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 Milton
Basement renovations in Milton work on a bare basement or one that is already finished. Any damp or leak is traced and dealt with first, so nothing is framed or floored over it.
- 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
Any duct hanging below the ceiling, and the ceiling height, shape where lighting goes. Flooring is the step after drywall.
A bathroom, bedroom or rec room
Drawings for each room come before framing and show where the pipes and any window opening go, so nothing has to be cut in afterwards.
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 run in the same order on a room or a whole house, and one builder is accountable for each.
- 01
Permits
Framing and any plumbing start only once drawings are filed, as part of 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
Walls are open for the wiring and plumbing. The wiring gets ESA authorization before it is covered.
- 04
Finishes
Drywall and insulation wait for the inspection review, then flooring and lighting follow.
- 05
Handover
Once the final inspections are signed off, the basement is handed over finished.
Why Hanna Homes
Why one builder
for all of it.
Basements bring four demands that rooms on the main floor don’t.
Tracing damp and leaks comes first, before any wall goes up against the foundation. That keeps the framing and flooring from covering a problem.
Each inspection has to sign off before wiring, plumbing and framing are closed up. Insulation and drywall come later, never earlier.
Flooring is laid last, when the walls are finished, and it is chosen to suit the concrete under it, which can hold damp.
A bedroom in a basement must have a code-sized window, drawn in at the framing stage and not added at the end.
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.
Two whole homes and three rooms, each one finished: a bungalow, a new house, a kitchen, a bath and a basement.
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.
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 Milton.
What Milton homeowners ask about basement renovations: what it costs, how long it takes and what the city asks for.
Drawings come into the price before any framing does. Milton requires a building permit to finish a basement, and the same permit covers a window or door you add, so a new opening is drawn and priced with the finish instead of being cut in afterwards. A bathroom puts plumbing on top of that. No figure is given here, since the plan is what gets priced.
Milton's permit date is the first line of the schedule: nothing in the basement starts until the permit is issued, and that includes new windows and doors. So a start date is offered only once the permit date is known. Inspections follow the work after that, and a bathroom is decided before framing so its plumbing is not reopened mid-job.
Yes. Milton requires a building permit for finishing a basement, and for adding windows or doors, so the work cannot start until the permit is issued. Hanna Homes sees the application through, with the inspections as part of the renovation.
Yes, and it goes on the same application. Milton lists adding windows or doors next to finishing a basement as work that needs a building permit, so an opening is drawn with the framing rather than cut in once the walls are up. Where it goes is settled against the layout, since it decides which room the light reaches and which wall carries the new frame.
It becomes a different job. A separate unit needs its own entrance, kitchen and bathroom, fire separation and egress, with its own permit and inspections, and Hanna Homes builds those as a service of their own. If that is the plan, say so before the basement is finished, so the work is laid out once.
Still have a question?
Get a free estimatePeople also ask
Before you build,
people in Milton ask.
What people in Milton search before basement renovations, answered for the town.
Ask who lines up both, and when. The builder arranges the electrical and plumbing, and both are run before drywall closes the walls, so they should sit on the schedule ahead of the finishes.
A gym needs a clear floor, lighting that suits it and outlets where the equipment will stand, so the layout is drawn first and the wiring follows it. With no plumbing, it stays off the critical path of the schedule. The permit for finishing the basement still applies in Milton.
Yes. The theatre is planned with the permit: finishing a basement needs a building permit in Milton, and any window or door changed in the room is on the same application. The wiring and lighting are laid out before drywall closes the walls, which is what keeps the cables out of sight.
Good to know
Good to know
about basement renovations in Milton.
What changes the work in Milton: the rules, the houses and the ground.
Basement renovation permits in Milton
Milton requires a building permit for finishing a basement or adding windows or doors. Nothing in the basement starts until the permit is issued, so the permit date is set before the schedule is. The application, and the inspections that follow it, are part of the job Hanna Homes takes on.
Source: Town of Milton: building permits
Basement finishing in Milton, step by step
The scope starts with the walls and ceiling, meaning framing, insulation and drywall, then moves to flooring and lighting, with electrical and plumbing lined up by the builder. A bare basement is finished and a finished one is redone, with the same steps applied to what is already there. Bathroom, bedroom or rec room is decided at the drawing stage, so the plan names it.
New windows or doors fall under the same Milton permit as the finishing itself, so they are planned with the framing, not added to it.
Basement renovation cost and timing in Milton
In Milton the first cost is the paper: the drawings the permit requires, which show any new window or door as well as the finished walls. They come before any framing. A bathroom then adds its plumbing, and a bedroom adds an egress opening, which is one more reason to name the rooms at the start.
Timing follows the permit date. Nothing starts before it, and after it the work runs through framing, trades, drywall and finishes with the Town's inspections along the way. Settling the bathroom early keeps plumbing from being opened into the middle of the sequence.
Basement upgrades in Milton: what the room can hold
Once the walls are framed and the electrical is run, the room can carry more than one use. A home gym or a theatre asks for the same things: lighting, flooring and wiring placed for the purpose. Because Milton's permit takes in windows and doors, any opening you want for daylight is worth deciding at the same time. Choosing the uses before the plan is drawn is what stops the electrical and plumbing from being reopened.
Other services
Other services,
same builder.
The other rooms we take on, with the same builder from the first call to handover.
All services
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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