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BASEMENT DEVELOPMENT LABOUR COSTS
By Tradesman Chrispin Ntungo
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Introduction
It is hard to be fully satisfied when you move into a new home, or any type of home for that matter, that does not have a finished basement. This author has visited with friends and chatted with individuals who have moved into their new homes. In as much as the pride of owning a new home is visibly clear, somewhat there is an uncomfortable feeling caused by an unfinished basement. This is understandable because as a home owner you want to enjoy being in every part of your home.
Benefits of a finished basement Benefits of a finished basement are perceived in different ways depending on the home owner’s personal disposition or orientation vis-à-vis socially, entrepreneurial or family oriented. There are three obvious benefits that can be noted.
1. Additional living space. A finished basement would normally have a recreation room and a bedroom which adds living space to your home. The recreation room is great space for kids to play when you have company, or adults to socialize when you have an event at home. Usually you would have a bedroom, a bathroom and laundry space in the basement. A finished basement makes your home look bigger for your spacious living.
2. Additional utilizable space. Further, a finished basement provides additional utilizable space for such things as storage and laundry. Some home owners choose to have business space in the basement. They use the basement as an office or rental space. In this case the basement is actually used for additional income generation, which is excellent use of space when you have a mortgage to pay.
3. Living Comfort. A finished basement can be a haven for comfortable living. For instance, in summer when it is really hot upstairs, the basement is so cool and comfortable. If you have been outside and feeling really hot and sweaty it is always a good idea to rush down the basement to cool off.
Knowing the benefits that a finished basement offers should motivate you to have your basement finished as soon as possible so you can enjoy these benefits.
What does it take to finish a basement?
Finishing a basement is like new construction. You have two options. Do It Yourself or have a contractor do it for you. Whatever the case you need to know what goes into finishing the basement. No matter the size, finishing a basement involves at least nine tasks:
1. Planning Planning involves developing a layout of the rooms in the basement. You need to know where you want your bedroom(s), laundry, recreation room, washroom, office, etc. Planning also involves preparing a plumbing plan, electrical wiring plan and framing plan. These plans must be approved by the city and a permit must be obtained from the city before construction can begin. You or the contractor can obtain the permit.
You can also take your time to develop a Bill of Quantity (BOQ) at this point. The BOQ will show how much of each of the materials you will need. Using the BOQ you can shop around looking at prices of materials. You can then develop a decent budget for cost of materials.
2. Framing Framing must be done according to the plan that you have laid out and according to your city code for framing.
3. Wiring Electrical wiring must be done according to the plan that you have laid out and approved by the city. Electrical wiring must be done to code.
4. Plumbing Plumbing must be done according to the plan that you have laid out and approved by the city. Like framing and wiring, plumbing must be done to code.
5. Drywall/Tapping Once framing, electrical wiring and plumbing work have been completed and approved by a city inspector it’s time for dry walling. This involves mounting drywall to the frame. After all the drywall has been mounted you will see your basement take great shape and definition. Following drywall is taping, applying mud and sanding. Perfect dry walls result from three iterations of mudding and sanding. Your basement is a typical work area at this point. For the most part it will look dusty. But be patient.
6. Painting Once drywall has been taped, mudded and sanded it is ready for painting. The first paint must be primer. Primer seals all possible holes and air pockets in drywall and makes the drywall surface ready for receiving the final paint. Primer also helps the final paint show its true colour. Once primer is dry, follow it up with the first coat of the final paint. For superb results apply the second coat of the final paint.
7. Ceiling installation If your ceiling is drywall ceiling, then it must be finished at the same time as you work on drywall in the rest of the basement. However, if your ceiling is drop ceiling, that is, ceiling tiles supported by ceiling rails, then it must be installed after you have finished the paint work. You do this in order to avoid messing up your ceiling with paint.
8. Doors installation While the basement is being developed there will be areas that you wish were closed or shut out. Installation of doors will do just that. Some doors may need to be painted once they are installed. Make sure you do that before installing the flooring.
9. Electrical fixture and door hardware installation You already have the wiring in but you will not see lights nor use those sockets until the fixtures are in. It is time to install light fixtures, bulbs, switches and socket receptacles. It is also time to install door hardware so you can open and close those lovely doors.
10. Flooring installation Flooring is the last thing you want to do. This is because when you are doing work everything falls to the floor. You don’t want to mess up your new flooring. So you do it last and you leave it new and clean for you to enjoy. Of course it goes without saying that you will need baseboards to be installed before you can say you are finally done with your basement development project.
What then are the Labor Costs of finishing a basement?
You will recall that you prepared a Bill of Quantity earlier on after developing your basement plan. You also prepared a budget of cost of materials needed for your basement development. However you did not consider labour yet. For all the ten tasks considered above to be done there is a human hand.
Probably planning could be free. But beginning with framing and ending with flooring there is labour involved. So your labour cost for basement development will consist of framing labour, wiring labour, plumbing labour, drywall/taping labour, painting labour, ceiling installation labour, door installation labour, electrical fixture and door hardware installation labour and flooring installation labour.
As a home owner you have two options of dealing with labour. You can bring in different tradespeople to do each task or you can have one contractor responsible for doing everything. The choice really is yours. Only that when you bring in different tradespeople each one prices the job the best they can to their benefit – and that means higher pricing. If you use the same contractor for everything, the contractor will factor in a volume of work discount, which means reduced overall labour cost.
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BASEMENT DEVELOPMENT |
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By 5S |
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Our advice to you is plan, get a permit from the City, buy the materials and leave everything to us for a full quality basement development. The following is a listing of tasks involved and their associated labour costs. |
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5S Labour Cost |
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Ref. |
Work Description |
From |
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To |
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1. |
Framing (subject to city inspection) |
$ 800.00 |
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$ 1,800.00 |
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2. |
Wiring (subject to city inspection) |
$ 1,800.00 |
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$ 4,500.00 |
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3. |
Plumbing (subject to city inspection) |
$ 1,200.00 |
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$ 2,000.00 |
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4. |
Drywall/Taping |
$ 2,800.00 |
- |
$ 4,900.00 |
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5. |
Painting |
$ 1,200.00 |
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$ 4,500.00 |
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6. |
Ceiling installation |
$ 1,800.00 |
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$ 2,900.00 |
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7. |
Door installation |
$ 950.00 |
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$ 1,500.00 |
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8. |
Fixture/Hardware installation |
$ 1,250.00 |
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$ 1,800.00 |
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9. |
Flooring installation |
$ 1,600.00 |
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$ 2,800.00 |
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10. |
Baseboard installation |
$ 1,500.00 |
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$ 1,800.00 |
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11. |
Total Labour Cost |
$ 14,900.00 |
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$ 28,500.00 |
For your Peace of Mind we subject all our work to City Inspection.
Call us today to get a Solid $ Quotation.
204-223-0784
E-mail: info@5spropertyservices.com
Website: www.5spropertyservices.com
Mailing address: 23 Kingfisher Crescent, Winnipeg, MB. R3Y 0C7
5S Property Services, Inc. is a Winnipeg based local contractor famous for home improvement projects, including basement development and can be reached at 204-223-0784.