What does it cost?
You’ll spend $20,000 to convert an unfinished basement of 75 sq m (800 sq. ft.) into a bright, handsome family room. That covers the cost of digging down a half-metre or so to give you a minimum of two-and-a-half metres headroom, plus installing new windows, a powder room, wiring for computers and TVs and a 52-inch plasma TV (Sony, $2,800).
What can go wrong?
Don’t try to stuff too much into the basement. A family room is fine; so is a three-piece bathroom and perhaps a small home office; but unless you’ve got a huge basement, you should forget about putting in a couple of spare bedrooms as well. “A basement is generally dark and if it’s separated into six tiny rooms, it feels like you’re in jail,” says Burgio, the real estate agent.
Many people go wrong by scrimping on the quality of the work, because, after all, it’s only the basement. “I’ve seen a lot of work poorly done by fly-by-night contractors,” says Colin Hine, a general contractor in Ottawa. “I know one person who didn’t like the look of a structural post, so he took it out. Then the first floor began to sag.”
Payback
A well-done family room is one of the most lucrative renos. Expect a payback of 50% to 75% of your costs — much more if the renovation is professionally done. “I’ve seen people put in $20,000 and get back $30,000 or more when they go to sell their home,” says Jim Parthenis, an appraiser with Carrington Appraisal Services in Toronto.
MAIN-FLOOR ADDITION
What does it cost?
You’ll typically spend $30,000 and up for a 3 m by 4 m (10 ft. by 13 ft.) addition, complete with a pair of skylights, electric fireplace, casement windows with movable shades, patio doors and a hardwood floor.
What can go wrong?
The process of putting on an addition can disrupt your life. Count on several weeks of dust and noise right around where your family will be eating meals and doing homework. You may want to tack on the cost of moving out of the house while the renovation is being done.
Local by-laws can also be an issue. Municipal regulations often lay down restrictions on how big an addition you can add on to your house and even the style of addition that’s permissible in your particular neighborhood. An experienced contractor can guide you through the bylaw issues, but make sure to ask if he’s got all the necessary approvals before the first brick comes down.
Payback
You may get 50% to 75% payback on your costs, but that’s only in a best possible case, says Parthenis, the appraiser. A lot can go wrong. If your new addition swallows up too much of your backyard, or is out of scale with the rest of the neighborhood or your existing house, it can actually detract from resale value.
Bottom line: A finished basement is the runaway winner — if it’s done properly and the finished product looks airy and bright. “Sure, main floor additions can be nice,” says real estate agent Gina Burgio, “but people don’t want to mess them up — it’s the ‘somebody might come over’ attitude. Family rooms in the basement are a different matter entirely. People see them as a place where the whole family can play and relax. Everybody loves them.”
