We’ve got an unfinished basement in Des Plaines, about 800 square feet

[John]

Hi folks. We’ve got an unfinished basement in Des Plaines, about 800 square feet, just concrete floor and exposed joists. With a second kid on the way, we really need the space: a playroom, maybe a small home office for me, and eventually a guest room. The basement stays dry as far as I can tell, though it gets cold down there in winter. I have no idea where to start or what something like this usually costs. We’d also like to avoid a project that drags on for months with a newborn in the house. Has anyone finished a basement recently, and who did you use?

[Konstantin]

An 800 square foot dry basement is a great starting point, honestly that’s the hard part already solved. We finished ours in Evanston a while back with Handy Eagle Pro https://handyeaglepro.com/basement-finishing/ and it went smoothly. On the first visit they asked how we wanted to use the space and suggested splitting it into a playroom and a small office with a door, which turned out to be perfect for work calls. They framed it out, insulated the exterior walls (that fixed the winter chill), put in drywall, flooring and lighting, and the quote they gave up front matched the final bill. Took a bit longer than I hoped since we changed the layout once mid-project, that’s on us though. Do you already know where the guest room would go? Planning that now is easier than tearing out walls later.