Basement Remodeling Seattle — Conversions & ADUs

What’s Included in a Basement Conversion?

Everything from framing to final walkthrough, under one roof. We’re a design-build general contractor with our trades in-house, which matters more downstairs than almost anywhere else in a house.

• Framing & layout — walls, soffits to hide ductwork, and egress windows or doors wherever bedrooms are planned
• Moisture management — handled before insulation and drywall, not discovered after
• Plumbing & electrical — licensed in-house trades, dedicated circuits, permits handled
• Kitchens & kitchenettes — full appliance runs, or a compact prep kitchen for an ADU
• Bathrooms — including below-grade drainage and proper shower waterproofing
• Built-ins & finish carpentry — media walls, storage, trim, and doors

One project manager, one schedule, one crew. You don’t chase subcontractors and we don’t pass blame.

Can You Put a Full Kitchen in a Basement?

Yes — and it’s the decision that turns a finished basement into an actual dwelling. Once a kitchen is in the plan you’re into supply lines, drainage, venting, dedicated circuits, and permits, and the project stops being a finish job. That’s exactly the work we do in-house, which is why we take it on.

The Mercer Island basement at the top of this page became a full apartment: gas range, dishwasher, laundry in the same run of cabinets, a gas fireplace, and a window pulling real daylight into a floor that had none. The NE Seattle basement in this photo went the compact route, with an induction cooktop, sink, microwave, butcher block counters, and enough storage that nothing has to live on the countertop.

Getting plumbing and power into a room that was never designed for either is the same problem-solving we used to put an award-winning bathroom into an attic.

What Makes a Basement Harder Than It Looks?

Ceiling height is the constraint everything else bends around. Upstairs you relocate a duct. Downstairs you route around it, box it into a soffit, or give up headroom you can’t spare. The same goes for beams, waste lines, and the main panel.

Moisture comes next, and it has to be solved before insulation and drywall rather than found afterward. Then there’s egress: any room you intend to call a bedroom needs a code-compliant way out, which often means cutting a new window well into the foundation.

None of this is exotic, but it does have to be sequenced by someone who has done it before. See how we run a project →

What About Media Rooms and Play Rooms?

Not every basement needs to become an apartment. This one had a large, awkward wall that had quietly become the family catch-all. Our designer worked with the homeowners to fill it with a two-tiered media center: cabinets to the ceiling, a recessed opening sized for the TV, and closed storage running the full length of the wall.

Every media cable tucks into the chase behind the cabinets and the components sit behind doors, so the wall reads as millwork rather than electronics. Read how we built it →

What Drives the Cost of a Basement Remodel?

Scope moves the number far more than square footage does. A basement that already has height, dry walls, and a bathroom rough-in is a finish job. One that needs a new egress window cut into the foundation, a kitchen plumbed from scratch, and ductwork rerouted is a different project at exactly the same size.

The biggest single jump is adding a kitchen or a bathroom, because that’s where permits, licensed trades, and inspections enter the picture. Egress windows, moisture remediation, and low headroom are the three that tend to surprise people after that.

We give fixed-price proposals after a free in-home consultation, laid out line by line, so you know which of those apply to your basement before anything starts.