Chicago’s basement remodeler
Basement Finishing
& Remodeling in Chicago
Family rooms, bathrooms, bars, theaters and bedrooms with egress, built to code. We check the water, the ceiling height and the way out before we price anything.
Serving Chicago, Evanston, Skokie, Glenview, Northbrook and more- FreeIn home estimate
- FixedPrice, in writing
- PermitsPulled in our name
- 7 daysA week, 9am to 6pm
Basement finishing
From Bare Concrete to the Best Room in the House
A finished basement gives you a family room, a guest suite, a bar or a gym without adding on to the house. Getting it right is mostly about what you cannot see: dry walls, real headroom, an ejector pit that works and a window you can climb out of.
Every estimate starts with a tape measure and a flashlight: height to the joists, signs of water at the cove joint, the stack, the main and the panel. Then a written scope and a fixed price.
Our services
Every Room a Basement Can Be
Ten kinds of basement project, each with its own page on what it involves in a Chicago area house.
How it works
Four Steps from Concrete to Finished
One project lead from the first visit to the final walkthrough, and a dated schedule you can hold us to.
- 1
Free estimate and design
We measure, check for water, find the stack and the panel, and talk through the layout. You get a written scope and a fixed price.
- 2
Permits, framing and rough ins
We pull the permit in our name. Then framing, insulation, electrical and plumbing rough ins, each inspected before anything is covered.
- 3
Drywall and finishes
Drywall and soffits around ducts and beams, then doors, trim, flooring, tile, cabinets and lighting.
- 4
Final inspection and walkthrough
Finals signed off, a punch list walked with you, and your permits and paperwork handed over.
Why YMC
A Chicago Contractor That Checks First
We are based on the West Side of Chicago and we finish basements across the city and the north and south suburbs. The questions that decide a basement get answered before anyone talks about paint.
Before and after ideas
From Unfinished to Finished
Drag the slider. Each pair shows an unfinished basement beside a design for the same space.
Basement ideas
Ideas for Every Kind of Basement
Bars and wine rooms, theaters, walk out lower levels, suites and family rooms. Open any photo for a closer look.
Service areas
Basement Finishing Across Chicagoland
From our office on the West Side we cover the City of Chicago and 10 suburbs to the north and south. Each town page covers its permits, its houses and its water.
City of Chicago
North suburbs
South suburbs
Common questions
Basement Questions, Straight Answers
The code behind each answer, so you can check it.
What happens at the free estimate?
We come to the house and look at the basement with you. We measure from the slab to the bottom of the joists, look at the cove joint and the sump for signs of water, find the stack and the main, open the panel door and talk through what you want down there.
You leave knowing whether it can be done, what your town is likely to ask for, and roughly what it involves. There is no design fee and nothing to sign.
How low can my basement ceiling be?
Chicago requires 7 feet of clear height in a habitable room, measured from the finished floor to the finished ceiling. The number that matters is the one after flooring, furring and any dropped ceiling, not the one you get off the bare slab.
Ducts, beams and pipes may hang as low as 6 feet 4 inches, as long as the full 7 feet holds over at least three quarters of the room, and a bathroom may be 6 feet 8 inches. That is why a bungalow basement that fails on paper often only needs the duct run boxed into a soffit rather than the whole system rerouted. Suburban codes set their own numbers, and we check the one for your town.
Does a basement bedroom need an egress window?
In the suburbs, almost always. Most villages use the International Residential Code, which wants an escape opening of 5.7 square feet net clear, at least 24 inches high and 20 inches wide, with the sill no more than 44 inches above the floor, and a well outside it.
In the City of Chicago, the Department of Buildings told builders the 2019 code has no egress window requirement for small residential buildings. Some suburbs go the other way and restrict basement bedrooms. We check the rule for your address before the room is drawn.
Why does a basement bathroom cost more than an upstairs one?
Because the floor is below the sewer main, so gravity is not available. Waste has to go into a sealed, vented pit cut into your slab and be pumped up by an ejector. That is concrete cutting, excavation, a gas tight lid, a vent tied back into the stack and a dedicated circuit.
And it cannot share your existing sump. Code does not allow sewage and subsoil drainage in the same pit, so a below grade bathroom means a second pit. If a bid shows you a bathroom and no ejector pit, that is not a cheaper bid, it is an incomplete one.
Can you finish my basement if it takes water?
Not until the water is fixed. An interior sealer is a coating, and in Chicago clay the usual failure is water pushing up through the cove joint and the slab. A wet basement needs a waterproofing contractor first. If yours is genuinely dry, we will tell you that too.
Ready for a Basement Your Family Will Use?
Tell us what you want down there. We will measure, check the water and the height, and give you a straight answer and a fixed price in writing.
Get started
Ready to Finish Your Basement?
Book a free estimate. We measure, check for water, look at egress and talk through the layout, then put a fixed price in writing.
(773) 900-4815 YMC Construction 3222 W Grenshaw St Chicago, IL 60624 (773) 900-4815 info@ymcconstruction.com Mon to Sun, 9am to 6pmRequest a free estimate
The estimate is free and there is nothing to sign.