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 Kitchener
Basement renovation in Kitchener plans the bedroom window with the framing, because a basement bedroom needs a window sized to code. The opening is laid out up front, not cut in once the walls are up.
- Licensed builder
- WSIB
- Years building
- 15+
- Houses completed
- 300+
What’s included
What a finished
basement takes.
Each part of the work is described below, along with how the below-grade setting affects it.
Framing, insulation and drywall
Walls framed off the foundation and insulated against the ground, with each inspection stage reviewed before the drywall closes them.
Flooring and lighting
Flooring goes in after the drywall. Lighting is laid out around the ceiling height and any duct that drops 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
The builder coordinates the trades putting wiring and pipes into the new walls, and their work is inspected before it is covered.
How it runs
One bay of it,
stage by stage.
Five stages in the same order for a room and a whole house, with one builder answering for each.
- 01
Permits
Framing and any plumbing start only once drawings are filed, as part of the finish’s building permit.
- 02
Structure
The code-sized bedroom window and any planned duct drop are settled when framing goes up.
- 03
Trades
Before the wiring is covered, the ESA authorizes it. Open walls let the wiring and plumbing go in.
- 04
Finishes
The inspection review comes first. Insulation and drywall are next, 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.
These four things are specific to a basement, not a main-floor room.
Nothing is framed against the foundation until damp and leaks have been traced, so the flooring and framing do not end up over a problem.
Wiring, plumbing and framing stay open until each inspection signs off. Insulation and drywall come after, never before.
The walls are finished first. The floor, laid last, is chosen with damp in mind, since the concrete beneath it can hold damp.
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.
A new house, a bungalow, a bath, a basement and a kitchen are all finished: three rooms and two whole homes.
01Basement Renovations
The basement as a rec room.
A smooth ceiling holds the pot lights. Oak shelving wraps the fireplace, and the stair has a matching oak finish.
01 / 05
Gallery
From the street
to the basement.
Each service has pictures, from street to basement. Any one opens whole with a tap.Whole-home street views lead, with kitchens, bathrooms and basements after. Any picture opens to show it whole.
Seen one
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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 Kitchener.
What Kitchener homeowners ask about basement renovations: what it costs, how long it takes and what the city asks for.
Anything holding the house up in the middle of the plan costs first. In Kitchener a column, lintel or beam is on the same permit list as a load-bearing wall, so a layout that needs one removed carries a permit and structural sizing before a wall is framed. Then comes what the room becomes: a bedroom is a permitted change and often needs an egress window opening, itself permitted work, a bathroom adds fixtures that need a permit, and a rec room mostly adds finishes. No figure is posted here.
A fixed duration would be a guess. In Kitchener finishing a basement requires a building permit, so permit time is booked before work begins, and a bedroom or a bathroom adds its own permit item. Two inspectors then work in the basement: the City’s, and the Electrical Safety Authority’s, whose visit covers the wiring because the City does not inspect electrical work.
Yes. Kitchener requires a building permit to finish the basement of a house, and adding a bedroom to it needs one too. Cutting a new or wider window or door opening, adding plumbing fixtures and removing a load-bearing wall, column or beam each need their own. The electrical is permitted separately, through the Electrical Safety Authority.
The Electrical Safety Authority, not the City, because the City does not review or inspect electrical work. Its inspector comes for the wiring while the framing is still open, and the City’s inspection of any new plumbing fixtures is a separate visit. Hanna Homes fits the two around each other so neither holds up the drywall.
With a permit. Kitchener puts removing a load-bearing wall, column, lintel or beam on its permit list, so a column that is in the way of the plan is not simply cut out. The plan either works around it or adds the permit and structural sizing for what replaces it, and the question is settled before the layout is drawn.
Still have a question?
Get a free estimatePeople also ask
Before you build,
people in Kitchener ask.
What people in Kitchener search before basement renovations, answered for the town.
Yes. Kitchener requires a building permit to add a bedroom to a basement, a change of use on top of the finishing permit. A new or wider window opening for the room is a permit item as well. Basement contractors in Kitchener who skip it leave the room unpermitted.
Not when the new window goes in the existing opening and no structural members change. Cutting a new or wider opening does need a building permit, which is the usual case when a bedroom needs an egress window.
Yes, as part of the work. The basement is insulated against the foundation walls behind the new drywall, and that happens under the building permit Kitchener requires for finishing a basement.
Good to know
Good to know
about basement renovations in Kitchener.
What changes the work in Kitchener: the rules, the houses and the ground.
Basement renovation permits in Kitchener
A building permit is required to finish the basement of a house in Kitchener, and adding a bedroom to the basement is a permitted change as well. One item sits in the middle of the floor: removing a load-bearing wall, column, lintel or beam is on the same list, so a column in the way is settled before the layout is drawn around it.
Cutting a new or wider window or door opening, such as for an egress window, and adding or moving plumbing fixtures are permit items too. Replacing a window or a fixture in its existing place is not. The wiring is the one piece outside the City’s file, permitted and inspected by the Electrical Safety Authority.
Basement finishing in Kitchener: the room it becomes
The basement is framed off the foundation walls, insulated, drywalled and given a finished floor, with lighting laid out for the room’s use. Wiring and pipework run behind the new walls, scheduled by the builder, and the Electrical Safety Authority inspects the wiring while it is still visible.
The room’s purpose comes first because it sets the rest. A bathroom, a bedroom, a rec room or a mix each changes where the plumbing goes, where the walls fall and which permit items apply, so Hanna Homes asks what the space is for before anything is drawn.
Basement renovation cost in Kitchener: the column, the bedroom, the bathroom
A column or beam in the way is the first line of the budget, because removing one is a permit item with structural sizing behind it. A bedroom is a permitted change that often brings an egress window opening, itself permitted work. A bathroom brings added fixtures, which need a permit, and a rec room mostly adds finishes. Hanna Homes posts no price, because the basement decides it.
Timing starts with the permit, since the finish cannot begin without it, and runs through two sets of inspections, the City’s and the Electrical Safety Authority’s.
Egress window, bedroom or bathroom: which Kitchener office permits each
A bedroom, a new window opening and a bathroom are the upgrades the City permits: Kitchener lists a bedroom added to a basement, a new or widened window or door opening, and added or moved plumbing fixtures as permit items. Lighting and wiring for a rec room or gym belong to the electrical, which the Electrical Safety Authority permits. Each one fixes where a wall or a pipe goes, so they are decided before framing starts, not after.
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