chicago basement remodeling

Chicago Basement remodeling are bigger, better, taller, more expensive,” said Jim Gibson, principal of Gibson Builders LLC, a Washington custom-home builder. “Before, they were always considered secondary space. Now, people are making them a part of their house Chicago basement remodeling.” And they look like the rest of the house too. “The Chicago basement remodeling kitchenette will have granite countertops; the appliances will be the same as upstairs; there’s high-level carpeting and ceramic tile in the bathroom instead of cheap carpeting and linoleum; the lighting is warm and recessed or with sconces instead of the old fluorescent; there’s audio speakers in the ceiling for the surround sound system,” said Craig Durosko, partner in Sun Design Remodeling Specialists Inc. in Burke, Md. At a time when moving to a bigger house can be prohibitively expensive for many people, remodelers say homeowners are realizing that finishing or updating a basement is a low-cost way to gain a big chunk of living space. “A basement renovation is about half the cost of an addition,” said Mark Richardson, president of Case Design/Remodeling Inc. in Bethesda, Md. “The cost of building out is substantially more than doing a renovation of what you already have. Basements allow you to get more livable square footage without taking up any more of your land. It’s a real benefit.” Because basements usually run the entire length and width of a house, the extra space can be considerable. “In some of our models with basements, the basement is about 3,000 square feet,” said Dee Minich of K. Hovnanian Homes. “That’s a house in itself.” Just because it’s less expensive to update the basement than to add a new room doesn’t mean people are doing it on the cheap. Wet bars and home theaters are almost standard these days in upper-end houses. Gibson also has made basketball courts, mini-tennis courts, wine-tasting rooms, wine cellars, safe rooms, barber shops and hairdressing salons, massage salons, gift-wrap rooms and even a parking garage for 14 cars. “You don’t even call them basements anymore,” Gibson said. “Now, they’re just lower levels.”