01Basements
The basement used to be storage and a furnace. Now it’s a family room the kids actually want to be in. A clear quote, no surprises, and the site was swept every night.
Rooms · 07 · The basement, finished
Basement Renovations in Cambridge
Basement renovation in Cambridge puts the flooring in last, once the walls are finished, and chooses it for the concrete slab underneath. Framing, insulation and drywall come first, in that order.
- Licensed builder
- WSIB
- Years building
- 15+
- Houses completed
- 300+
What’s included
What a finished
basement takes.
Covered here: each part of a basement renovation, and how a below-grade space changes it.
Framing, insulation and drywall
Insulation goes on the ground side of framing set off the foundation. The drywall closes it after each inspection stage gets its review.
Flooring and lighting
Once the drywall is up, flooring goes in. Lighting follows the ceiling height, plus any duct dropping below it.
A bathroom, bedroom or rec room
Before framing begins, each room’s plan has any window opening and its plumbing on it, which leaves nothing to cut in later.
Electrical and plumbing, coordinated
Wiring and pipes run inside the new walls, on trades the builder coordinates, and nothing is covered until it is inspected.
How it runs
One bay of it,
stage by stage.
Whole houses and rooms alike follow the same order: five stages, each answered for by one builder.
- 01
Permits
Before work on framing or plumbing starts, drawings go in for the finish’s building permit.
- 02
Structure
Any duct drop is planned ahead, and framing is built around a code-sized bedroom window.
- 03
Trades
Wiring and plumbing go into open walls. The ESA authorizes the wiring before it is covered.
- 04
Finishes
Insulation and drywall once the inspection stage is reviewed, then flooring and lighting.
- 05
Handover
Handing the finished basement over comes after the final inspections get signed off.
Why Hanna Homes
Why one builder
for all of it.
Basements bring four demands that rooms on the main floor don’t.
Damp and leaks are traced before the walls go against the foundation, so the framing and the flooring are not built over a problem.
Drywall and insulation never go up ahead of the inspections. Until each one signs off, the framing, wiring and plumbing stay open.
Concrete can hold damp, so the floor that goes over it is picked with that in mind and laid last, once the walls are finished.
The window in a basement bedroom has to be code-sized, so it goes on the plan with the framing, not cut in last.
Start with a call.
Client reviews
Their house,
their words.
Whole homes and single rooms, in the words of the people who live in them.
02Whole home
We put off the whole house for years because we couldn’t picture living through it. Akram walked us through every stage before it started, and each week went the way he said it would.
03Kitchens
The crew covered the floors and cleaned up at the end of every day, which mattered with two kids at home. The new kitchen is the room everyone ends up in now. Worth every week of takeout.
04Custom homes
Building a new house was the biggest decision we’ve ever made, and it never felt rushed. We walked the site most Saturdays and always knew exactly where things stood.
05Basement apartments
We turned the basement into a unit for my mother-in-law. She has her own entrance and her own kitchen, and we still get Sunday dinners. The paperwork I was dreading turned out to be the part I thought about least.
06Additions
We needed more room but didn’t want to leave the street. The second storey went on over the summer, and from the sidewalk you’d think the house was always built that way.
07Bathrooms
One bathroom is a small job for a builder, but they treated it like the whole house. The tile lines up, the door finally closes properly, and they finished the week they said they would.
08Knockdown & rebuild
Our old bungalow wasn’t worth saving, so we took it down and built new on the same lot. They kept the neighbours in the loop from demolition to the final walk-through. We love coming home to it.
09Whole home
We bought an older house knowing it needed everything. Akram was straight with us from the first visit about what was worth keeping. Every room is new to us now, and it still feels like the house we fell for.
10Kitchens
Third builder we spoke to, and the only one who returned every call. When we changed our minds about the island halfway through, they made it work without any drama.
01 / 10
Projects
Selected work,
inside and out.
Three rooms are done: a kitchen, a basement and a bath. So are two whole homes, a new house and a bungalow.
01Basement Renovations
The basement as a rec room.
Pot lights in a smooth ceiling, oak shelving round a fireplace, and the stair finished in oak to match.
01 / 05
Gallery
From the street
to the basement.
Every service is covered, street to basement. A tap on any picture shows it whole.Whole homes from the street, then kitchens, bathrooms and basements. Open any picture to see it whole.
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13 pictures: Whole homes · Kitchens · Bathrooms · Basements
Service area
Within an hour
of Burlington.
Towns we build in
- 01BurlingtonHaltonHome base
- 02HamiltonHamiltonby Hwy 403, 15 min, 18 km by road, approximately
- 03OakvilleHaltonby the QEW, 20 min, 24 km by road, approximately
- 04AncasterHamiltonby Hwy 403, 25 min, 28 km by road, approximately
- 05MiltonHaltonby Hwy 407, 30 min, 30 km by road, approximately
- 06MississaugaPeelby Hwy 407 and Hwy 403, 30 min, 41 km by road, approximately
- 07CambridgeWaterloo Regionby Hwy 8 and Hwy 5, 45 min, 51 km by road, approximately
- 08KitchenerWaterloo Regionby Hwy 6 and Hwy 401, 55 min, 72 km by road, approximately
And anywhere else inside the line.
Common questions
Common questions
in Cambridge.
What Cambridge homeowners ask about basement renovations: what it costs, how long it takes and what the city asks for.
What moves the cost here is mostly what the basement becomes. A bathroom adds plumbing or drains, which Cambridge lists as permit work. A bedroom adds an egress window. A rec room mostly adds lighting and finishes. The address is also checked against the conservation authority’s regulation limit before pricing, so any conservation permit shows early. No figure is posted here.
Hanna Homes states no duration. In Cambridge the permit comes before work, and the framing, plumbing and electrical are each inspected before they are closed in, on dates requested at least 24 hours ahead. A bathroom adds plumbing to those inspections, and a room whose use is decided late adds changes to the plan.
Yes. Finishing a basement in Ontario needs a building permit, and Cambridge’s own list names interior structural alterations, adding or removing walls, and plumbing or drains, which a basement with a new bathroom or a moved wall runs into. Inspectors look at the framing, insulation, plumbing and electrical in stages, and Hanna Homes handles the application.
Both run inside the new walls, so they go in after the framing and before the insulation and drywall, and both are inspected before the walls close. Hanna Homes coordinates the trades, so you do not hire them yourself. A new bathroom is where Cambridge’s rule on plumbing or drains applies.
The address is looked up before a price is given. Hanna Homes enters it in the Grand River Conservation Authority’s Map Your Property tool and reads the Regulation Limit layer, which shows whether the lot sits on regulated land. The lookup tells you early whether a conservation permit could join the City’s, so it is known before the drawings go in and not after.
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Get a free estimatePeople also ask
Before you build,
people in Cambridge ask.
What people in Cambridge search before basement renovations, answered for the town.
The framing, insulation, plumbing and electrical stay uncovered until the inspector has seen them, on a date the permit holder requests at least 24 hours ahead. Hanna Homes books each visit as its stage finishes and hangs the drywall only afterwards, so no wall is opened twice.
Adding or removing a wall, altering interior structure, and plumbing or drains. A basement bathroom runs into the third, and a bedroom framed with new partitions into the first. Lighting, flooring and paint alone are not what the list names.
At least 24 hours before the date wanted, by phoning the inspector named on the building permit once a stage is ready. Hanna Homes makes the call as the framing, plumbing or electrical wraps up, so the crew is not left waiting on a date.
Good to know
Good to know
about basement renovations in Cambridge.
What changes the work in Cambridge: the rules, the houses and the ground.
Basement renovation permits in Cambridge
Finishing a basement in Ontario needs a building permit. In Cambridge a basement that adds a bathroom, takes out a wall or alters structure also lands on the City’s list of permit work, which names plumbing or drains, walls and interior structural alterations. The permit is in hand before framing starts.
Inspections follow the build. Once a stage is ready the inspector is called, at least a day before the date wanted, and the framing, insulation, plumbing and electrical stay open until seen. Closing the drywall is the last thing the schedule allows, not the first.
Basement finishing in Cambridge, in the order inspectors see it
The frame goes up off the foundation walls first, with insulation set between it and the foundation. Electrical and plumbing then run inside the new walls, lined up by the builder, and both are inspected before the drywall covers them. A finished floor and lighting laid out for the room’s use come last.
Whether it ends up a bathroom, a bedroom, a rec room or a mix decides the rest. A bedroom needs an egress window, and a bathroom puts drains on the City’s permit list, so the use is chosen before the walls are laid out.
Basement renovation in Cambridge: what a bathroom adds to price and dates
Cost follows what the space becomes. A bathroom adds plumbing or drains, which the City lists as permit work, and a bedroom adds an egress window, while a rec room is mostly lighting and finishes. How far the drawings go sets the rest, and no figure is posted on this page.
Timing is the permit first, then each inspection on the inspector’s date. No duration is stated on this page, because the dates that matter most are the City’s.
Basement contractors in Cambridge: the Grand River lookup before the quote
A lot near the Grand or Speed River, or on a valley slope, is where a conservation permit is most likely to matter. The Grand River Conservation Authority regulates land in or near rivers, streams, wetlands, steep slopes and floodplains. Before a basement is priced, Hanna Homes looks the address up in the authority’s Map Your Property tool, on the Regulation Limit layer, so an owner learns early whether a conservation permit applies to the lot.
The City’s building permit is a separate track, and the lookup does not replace it. It shows whether a second approval might join it, so the plan, the permit application and the schedule are set with that answer already in hand. A contractor who skips the lookup leaves the question for later.
Other services
Other services,
same builder.
The other rooms we take on, with the same builder from the first call to handover.
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Tell us what thebasement should be.
Send us the basement as it is now and what the room should hold. We start with the ceiling height, the window and the permit.
Licensed builder
Burlington, Ontario
15+ years
Building
300+ houses
Completed