Featured Project

Basement Finish — North Logan, Utah

Fifteen hundred square feet of empty basement turned into three bedrooms, two bathrooms, an office and a kitchenette, over five and a half months.

Where
North Logan, Utah
Project
Full basement finish
Scope
1,500 sq ft — 3 bedrooms, office, 2 bathrooms, kitchenette
Cost
$154,000 in 2026
Timeline
Five and a half months

The house was a Visionary Homes build from around 2022, and the basement was exactly what a 2022 basement is: a big empty rectangle with a furnace in it. The homeowners needed to make room for a parent moving in with them, and it became clear quickly that everybody would be happier with their own space. We started pricing it in November.

Fifteen hundred square feet is a lot of basement. It came out as three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a fourth room they use as an office, a large family room, a kitchenette, and storage and closets scattered through it.

A note on the number. This was finished in 2026 at $154,000. It sits in the middle of the $120,000 to $180,000 most Cache Valley basement finishes land in. Scope is what moves that number, and fifteen hundred square feet with two bathrooms and a kitchenette is at the larger end of what we build.

What Went In Before Anything Looked Like Anything

Cache County sits in EPA Radon Zone 2, so the first thing we did was radon. An active system installed to vent it out, and a radon coating over the concrete to stop it coming through the slab. That happened before a single stud went up, because it cannot happen after.

Then framing, then the rough-ins — all new electrical on its own sub panel, all new plumbing for two bathrooms and the kitchenette, and an entirely new HVAC system that had to be installed, ducted across the whole footprint, and shot off into every room. That last one cost us a closet. One of the walk-in storage spaces on the original plans became the mechanical room, because the equipment had to live somewhere and better a closet than a bedroom.

Insulation, drywall, finish carpentry. Through all of that it flew.

Then We Got To Tile

Our tile installer showed up the week his helpers did not. What should have been a few days became two to three weeks, and everything behind it moved with it.

Then the vanity. Sixty inches wide, single sink, builder grade — a fair amount of money but not a crazy amount. We ordered it four times. The first order, the supplier called to say they no longer had it. The second arrived as a cabinet with no top. The third arrived with a top, and the top was cracked. The fourth one was right, and it looks great, and I have never been so happy to see a bathroom vanity.

There are only so many sixty-inch single-sink vanities in that range. Sometimes the answer is just to order it again.

The Part That Was My Fault

They wanted floating shelves in the kitchenette, added partway through. I gave them two options: cheap particle shelves we would splice together to span the run, or custom alder ones built properly. They had already put a lot into the project, so they took the cheaper option. Reasonable.

The shelves arrived after paint was done and the cabinets were in. I installed them and they were awful. Floppy. Bouncy. They would not hold anything. The bracket was so flimsy that nothing I did was going to fix it. From across the room they passed. Up close they did not.

I should not have offered them. I was trying to be the nice guy and give them a cheaper way through, and instead I put my name on something I could not stand behind. That is on me, not on them.

So we replaced them with the alder. I ate the material cost, called in every favor I had, and they ended up paying a fraction of what the upgrade would have cost if they had chosen it at the start. They are beautiful now. That is the way it should have been sold in the first place.

Where It Landed

$154,000, five and a half months, finished in 2026. A few quirks, as there always are. We have done the 30-day check-in and everyone is happy, and I will be back at six months and twelve.

The person it was built for is enjoying the space, which was the entire point.

Start To Finish

Bare concrete basement slab with settlement cracks marked before any framing went upBefore: bare slab, cracks markedClose view of a marked crack in the basement slab before the finish beganBefore: crack detailFirst stud walls going up on the bare basement slabFraming startsFramed basement walls laid out across the full fifteen hundred square feetFraming across 1,500 sq ftFramed hallway running between the new basement bedroomsHallway framedFramed bedroom and closet openings in the North Logan basementBedrooms and closets framedEgress window opening cut into the basement foundation wallEgress opening cutNew electrical rough-in wiring pulled through the basement framingElectrical rough-inCeiling joists carrying new plumbing lines and ductwork above the framingPlumbing and duct overheadNew HVAC ductwork routed through the basement framingNew ductwork runEgress window set into the new opening with daylight coming throughEgress window inFinished egress window well seen from outside the houseWindow well from outsideWall insulation in place with recessed can lights roughed into the ceilingInsulation and can lightsDrywall hung on the basement ceiling with HVAC openings cutDrywall on the ceilingTaped and mudded drywall in a finished basement bedroomTaped and muddedWall and ceiling texture applied before paintTexture onTextured basement hallway ready for paintHallway ready for paintKitchenette cabinet boxes staged on the basement floor before installKitchenette cabinets stagedBathroom vanity cabinets set in placeVanity cabinets setLuxury vinyl plank flooring going down across the basement family roomVinyl plank going downRed waterproofing membrane applied in the shower before tileShower waterproofingTiled shower pan in the new basement bathroomShower pan tiledHexagon floor tile set in the basement bathroomBathroom floor tileQuartz countertops being set on the kitchenette cabinetsQuartz going onInstaller fitting quartz countertop in the basement kitchenetteCountertop installFinished walk-in closet with white shelvingWalk-in closet shelvingFinished shower tiled floor to ceiling in dark navy tileNavy tile showerFrench doors installed at the basement officeFrench doors at the officeNew exterior concrete pad poured beside the houseNew concrete pad outsideFreshly poured concrete at the driveway approachDriveway concreteFinished basement kitchenette with alder floating shelves above navy hexagon tileKitchenette with alder shelvesKitchenette sink and faucet against a navy hexagon tile backsplashSink and navy hex tileWide view of the finished basement kitchenette with cabinets and floating shelvingKitchenette, wideFinished basement family room with vinyl plank flooring and daylight windowsFamily room finishedWaterfall quartz island in the finished basement kitchenetteWaterfall quartz islandMarble-look tiled shower and vanity in the finished basement bathroomMarble-look shower and vanityBasement bathroom vanity with framed mirror and sconce lightingVanity, mirror and sconcesBasement bathroom with a navy tiled shower and white vanityNavy tile bathroomSecond finished basement bathroom with a wide single-sink vanitySecond bathroom vanity

From The Job Site

Short clips filmed as the work went. They start partway through — we were photographing from day one but had not gotten into the habit of filming yet, and by the time we did we were already into tile.

Thinking About Something Like This?

Tell us what you are trying to change. We will confirm the permit path for your address, give you a real range, and say honestly if we are not the right company for it.

Request An Estimate
See Basement Pricing