Just finished a basement off in this foreclosure I purchased. When I bought the house, the copper rough in was already done, but I had to redue the existing soil line under the floor as they forgot the back water valve. That's about $1,000 if the plumber does it and has to rip it all out and install all new soil line including the shower drain and toilet line. Make sure they are license. Then the shower unit,valve, toilet, vanity, medicine cabinet, faucet, fan/light for shower, and so forth ran about $1,000. I choose a Auquaglass three piece 5 foot wide- similar to a legth of a bath tub. I have one if you need one, but the pan is cracked just a bit, about 4 inches and you can repair that. The walls are new. Plumber fees cost $750. Electrical fees cost around 650. The greenboard, sanding, priming and painting cost does add up. Think I used 13 sheets of green board and 12 sheets of drywall for the outside walls, use atleast 3 cans of mud. I say if you can get it done for 5 grand, your lucky. Try adding 15% to the cost for the unexpected for good measure.

This may be too direct for some, but I stole from a number of signs to create the following for our new mountain home that will have lots of guests visiting even when we can't be there...; Dear Guest, Here in the Country we have A delicate loo-Anything but toilet paper is taboo. Kleenex is bad. dental floss too. Hair & feminine products will definitely cause a scare. And Since We DonâÂÂt want to pay the plumber - asking you to pump the septic would be a bummer. So to ensure that you are welcomed back, thanks for Keeping our little Pact. LetâÂÂs not put Anything in the pot that isnâÂÂt guaranteed to rot. I have a septic field... its just not environmentally friendly nor do I want to have to deal with the potential issues of having someone misunderstand... I think that if I put this much effort into a sign, people will understand that it is important to me... plus some of our friends have teenage girls, so I feel the need to be specific and remind them every time they are in a position where they could perhaps simply forget the need to break a habit. I suppose if it were my formal home I might feel differently. This post was edited by southerngalinnyc on Sat, Feb 23, 13 at 9:06

There are always an up side and a down side to be considered based on the overall construction , location and budget. If you are paying a general contractor,I reccomend letting him earn his fee by amoung other things,answering your questions BEFORE starting construction. If you are acting as your own,I reccomend you ask a friend,family member or someone who has experience to assist you with the intire process. Believe me when I say there will be many more issues come up and no time to educate yourself before making a decision to keep things on scedule.

I screwed up - it's a master bedroom and bath in the basement with walk out. You are 100% correct with the confusion. What I've decided to do is to have this be more of a "guest master bedroom" or future inlaw place. Every home is initially designed for the current occupant but also with future occupants in mind. Therefore what I'll do is focus on the upstairs primary bedroom and then if I do decide to stay, I'll give this to my soon to be teen-age daughter and I'll build my primary bedroom in the basement. When someone comes to look at the home to buy, they can look at the downstairs as a large "room" which could be a bedroom (staged as such) and an awesome bathroom ideally suited for a bedroom or just an awesome entertainment room.