendations from friends and neighbors and get a few bids for comparison. Look at their reviews online and get referrals.  By talking to people about the person you will be potentially hiring, you can find out about their work ethic, honesty,  trustworthiness, time management skills, cost management, integrity, and character. These are really important to think about when a person will be in your home for a long period of time.

As I said above, I decided to be the general contractor and hire out some of the work and finish the other work myself.  And I saved over half of the “basic” cost not including all the custom work I have done that the contractors didn’t even work into their bid like my entertainment center that I built from scratch.

Remember, most of the cost is in the labor.

How to make a plan for a finished basement.

Make an actual plan before you start! I used all of the measurements of the basement I had taken and made a plan using a free program called Smartdraw I found online.  Since it is free it will leave a watermark on your printout, but it’s free so who cares?  It was really just for planning purposes and gave me a layout (that didn’t look like a 5-year-old drew it) to hand to the trades.

If you don’t want to do it yourself, you can also hire someone for about $100 to draft a layout for you. You can have them come in, measure, tell them what you want and have them draft a plan for you with real measurements. You can tweak it until you are happy with it and then you will have a solid plan to hand your framer, electrician, etc.

Pull permits.  You will need to have each step checked by an inspector in order to move to the next step.  If you plan to resell your home, and the buyer knows the basement wasn’t finished when you moved in, they may ask to see the inspections, approval, and pulled permits for the finish.

Protect yourself.  DIY can be dangerous in a lot of ways so be careful. Did you know once sawdust gets in your lungs it never leaves? Ever?

I have written a helpful post on all the ways to protect yourself when you DIY here.

Opening up the basement?  If the basement will be open to the rest of the home, be sure to install a plastic sheeting wall to help mitigate the amount of dust coming through your home.  This is the one I used with this zipper so I could get in and out of the space.  **We ended up adding some wood pieces across the top, screwing them into the drywall because the tape was not enough to hold it up.

In what order should a basement be finished?

Planning a basement can be overwhelming! I have made a checklist just for you so that you can know exactly what to do next after completing a step! You can download it or print it out!

You can get my free finished basement planning checklist to help you plan here!

How do I hire trades to finish my basement? 

The trades are all connected!  Everyone knows someone.  Get a few bids on a job you need done (like framing). When you get someone that you are happy with, and they do a good job, then ask them for a recommendation for the next job you need to be done.

I have had really good luck with this method. I also got really lucky with HomeAdvisor.  My electrician from HomeAdvisor was amazing! However, the painter’s bid from HomeAdvisor was 3x what I actually ended up paying.

Just do your research and take your time.

How do I frame a basement?

Framing. Is it hard? Kind of. Is it expensive to have done? Yes. But, you may want to hire it out anyway.

You have to know the building codes in your area and how to finish a basement wall.  example: where I live you have to have a 3″ floating wall and specific areas that have fire blocking.

Are you ready to do what it takes?  You can do it but it will possibly take weeks.

How do I build storage in my basement?

Build storage shelves while framing. If you are incorporating a storage room in your basement, have your framers buy extra material and build your shelves in the storage room while they are framing.

One of the best decisions I ever made! They already have the supplies and the tools and room to move the wood around easily.

Add a piece of plywood to the framing where your TV will hang for reinforcement before they drywall. That way you can hang your heavy TV easily without having to rely on stud placement.

Run conduit in the walls and have an outlet placed where you plan to put your TV before they drywall so you can run your TV cords through the wall and they will be hidden and you can plug your TV in right behind it.

Insulation.  Consider adding thick insulation between the floor joists over areas where you don’t want the sound to travel through the floors. example: I bought really thick insulation at Home Depot and installed it over my movie room and both bedrooms. It was an extra $500 dollars but SO worth it. I can’t hear my daughter’s questionable taste in music from her room below us.

Electrical.  I only mess with electrical if it is a simple task like switching out light switches, moving an outlet or changing a light fixture. An entire basement took my pro a couple of weeks and he did it to code. 

Also, have a plan and know ahead of time where you want things like 3-way lights, dimmers, sconces, outlets, etc.  example: In my craft room I wanted all of my outlets above the cabinets, not lower on the wall like a typical install.

Add step lights. This is really easy for your electrician to do during construction and adds such nice lighting for safety at night when you don’t want the overhead lights on.  These little touches take it to the next level.

TV Wires and Cables.  After you add conduit for your TV, run your HDMI and other cables from the tv wall mount to the bottom where your A/V equipment will be. Before you do that, add a piece of tape to each end with a number or letter on it.  That way when you are hooking each end up you will know which wire goes to what! example: #1 hooked into the TV is #1 hooked into the soundbar.)

HVAC.  Consider what kind of system you want. Do you want a separate thermostat for the basement apart from the other part of the house? It will cost twice as much to add an additional thermostat as just adding runs of vents to all the rooms. Also consider where will your returns be? Where will you be adding cabinets? You don’t want an air return where you plan to put a cabinet. Talk to the HVAC installer and make a plan together.

Can you put plumbing in a basement?

You can definitely put plumbing in your basement. Even if there are plumbing rough-ins (where the builder placed the drains for a future bathroom) and they are not where you want them OR you want to add some waterlines for a bar or extra sink!

Decide where you want your bathroom drains and toilet to be (remember that rendering we talked about in the beginning?) and have a plumber break the concrete and relocate the plumbing lines for you.

Your plumber will add the water lines for the sink and shower and the valves for your shower as well.

They can also add water lines and a drain for a bar if you are adding one.

Be sure to check that your plumber will fix what he digs up before you start. That was my fault. I assumed a plumber would fill it back in.  But in both basements I finished,  both plumbers said “I don’t do that” when I asked them if they would fix the floor. So I got to work and did it myself! Luckily for me there weren’t big trenches in the foundation.

You should just be able to fill the dug-out/broken-up areas with pea gravel and then add cement on top of that yourself! Once this pea gravel was in, I mixed together some simple cement and covered the gravel. Then I troweled the cement smooth and let it dry, making sure it was level.  That way, when I laid my tile floor, the cement was nice and level.

Know your shower valve type. Be sure to ask the plumber which kind of valve they are installing (example: mine is Moen) so that you can order a trim kit that will work with your valve. A trim kit covers the open hole where you turn on the shower and adds the handle that will make the shower turn on and off). Not all trim kits for a shower are created equal. However, you can use any shower head and the manufacturer does not matter. 

Take photos of all plumbing lines and electrical runs before drywall so you know exactly where everything is and you don’t puncture any pipes, etc. in the future when installing any shelving, etc.

Can I drywall my basement?

In my opinion, leave it to the pros.  They do this every day, all the time and they do it FAST!  (It took them two days to hang all my drywall.)