I recently got a quote of $15,000 for framing and drywall in my basement, which is around 600 square feet, in the Denver area. I was really taken aback by this price and I'm starting to wonder if I'm being unrealistic in thinking that it's way too high. Notably, there's no electrical or plumbing involved. Is this a reasonable estimate?
2 Answers
That does seem a bit steep! Is that quote just for labor?
Let's break this down. If you’re not pulling a permit, that usually means no insulation, which might complicate things a bit. If we assume a simple setup, like no interior walls, at about $4 per square foot for drywall, you’re looking at roughly 1400 square feet (including the ceiling). That would cost around $5,600 just for drywall. For framing, considering some ductwork, you might be around $5,000 there too. So even just adding those two together gets you close to $10,600 before considering any project management costs or markup. A 20% overhead on top of that can easily push it to around $15,120. So it could very well be in the ballpark!
Wow, that's a detailed breakdown! But I'd want to check if the insulation might cause extra costs—do you think it needs to be redone?
Good point! I wonder why you would need to move electrical as well? Seems like that could drive costs up even more.
It's for both labor and materials.