How to Calculate the Cost of a Finished Basement
Finishing your basement is the easiest way to add significant square footage to your home. To calculate the cost of finishing your basement, you will need to first have a design of how the area will be laid out. Because material costs are different from region to region, you will need to follow the steps below and contact your local supplier to get current material prices. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Measure the length and height of the walls in your basement and mark their dimensions onto your sketch. If you are adding partition walls, run your tape measure across it's future location and mark this dimension as well. All your sketched walls must be accounted for.
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Calculate the amount of lumber needed for the walls (which are comprised of 2-inch by 4-inch top and bottom plates and studs in between) by adding up the linear-feet of all your walls. You will need one stud for every foot. Divide the total by 10 and multiply by 2 to determine the amount of top and bottom plates needed (assuming you are using 10-foot lumber for the plates). Call your local lumber yard for per unit pricing.
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Calculate the amount of drywall needed. Divide the total area to be drywalled by 32, which is the coverage of one sheet of drywall. For the wall area, add up the linear feet of walls (be sure to count a wall twice if it is to be drywalled on both sides as with partition walls) and multiply by the wall height. For the ceiling use the square footage of the room. Call your local lumber yard for drywall pricing.
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Calculate electrical wiring, outlets and lighting. You must use a licensed electrician by law so have a couple of electrical contractors give you an estimate.
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Price paint. Typically, one gallon of primer covers 200 square feet and one gallon of paint covers 400 square feet. Use the same square footage you used for your drywall calculation to determine how much paint you will need.
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Price interior doors and trim. You will need base molding at the bottom of all your walls, so take the linear feet of walls (be sure to count a wall twice if it is a partition wall) and divide by the length your local lumber yard sells it (usually 12 to 16-feet) to get the quantity needed. Count the number of doors and note their sizes.
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Price out the carpeting and padding by dividing the square footage of your floor by 9. This converts it into square yards, which is the unit of measure that carpet and padding is priced at your local dealer.
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Add it all together to get a low ballpark price. To get a more accurate price, you will need to add in all the low cost items such as nails, screws, drywall joint compound, drywall tape, et cetera. Also be sure to include all the tools you will need to purchase or rent such as nail gun, compressor, paint brushes, screw gun and so on.
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