Cost to frame/drywall/mid grade carpet 400 sq ft in basement (foundation, fireplace)
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"There’s plenty of legit contractors that will do the work without asking a city to put up some wood (without a permit)"....
so....what will you do when you decide to put the house up for sale..... you have negotiated with the buyer, you have a deal....then the buyer goes the extra step and goes to the county to check for issued permits......whoops. a) the deal is off and b) the county could be a horses a$$ and make you tear down the un-permitted work, then fine you double the cost of the original permit. Suddenly, your plan to "just put up some wood" has cost you a sale, and doubled/tripled the cost of the project.
Is it worth saving a couple of hundred $$$ on a permit ?
If- and this is a big IF- you were to act as your own GC and vetted all the contractors you wanted to do each specific task (to whatever degree of "incompleteness") that you wanted, you might save a few thou'. But, what most people don't realize is "time is money"- and you would soon find that your time is more valuable doing what you do for an actual income than playing GC.
The average national cost for finishing a basement- framing, insulation, drywall (walls&ceiling), electrical to code (two or three outlets is not code)- to include recessed cans spaced appropriately apart, plumbing for a full bath and some other plumbing (bar sink), trim and doors, and carpet- in other words a "turn-key" finished space- is $116.00/sf. In Chicago, I think it would be safe to assume that that figure would be higher.
Now, you can take out what you want and that would "adjust" the price- but you'd be talking about an "incomplete" finish. And there's probably not a lot of remodeling companies that want to take on an "incomplete" project. This is where some "liability" comes into play- create your own scenario for that; I'm not going too.
"There’s plenty of legit contractors that will do the work without asking a city to put up some wood (without a permit)"....
so....what will you do when you decide to put the house up for sale..... you have negotiated with the buyer, you have a deal....then the buyer goes the extra step and goes to the county to check for issued permits......whoops. a) the deal is off and b) the county could be a horses a$$ and make you tear down the un-permitted work, then fine you double the cost of the original permit. Suddenly, your plan to "just put up some wood" has cost you a sale, and doubled/tripled the cost of the project.
Is it worth saving a couple of hundred $$$ on a permit ?
Regards
Gemstone1
I’ll have it done right and find a buyer that is like me and doesn’t want to pay the thieves more money in tax dollars
There’s plenty of legit contractors that will do the work without asking a city to put up some wood
1) The fact they will do it without permits means they are not legit by definition
2) They are willing to cheat the city (which can get back at them with the force of law) and you don't think they will cheat you?
3) When they cheat you (yes I said when not if) how are you going to get it resolved? You can't go to court (You would have to admit to breaking the law) so how do you resolve it?
4) Later you asked about liability if you only had them do the framing as someone suggested. I assume you meant warranting the work. Again how are you going to enforce any warranty on a partial or the whole job? You can't go to court since it wasn't a permitted job.
Are you trying to insult the guy? Or; are you just that damn cheap?
We're in the Chicagoland area (past 2 house in Chicago suburbs). We just finished our basement. 800 sq ft with 8ft ceilings. Drywalled, carpeted stairs and 3/4 of the space and wood laminate flooring in a quarter of the space. All walls painted and drywalled. Cost us $5,000 and took my DH 3 month (mainly only weekends). And the carpeting is nicer than my upstairs! We used Luna, HOWEVER, my husband did all of the work, except installing the carpet. If you are having someone else do it I'd say add another $4k (at least) for labor! Our last basement was 1,600 sq ft and we finished it for $22k. That included some help just because of time and size.
BTW..…………we have finished 3 basements and never got a permit. Sold both homes no problem. As a matter of fact, the appraiser commented on what a good job our basement was done! If you get a permit in Illinois you'll be screwed on taxes!!!!!!!!!
Now, if you do it yourself and have no idea what you're doing or if you have some contractor that does a poor job it could come back to bite you when you go to sell! My DH is a Mechanical Engineer by trade and knows how to do electrical, etc. If you have NO background in this field don't try it!
"There’s plenty of legit contractors that will do the work without asking a city to put up some wood (without a permit)"....
so....what will you do when you decide to put the house up for sale..... you have negotiated with the buyer, you have a deal....then the buyer goes the extra step and goes to the county to check for issued permits......whoops. a) the deal is off and b) the county could be a horses a$$ and make you tear down the un-permitted work, then fine you double the cost of the original permit. Suddenly, your plan to "just put up some wood" has cost you a sale, and doubled/tripled the cost of the project.
Is it worth saving a couple of hundred $$$ on a permit ?
Regards
Gemstone1
It's not saving a few $$$ on just a permit. Illinois (and especially depending on the county) will raise the OP's property taxes THOUSANDS!! Illinois is terrible and I think the worst in the country right now for property taxes! The OP can't give the state not one more cent! Trust me, I used to live there!
1) The fact they will do it without permits means they are not legit by definition
2) They are willing to cheat the city (which can get back at them with the force of law) and you don't think they will cheat you?
3) When they cheat you (yes I said when not if) how are you going to get it resolved? You can't go to court (You would have to admit to breaking the law) so how do you resolve it?
4) Later you asked about liability if you only had them do the framing as someone suggested. I assume you meant warranting the work. Again how are you going to enforce any warranty on a partial or the whole job? You can't go to court since it wasn't a permitted job.
1 . Whatever you say must be so right? My brother in laws basement was done this way and it turned out real nice. No permits no involving the criminal tax man
2. Enforcement here for this kind of stuff is minimal. It’s a basement ...... it’s not a third story addition that’s going to cost 150k
3. I guess that’s the risk someone takes. They don’t get paid until the work is done. I know what wood framing and walls look like. Plus there’s reviews. Word of mouth. I’m sure they want referrals. It’s not rocket science....it’s a rectangle space with framing some Sheetrock and a couple outlets
4. I don’t remember asking about liability
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