Why Does This 1,014 sqft Basement Finish in Herriman, Utah Cost $68,864?
What does it actually cost to finish a basement in Herriman? Square footage, the bathroom, and whether you add a kitchenette matter far more than how many bedrooms you plan. A real quote shows exactly where the money goes.
In this video, Preston, the owner of RemodelCo, walks through an actual quote for a 1,014-square-foot basement finish in Herriman, Utah. The total came to $68,864, or about $67.91 per square foot, with RemodelCo handling permits, materials, inspections, and the work from start to finish.
Watch the full video below, then read the cost breakdown and the full transcript.
In this video, we cover:
This Herriman basement is 1,014 square feet and was completely unfinished, so there was no demolition. The homeowners wanted one bedroom, one bathroom, a kitchenette, and a large living area. A second room could have been a bedroom, but they chose to use it as a flex space with a sliding barn door instead.
The homeowners chose a budget-friendly bathroom and kitchenette while keeping the same quality of work: cultured marble shower walls, a prefabricated vanity, and a kitchenette with lower cabinets, quartz countertops, a sink, and space for a mini fridge and microwave.
RemodelCo works on basements throughout Salt Lake County and Utah County, and pricing like this applies across Herriman, Daybreak, Lehi, Saratoga Springs, Eagle Mountain, and nearby communities with newer construction.
This is a quote, not a completed project. The images in this post are AI-generated renderings of what the finished basement would likely look like, not photos of this home.
Rendering: the living area, with the sliding barn door to the flex room. AI-generated concept, not a photo of this home.
Bedroom count doesn't change the price much. Turning the flex room into a second bedroom would add only a little framing and drywall. The biggest cost factors are:
Here is how the $68,864 total breaks down. Section totals come from the estimate, and individual line items use the figures given in the video, some of which were rounded when spoken.
Pre-construction, permits, and protection ($2,922):
Rough-in work:
Framing, HVAC, drywall, paint, and doors ($29,621, the largest section):
Flooring ($10,116):
Bathroom ($5,079):
Rendering: the bathroom, with cultured marble shower walls, a prefabricated vanity, and LVP flooring. AI-generated concept, not a photo of this home.
Kitchenette ($7,078):
Rendering: the kitchenette, with LVP around the cabinets so spills land on hard flooring instead of carpet. AI-generated concept, not a photo of this home.
Electrical finish and safety ($3,636):
Final clean ($915):
Total quoted: $68,864, about $67.91 per square foot.
This transcript has been lightly edited for readability, with section headings added. The video above is unedited.
If you're wondering how much it costs to finish a basement in Herriman, Utah, this video is for you. Today we're going to walk through a real basement finishing quote for a roughly 1,000-square-foot basement in Herriman. I'll show you the actual numbers, break down where the money goes, and give you an idea of what you can expect to pay for a basement finish like this.
We do most of our basement finishing throughout Salt Lake County and Utah County. These numbers are going to be the same whether you're in Herriman, Daybreak, Lehi, Saratoga Springs, Eagle Mountain, wherever. Those are the cities where we do most of our basement finishes, because that's where most of the new construction is in the Salt Lake City area.
I'm Preston, the owner of RemodelCo. We specialize in basement finishing, kitchen remodels, bathroom remodels, and whole-home remodels in the greater Salt Lake City area. So let's dive into this quote and see what it costs to actually finish a basement in Herriman and those areas.
Like I mentioned, this is approximately 1,000 square feet, 1,014 square feet by our measurements. This basement includes a bathroom and a kitchenette. Before I dive into each part of the price, the overall price was $68,864, which is approximately $67.91 per square foot.
The layout they wanted was one bedroom, one bathroom, and a kitchenette with a large living area. There was another room that could be used as a bedroom, but they wanted it as a flex space, so they're putting a sliding barn door on it instead. If you wanted to turn that into two bedrooms, it's really not going to change the cost much. It's just a tiny bit more framing and drywall, but it's basically the same price.
Whether you do one bedroom, two bedrooms, or however many bedrooms you want in a basement, the bedroom count really doesn't change the price that much. What really affects the price of a basement is whether you're doing a kitchen, a kitchenette, a dry bar, or nothing, and the quality of your kitchenette and your bathroom. Those are the biggest driving factors of basement finishing costs. And also the total size of your basement. A 500-square-foot basement is going to be a lot less expensive than a 1,000-square-foot basement, and a 1,000-square-foot basement is going to be a lot less expensive than a 1,500- or 2,000-square-foot basement.
In the bathroom on this one, we're doing a cultured marble shower and a prefabricated vanity with a sink. We have flexibility on the quality of bathrooms that we do. We could do a custom tile shower with high-end frameless glass and custom cabinets and counters that match the kitchenette. These clients wanted to stay with a more budget option but still good, high-quality work, and that's what this quote is for.
The kitchenette is not a dry bar. It's a kitchenette with a sink and a faucet, I think three or four lower cabinets, and quartz countertops with a small backsplash. It also has space for a mini fridge and a microwave. The appliances are typically homeowner-provided, but this quote includes us installing them and getting them installed the right way.
Throughout the basement, we're covering everything. We're doing full permits, all the framing, and all the drywall, and we'll protect the inside of your house, like the upstairs, for anything we have to bring through. We bring the majority of the materials through a basement window so we're not risking damage to the upstairs or getting it dirty. There might be some small things we need to bring through the upstairs, but we'll lay down Ram Board along that path of travel and protect all of it.
When we're doing the drywall, there's going to be a lot of dust, so we seal off the doors to any of the finished spaces upstairs. That way, none of that dust enters the rest of your home. Now let's look at each item line by line so you can see the pricing.
First, permits and project admin. This is typically a percentage of the total job cost, and on this one we're charging about $2,000 to do all the permits.
Site protection and dust containment is what I just talked about: protecting the upstairs of your home. This is pretty minimal, just $222.
Debris removal and dump runs cover any debris we have. In this basement, there's no demo because it's totally unfinished right now, but we'll have to throw away the scraps from the framing, the flooring, and a bunch of drywall. That's $693.
Electrical rough-in is running the electrical lines throughout the entire basement, and it's just over $5,000. This includes all lights, outlets, switches, exhaust fans, anything you want. We'll always do it to code. These clients didn't want anything excessive beyond what's required by code, but this still includes four can lights in each bedroom and multiple can lights elsewhere. This is going to be a well-lit basement that looks really clean and bright with the electrical finish that we do.
Plumbing rough-in, at $4,420, is running the water lines and adjusting any drains as needed for everything in the bathroom: the shower, the toilet, the vanity, and also the kitchenette. Builders usually build a basement with the bathroom drains already in place. Sometimes we have to move those slightly, and we'll be able to tell if we come out and do a quote. Typically we do have to move the drain just a little bit to line it up with the tub, the shower, or whatever you want.
Framing is pretty straightforward. Most builders build basements where only the load-bearing walls are framed. Maybe a mechanical room will be framed out, but the perimeter walls typically aren't. So this covers all the perimeter walls, plus any new walls and new doors we're adding. That's $8,000 for the framing.
HVAC ductwork and supply vents is running HVAC to every room and every area, along with the supply vents. This is $3,700.
Drywall is finished to a level 3 with a light spray texture. This is standard drywall, nothing fancy with a special texture throughout. It isn't level 5, which is fully smooth. This is standard, good-quality drywall without any blemishes, and we're at $7,700 for that.
These clients wanted one-tone paint, so everything is the same color: ceilings, doors, trim, and walls. We're just under $5,000 for that.
Doors and hardware covers all the doors throughout the basement. On this one, I think it was the bedroom, the bathroom, the bedroom closet, and the door to the under-stair storage, so four doors. That's $2,268.
These clients wanted a sliding barn door, and they wanted to pick it out themselves, which is totally fine. So we just quoted for installing it, which is $124, and they're providing the barn door.
We find that approach works well for barn doors, tile, or anything where the cost could vary a lot depending on the material selection. You could find a barn door for $400 or $500, or you could find one for $3,000 or $4,000, depending on the quality you want. We don't know which barn door the clients will pick when we're quoting, so we typically say: you find the door, buy it, get it shipped here, and we'll install it. That way we're not changing the price afterward. We aim for a really good client experience, and most clients really like that, because they get to pick whatever they want and they know our price isn't going to change.
Baseboard is basic baseboard throughout the basement, at $1,800. Stair skirting is basically the same thing as baseboard, but on the stairs, and that's $568. Closet shelving is $301, which is a standard closet shelf and rod for the bedroom closet.
For flooring, what they want, and what we recommend, is LVP in the bathroom and in a small area around the kitchenette. LVP is hard flooring, it's the lowest-cost hard flooring you can get, and it's what we see most often in basements. Sometimes people want tile in a basement bathroom, which is fine, and we're happy to do that. LVP looks really good, and in this basement it's just near the kitchenette and in the bathroom. The LVP is almost $1,300.
Carpet and pad covers the rest of the basement, including the stairs. The carpet and pad without the stair installation is $8,500, and the additional stair labor is another $300. So all in, the carpet is roughly $8,800.
Now let's get into the bathroom. This one is just a shower, with a flat shower pan and three shower panel walls. It's very similar to a shower insert, and that's $3,000. Those shower panels come in different patterns. You could choose plain white or gray, or white with a gray vein that gives it a cultured marble look.
The prefabricated vanity is a high-quality vanity with the countertop and sink already included. We provide the faucet, the P-trap, the supply lines, and everything else. The vanity, with materials and installation, is close to $1,100.
Then the toilet, faucet, and shower trim installation, which is putting on all the faucets, the shower head, and all that, is $770.
For a kitchenette, the cabinets and counters are obviously the most expensive part. The kitchenette cabinets are almost $2,400, and the countertop for this one is $3,700.
On higher-end basements, a lot of people want the bathroom vanity to match the kitchenette exactly. We can totally do that. It's usually a higher cost, because kitchenette cabinets are a little more expensive. They're not fully custom, but they're higher quality, and we go through a specialty cabinet and counter provider. We don't ever buy prefabricated kitchenettes.
Sink and faucet installation is $568. Appliance installation, which is us installing the appliances the client is providing, is almost $400.
Electrical finish, which we talked about a little with the electrical rough-in, is doing the lights, outlets, and switches everywhere. That's $2,200. A single vanity light in the bathroom is $200.
Then there are the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Everything is to code to make sure the basement is built safely and passes the city's inspections. The smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are $437, and the bathroom exhaust fan vented outside is just under $800.
The last item is the final construction clean, which gets everything in the basement to a totally finished level. We clean up each day, so your basement is never left in disarray, but there's always some final cleaning and touch-ups at the end. We'll vacuum the carpet, clean any dust that got on a windowsill, and get everything perfect for the homeowner. That's just under $1,000.
So all in all, we're close to $70,000. We're at $68,864 for this. The kitchenette alone is about $7,000, so if you took off the kitchenette, you'd be closer to $60,000.
We build all of our quotes custom to whatever the homeowner wants. What typically happens is that homeowners want everything when we're quoting it. Then they might see it and say, "Hey, our budget was actually closer to $60,000. We really like you guys, and we can tell you're really professional. We want to use you, but what can we change in the scope to adjust the budget?" Then we can have those conversations. If the kitchenette is a maybe for you and you want to stay closer to $60,000, we'd be happy to take it off and reduce the scope by about $7,000. We try to be really flexible with our quotes and how we build them, because we want to provide a very positive client experience.
We're not the cheap contractor. We see ourselves as a professional remodeling team. We've got office staff, a head of construction who oversees everything, and daily communication on your project. We try to provide the quality experience you get with a more experienced, reputable contractor. If that's what you're looking for, we'd love to come out and do a quote for your basement finish.
I just realized I never showed the renderings in the video, so here they are. These are AI-generated renderings based on what this basement would likely look like after everything is completed.
This is the kitchenette. You can see the base cabinets, and the LVP I talked about in an area around the kitchenette. That way, any liquids or spills land on the LVP and not the carpet, and it's much easier to clean up.
This would be the living room. That's the barn door I talked about, on the other room over there.
And this would be the bathroom. As I mentioned, it has a prefabricated vanity, and the shower isn't fully a shower insert, but it's similar. We call them cultured marble walls. These clients didn't want glass. We typically do glass on these, but they wanted a rod and a curtain for this one.
I hope you like the renderings, and thanks for watching.
The quote for this 1,014-square-foot basement in Herriman was $68,864, or about $67.91 per square foot. That price includes permits, materials, project management, protection of the upstairs, and the work from start to finish.
Not much. Adding a bedroom takes only a little more framing and drywall. The kitchenette or kitchen, the bathroom finish level, and the overall square footage have a much bigger effect on price.
In this quote, the kitchenette added about $7,000, including cabinets, a quartz countertop, sink and faucet installation, and installation of homeowner-provided appliances. Without it, this basement would have been closer to $60,000.
Yes. For items where prices vary widely, such as barn doors or appliances, RemodelCo can quote installation only. You pick and buy the item, and the installation price does not change based on what you choose.
Options from this quote include choosing a cultured marble shower and a prefabricated vanity instead of custom tile and cabinetry, using one-tone paint, using LVP only where hard flooring is needed, and removing or scaling back a kitchenette. RemodelCo can adjust the scope to fit your budget.
Every basement is different, but the questions are usually the same: what is included, where the money goes, and where you can save without losing quality.
Want to see more? Read our real basement finish estimate in Daybreak, South Jordan, or visit our video gallery for client interviews and more basement finishing videos.
If you are planning a basement finish in Herriman, Salt Lake County, or Utah County, learn more about our basement finishing services or contact RemodelCo to talk through your floor plan, finishes, and budget.