I would like to remodel our basement and have a vision for how we can do it so that we can make some extra $$ renting it out on AirBNB, and when not doing that, it would make a nice guest suite. It would be almost a studio apartment, but without a full kitchen. In a future with children (uncertain, but a possibility) it would be a very complete family room.
The basement was finished in the past, but couldn't be considered finished at this point. It's a long story, and not worth really going into. But that's why there are things like "replace studs" on the list.
We have a separate entrance available and are just 4 blocks from a sizeable University. There are no AirBNB in our neighborhood and I think we could make some $$ from visiting parents, or visiting students, etc. For example, my former boss did her doctorate at this University so had to occasionally find lodging in our neighborhood since she lived so far away, but did most of her work online or distance courses.
So my question is, how do I go about calculating the full cost of the remodel?
In the dream plan, we'd:
- reroute plumbing to swap location of bathroom and laundry. This would add a shower, making a 3/4 bath in the basement (currently we have a toilet/sink down there), adding overall value to our home. It would also keep our laundry in the same room as our laundry chute AND keep it accessible for us if we had a guest without having to go through their space. We could also then lock it off to a guest, or make it available. If we left it in its current location that would not be a possibility.
- Rewire (dad can help with this)
- put in new studs. Existing studs have old mildew or something on them. Ew.
- add an egress window, making a legal bedroom in the basement, also adding value to the home. I don't know if we could do AirBNB without this, either. Actually that reminds me that legal bedrooms have closets. Not sure we'd add that at this time, but it's a big room . . . it could be added later if we sold.
- Add a kitchenette - sink, micro, mini fridge (biiiiig dream there - wouldn't be a must, but would make it nice for someone staying a few days.)
- Wall off utility room.
- Sheetrock or another alternative.
- Drop ceiling to cover pipes/wires.
- Install new flooring, something non-carpet
- Add radiators. We already have a boiler and good HVAC guy. But not sure if this can even be done. Like I said - the dream :) Would like to avoid electric heat.
I think that's all. We did a lot of the remodeling on our house and we'd be prepared to do much of this ourselves. Not sure how confident we'd be with the rerouting of the plumbing (under the floor), but we have a pretty good guy we could call on for that. The rest of it - almost all of it, maybe except installing an egress window - we could do.
DH wants to just kind of pretty up the room as it is, but I want to do it all the way. I also think if we ever got in a pinch we could have a student renter down there, even if it's not my ideal scenario. However, if the money is just too much and there won't be a good ROI with Air BNB, then we might just do that. I just think ultimately we're better off configuring it how we want.
Thoughts?
I love a place where people don't think this is a crazy project. :) I've seen far more ambitious on here!