If money is an issue, then these tips should help you get what you want while avoiding unpleasant or disastrous surprises:
Set a realistic budget for your project and stick to it
When you are careless about managing costs, things can easily get out of control. Seek out a good designer to help in your endeavor. Insist on detailed, accurate estimates. Make firm decisions and make them early. You will avoid costly changes and mistakes.
We do not suggest you say “I’ve got exactly $37,468.43 and I want you to use it all.” We do suggest, however, that you openly communicate a reasonable budget range to your contractor.
Some homeowners think the best way to guard against getting ripped off is to be totally secretive about their budget. But this typically hurts much more than it helps. Here’s why:
- You force contractors to guess what you want—or can afford. This promotes inconsistent communications and non-comparable bids.
- You could waste lots of time talking to the wrong contractors.
- You start the relationship off with distrust.
- You could scare off the best people for the job. Good and honest contractors are usually busy. They don’t want to waste time playing budget guessing games.
- Dishonest contractors, on the other hand, prey on uncertainty. So you play into their hands when you encourage poor communications.
- You may incur extra design charges if you commission people to do designs and bids that are way off the mark.
The best way to guard against being over-charged is to obtain competitive bids—not to be secretive about your budget while soliciting them.
If you have no idea about costs and don’t know where to start —
- Talk with contractors on the phone. Some may give you a baseline cost per square foot to use as a starting point for planning your basement remodel project. Unfortunately a verbal statement using a per foot costing method is very misleading. Two basements with identical square footages can vary by as much as $15,000. You will have a better chance of success if the contractor can provide you with the last three projects that they have completed that is similar to your square foot range. Any great contractor will have this historical data and if they don’t it is your first line of defense in weeding out the bad from the good.
- Most contractors offer a free home consultation to start the sales process. After they have seen your space and discussed your requirements, ask them for a non-binding, rough estimate of what your space might cost you.
- Many contractors are reluctant to give out ballpark estimates. They fear losing the business or getting stuck with a bad deal by throwing out the wrong number, too soon. So make sure they understand that you are looking for a budgetary estimate only and are doing so to ensure that you don’t waste anyone’s time—theirs or yours.
- Visit retail home improvement centers and inquire about costs for various types of projects or features that are to be included in your design.
- Talk with friends, neighbors or relatives who have had a basement finished. Ask what it cost and see the work that was done, if possible.
Remember, these steps will only give you a rough idea about costs. Only a detailed quotation, backed by a complete design and blueprint with detailed specifications will give you the peace of mind that we all deserve. The only thing that you can expect to happen on your project is the items that are in writing. If you have been told or promised that a feature exists and it is not in writing, it will most likely not be installed on your project without a costly change order. To protect you and your family, do not rely on anything else.
Don’t expect too much for too little. After you’ve received bids, do what you can to ask for their best price, but don’t try to squeeze water from a rock. Coercing basement contractors into doing too much work for too little money will only get you in trouble. Only weak contractors will fall for those tactics. And these types of contractors are the ones that often disappear in the middle of your job.
If resale value is a big concern, stretching your budget a little might pay off handsomely
We don’t encourage you to over-spend. But under-spending can actually cost you more in the end. We will go more in-depth on resale value in next weeks blog post.