By STACY DOWNS
The Kansas City Star

No wonder people suffer sticker shock from basement finishing bids.

The average basement finishing job in the Kansas City area costs $62,500, according to Remodeling magazine’s “2007 Cost versus Value” report. That Cadillac price tag includes a bar area and bathroom but cheaps out with Yugo materials such as laminate countertops and vinyl flooring.

“Those types of finishes aren’t what people want in their basements,” says Terry Skilling, owner of Rhino Builders, a Kansas City, Kan., remodeling company. “They want countertops and cabinets that are of similar quality to the ones in their upstairs kitchen. That’s part of the reason they now call it a lower level and not a basement.”

But there’s definitely a happy medium between a tricked-out lower level and a utilitarian basement. Inspired by restaurants and lofts, more homeowners are leaving ceiling joists, foundation walls and concrete floors exposed, saving thousands and leaving room in the budget for nice finishes.

Trace Shapiro of Kansas City saved money on her Brookside basement with the exposed architecture approach. She hired a contractor to paint ceiling joists and floorboards black. Instead of surrounding the entire perimeter in drywall, she highlighted the Tudor Revival’s stone foundation on two walls. Including water-resistant flooring and wall panels and an added bathroom, her total costs were about $30,000.

“I became smarter about money with this basement remodeling project,” Shapiro says. “I’ve remodeled a basement that was half the size for twice the money.”

Previously, Shapiro paid a contractor about $60,000 to remodel the basement in the West Plaza bungalow she now rents out. She didn’t like the look of the drop ceiling, and the pricey bamboo floating floor warped after several sewer backups.

Before remodeling a basement, it’s important to fix moisture problems, says John Roach, co-owner of Roach Brothers Construction in Leawood and president of the Kansas City chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry.

“Also make sure there’s no other remodeling you want to do on the upper levels, including installing a stereo system in the walls or upgrading to high-speed Internet cables,” Roach says. “You will save thousands of dollars by not having to tear apart basement finishes to do that.”

On these pages are other tips on how to get the best value in all areas of a basement remodel.

Leaving concrete or stone foundation walls exposed in a basement saves thousands. But if you want a more finished look, drywall is the way to go. The average 1,000-square-foot basement costs about $3,000 for professional installation, says Tom Lee, owner of Drywall, Plaster and Stucco in Shawnee.

Because drywall materials are inexpensive, about 50 cents per square foot, you can save by doing the labor yourself. Most people are able to hang drywall, Lee says. “But they get a little stuck when it comes to the taping, finishing and sanding,” he says. “Some homeowners will call professionals to do just that part, which helps them still save a little money, but a lot of aggravation.”

For about the same price as professionally installed drywall, some companies assemble modular basement wall panel systems made of concrete board that are more water-resistant than drywall. The panels can be painted like drywall, says Otto Fleck, owner of Basement Magic of Kansas City, North. Panels also come covered in vinyl but look like they belong in an insurance office.

Amy Funk of Prairie Village is remodeling her basement, doing some of the work with the help of friends but hiring professionals to do electrical and plumbing work and to paint the ceilings.

Funk chose a light blue for the exposed joists and floorboards. She thought the color would help lighten the dark room. Some homeowners paint the ceilings dark brown or black, making them “disappear.”

People can paint basement ceilings themselves for the cost of paint and a sprayer. Having professionals paint the joists and floorboards costs $1 to $2 per square foot. For roughly the same price, a drywall ceiling can be professionally installed, but it will have to be painted. Leaving ductwork exposed saves money; boxing it in shortens the room and adds to the cost.

Professionally installed drop ceilings that hang on a grid are even more expensive at $9 per square foot. Many have a dated look and shorten a room by about 6 inches.

Leaving the concrete floor of the basement exposed is one of the cheapest flooring options. But the concrete should be sealed to reduce potential exposure to radon and lower moisture vapor transmissions, which dampens air and furniture.

A water-based color stain and vapor barrier sealer starts at $4 per square foot installed, says Connie Hernandez, who co-owns ReUse Concrete Sealing of Overland Park. That adds up to $4,000 for the typical 1,000-square-foot basement. The company also sells the supplies to do-it-yourselfers. All the stain and sealers cost a little more than $500. However, it takes about three days to clean the floor, spray the stain and seal it.

A downside to concrete basement floors is that they’re about 10 degrees colder than the room temperature. So it’s best to use a few area rugs.

Carpeting and floating hardwood floors cost more and have problems. After floods, there’s the hassle of cleaning and drying them. Or maybe they’ll need to be replaced, an even bigger expense.

Snap-together synthetic floating floors can be expensive, and you can’t easily tell where moisture has collected underneath.

The least expensive upgrade to a typical 12-step basement staircase is covering it in carpet and installing a nicer handrail for about $1,000, says John Roach, owner of Roach Brothers Construction in Leawood.

But some homeowners prefer a wooden staircase leading to the basement because it reduces the appearance of dirt, and therefore, the need for as much maintenance. The cost for a new rail and oak treads and risers, boxed in at both sides, is about $3,000, Roach says.

Egress windows can be a big expense. But most cities require them in basement bedrooms, and they have a lot of benefits.

Egress windows provide an emergency exit and allow homeowners to count a bedroom as a bedroom when they sell the house. Marty and Dianne Lustig, who remodeled their Prairie Village basement, like the natural light their egress window brings into the basement.

“If I had to do it all over again, I’d probably get a bigger egress window,” Marty Lustig says.

Egress systems start at $3,500, says Brent Hartford, owner of Egress Express in North Kansas City. The exterior stairs can be dressed up with a few river rocks and vines.

Don’t skimp on lighting. Basements tend to be dark because windows are small.

In basements with drywall or drop ceilings, recessed can lights are economical and function well. They start at about $10 apiece at home-improvement warehouses. In basements with exposed ceiling joists, industrial-style steel track fixtures can be used. A track with three lights starts at about $60 at home-improvement warehouses.

Remodeler Clay Lyon of Lyon Construction + Design likes using sconces in basements because they provide pleasing ambient light in the dark space. Lyon’s clients Rex and Lori Sharp of Leawood found 19 sconces for less than $500 by doing a Google search for “discount lights.”

For task lighting, Lyon prefers floor lamps to hanging lights. “The ceilings are low in older-home basements,” he says. “Hanging fixtures don’t always make sense.”

Budget-smart people reuse their existing bar rather than having custom cabinetry built. They might upgrade by switching out laminate countertops for affordable granite ones or adding new hardware.

An even bigger budget-saving option is skipping a bar. Building one requires water lines for a small sink, plus cabinetry and countertops, translating to thousands of dollars.

Even though they seem like a fun entertaining idea, basement bars can go months, even years, without being used. Lori Sharp of Leawood removed the bar that came with her house. “People sat facing a wall, not each other, and only one person could be behind it,” she says.

Sharp salvaged the existing basement cabinetry surrounding the bar and moved it to another spot for serving snacks. Another practical option for a basement is to forgo cabinetry and use a freestanding sideboard for serving drinks and food. A table and chairs can be used instead of a custom bar and stools.

Big-screen televisions and surround sound can overwhelm a living room. But home theaters for family movie nights and video games are great for basements.

Prices are coming down for the basic equipment. For example, you can get a 47-inch 1080p Toshiba LCD television for $1,300 at Costco and a Sony Blu-ray high-definition disc player along with a Blu-ray five-speaker system for $800 at Target.

A professionally installed system with higher-quality equipment can be had for less than $5,000, says Clint Miller, co-owner of DataUnite in Kansas City. An installed high-definition projector, screen, disc player and speakers cost about $10,000.

A reclining leather home theater chair with a cup holder starts at about $400 at Amini’s Galleria, which has locations in Overland Park and Kansas City, Kan.

For a home theater to be more soundproofed from the rest of the home, it should be built into its own double drywalled room. Fabric can be added to the walls and ceilings. The floor should be carpeted, or at least have a heavily padded area rug. All that will cost a few thousand dollars more for a do-it-yourselfer and even more for professional installation.