Having a home that meets all of your design wants and needs is one of the best things about building a new home. You may have a strong sense of personal style that makes most decisions about your home come easily, but many people still struggle with the choice of whether or not to finish the basement.

This is often because, although a finished basement looks nice and adds a lot of usable living space to your home, it’s an added expense. No matter what your budget, including a finished basement with your new home build has a lot of advantages.

1. Built-In Costs

Including a finished basement may feel out of reach at first if you only consider the total. But if you add it to the cost of your mortgage, it might only amount to an extra $100 to $200 each month. This is because the payments are spread out over time, meaning you’ll get to enjoy all the benefits immediately for a small monthly cost.

2. Saving Money

Finishing your basement during the construction of a new home build can also cost less than making renovations at a later date. One of the reasons for this is that you can avoid the extra design or labour fees that come with hiring an outside contractor. Materials may also be cheaper because you can get a bulk rate on all the materials used to build your home.

3. Immediately Have Extra Space

The last thing you want is for a new home to feel cramped from the beginning. With a finished basement, you’ll immediately have the extra space you need for a kids’ playroom, a guest suite, storage, or anything else you want. Additionally, a lot of families realize that including the livable square footage in the basement allows them to save money by purchasing a smaller home.

4. Meeting Legal Requirements

Any finished basement must meet the current building code standards set forth by the city of Calgary. Some people with older homes are dismayed to find that certain aspects of their current basement’s design won’t allow them to legally finish the basement.

For instance, if the ceiling in the basement isn’t high enough to meet the requirements, there’s not much you can do. However, planning for a finished basement in the design of a new home ensures that everything will meet the right specifications.

5. Protecting the Foundation

All builders work hard to make sure that the foundation of the home is strong, but damp spaces can sometimes cause unexpected problems. When the basement is finished, though, the builder needs to take extra precautions to protect against water seeping through the foundation.

Finishing your basement means that your home’s foundation is doubly protected from the dangers of the elements.

6. Consistent Look

A lot of people simply prefer their home to have the same look throughout the space. If you were to finish the basement a few years after the original build, it might be hard to get the exact same materials that were used throughout the rest of the home.

It will be even harder for a different contractor to match materials. This is why you’ll want to include the finished basement in the new build if you want to use the same materials.

7. It Will Get Done

Once you’ve put off finishing the basement, it’s easier to just keep putting it off. There’s always something more important to spend the money on–car repairs, kid activities, retirement funds.

Eventually, you start feeling frustrated with the lack of space in your home but trapped because you just don’t feel like you have the ability to solve the problem. When the basement design is part of the main plan, you’ll never have to worry about finding the money to get the job done.

There are certain floor plan mistakes to avoid in a new home build, and in time you may find leaving the basement unfinished is one of them. Talk to your builder about your options for a finished basement and how to make it affordable; they can help you avoid any future regrets.

If you’re sold on the idea of a basement, but want some ideas for design, check out our previous post: Get the Look: Glamourous Vegas Entertaining Space in the Basement.

{{cta(’65b2f630-f1bb-41a6-86fa-fce8961394b6′,’justifycenter’)}}