are there bedrooms down there as well? if someone will be using the bedroom in the basement, then they will want a decent bathroom to go with it. 6 inches really isn't worth the hassle of taking down or moving a wall. A foot, maybe, 6" ? no. once you put on the wall or tile, you've got maybe 4" total. Maximize the space by choosing a good vanity w/storage, and possibly building a niche into the wall for additional storage. (use the area between the studs as a built in cabinet) using a prefab shower is fine, but pick a decent one as opposed to those flimsy acrylic pieces. you don't say want the resale value is, so i have no way of knowing how much you should invest. You say you bought mid-range, but I don't know what else you need to redo. anything under a 15% profit really isn't worth it. as for fitting it over the existing drains, usually you will need the new drain cover. if the drain needs to come up, there are extensions. I would advise your husband to do some research on how to fit those into an existing bathroom. If he's handy and can build his own slope, mortar bed and waterproof the shower, then he could prob tile it himself. Just depends on how much work you want to do and what the return is on what you choose. by the looks of what you have there currently, you may have some water damage underneath all the mess. Tear out what you can and then determine what you need to do.

Trying to figure out how to cover up sewer pipe and water meter with a vanity sink and then move in washer and dryer over to the wall to the right and taking shower doors off and putting something else up for easier to keep clean

Without getting into re-modeling the basement, there's only one spot I can envision a small bathroom being easily put in, which is a walk-in closet. It's not super-small -- I had a folding table and computer set up there for a while I was working from home, and I've since converted it back to a storage room. I'd say there's enough room for a toilet and small vanity but no shower. I put a toilet in the basement in my other house, and it was a good move, especially since that house only had one bathroom, and it wasn't a large expense. The problem with this house is we're on a septic so I need a sewage pump, and from what the plumber said, it's at least $5K for just the toilet and associated plumbing, and in my mind that's a lot of money just for convenience for those times we're down there. But then again, you can't put a price on convenience.

Not the basement, but we use NuHeat in a first floor 1/2 bath and laundry area that is built on a concrete slab. The install cost is accurate as I recall - they have to do subflooring, then a layer of leveling compound, then the wires for the heat, then the flooring. The heating can go up to 100-105 (I think), we keep it at 90 in the winter and the room temp reads between 85-88 when it's really cold. Is it "hot"? No, but you are comfortable. It's hard for me to judge how much it adds to the electric bill in the winter with everything else - lights, computers, tv etc. Overall the electric bill is between 100-150 more during the winter with all that.