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 Burlington
Basement renovation in Burlington, whether the basement is bare or already finished. The ceiling height, the bedroom window and what runs behind the walls are settled before framing starts.
- Years building
- 15+
- Houses completed
- 300+
- Rated
- 5★
What’s included
What a finished
basement takes.
What a basement renovation covers, and what being below grade changes about each part.
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
Each room is drawn up before framing, with its plumbing and any window opening placed on the plan, so nothing is 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.
Five stages in the same order for a room and a whole house, with one builder answering for each.
- 01
Permits
A building permit for the finish, with drawings filed before framing or any plumbing starts.
- 02
Structure
Framing goes up with the bedroom window sized to code and any duct drop already planned.
- 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
The last inspections are signed off and the finished basement is handed over.
Why Hanna Homes
Why one builder
for all of it.
Four things a basement asks for that a main-floor room does not.
Damp and leaks are traced before the walls go against the foundation, so the framing and the flooring are not built over a problem.
Wiring, plumbing and framing stay open until each inspection signs off. Insulation and drywall come after, never before.
The floor goes over concrete that can hold damp, so it is chosen for that and laid last, after the walls are finished.
A basement bedroom needs a code-sized window, so it is planned with the framing and not cut in 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.
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, from the street to the basement. Tap a picture to see 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
about basement renovations.
What people ask about basement renovations first, then about Hanna Homes itself. The short answer is on every line.
Yes. Burlington requires a building permit for a renovation to a house, and the application goes in with drawings before framing, a change of rooms or any plumbing work starts, so the permit is settled before anything is built.
Most of it sits below the finish. Water control such as a sump pump or a floor drain, height work around beams and ducts, and old finishes that have to come out all move the cost before a wall is framed. The room then adds its own: plumbing for a bathroom, a larger window for a bedroom. No figure is quoted here because each of those moves it.
Damp and ceiling height set the schedule, because both turn up when the basement is measured. A wet foundation wall is traced and fixed before anything is framed against it, and a ceiling that is tight under the beams and ducts is redrawn first. A slab that has held moisture is checked before flooring goes over it. No duration is promised until the basement has been seen.
Yes. The old finishes come out, then the ceiling height, the insulation and the framing are checked again as if the basement were bare. The room is laid out again for what it is for now, under the same permit and inspection stages as a bare basement.
The Building Code sets 2,100 mm across at least 75% of the basement area. Beams and ducts may reduce the clearance under them to 1,950 mm. A basement that falls short is measured and drawn first, so you know what the room can hold before anything is bought.
Yes. Hanna Homes Construction is a licensed builder, and the same licensed builder takes on the whole project, whether it is one room, a whole home or a new house.
Hanna Homes Construction is based in Burlington and builds within about an hour's drive of it, in places including Hamilton, Oakville, Ancaster, Milton, Mississauga, Cambridge and Kitchener. If your house is close to that drive but not on the list, ask.
Call Hanna Homes Construction on (519) 897-8564 and say where the house is and what you have in mind: a room, an addition, a whole-home renovation or a new house. That first call is where a project starts.
Still have a question?
Get a free estimatePeople also ask
Before you build,
people also ask.
What people search before basement renovations, answered by the builder.
Not until the water is dealt with. Drywall and flooring hide a leak without stopping it, so the source is traced and fixed before framing goes against the wall, and a sump pump is added to the plan if the basement needs one.
Yes, if the house has a furnace that burns natural gas, propane or a similar fuel. The alarms go near sleeping areas, so a basement bedroom adds a placement check to the inspection.
Yes. Burlington requires a building permit to install a sump pump. When one is added during a basement job it is permitted and inspected with the rest, and where it discharges is part of the drawings.
Good to know
Good to know
about basement renovations in Burlington.
Most of what decides a basement renovation in Burlington is settled before the drywall goes up, because the City and the Building Code set what is measured first.
Basement renovation permits in Burlington
Finishing a basement in Burlington takes a building permit, and the permit brings inspections at stages along the way. The city asks that construction not be covered or continued until each inspection stage has been reviewed.
On our jobs that means the framing and insulation stay open until the inspector has seen them. The drywall waits for that stage, and Hanna Homes schedules the trades around each inspection.
Basement finishing in Burlington starts with the ceiling
Before any framing the ceiling is measured at its lowest points: under the beams, along the ductwork and in the open bays between. The Building Code sets a minimum clear height for a finished basement and relaxes it only under beams and ducts, so those spots decide whether the room works.
The limit decides what the room can hold. A dropped ceiling to hide ductwork, a thicker floor build-up and a bulkhead around a beam all spend height, so each is checked against the plans first and a duct drop is planned instead of discovered.
Basement contractors in Burlington: the order behind the drywall
Behind the drywall of a basement are wiring, drains and framing, and the City and the ESA inspect them in stages. Wiring cannot be concealed by insulation or wall finishes until an ESA inspector authorizes it, so the electrical inspection sets when insulation can start.
Hanna Homes coordinates the electrician, the plumber and any heating work on one schedule. The order is wiring and pipes in, inspections signed off, insulation, then drywall.
Insulation and flooring in a Burlington basement
A basement has two surfaces a main-floor room does not, the foundation wall and the concrete slab. Framing stands off the foundation wall so the insulation has a place to go, and any damp patch or crack on that wall is looked at before the studs go up.
Flooring goes over the slab and in after the drywall, so finishing the walls does not mark it. Concrete can hold damp, so the floor is picked for a slab and not for a main floor. Where the Code calls for a floor drain, it is roughed in while the floor is still open.
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