Five steps, one team, a date on the contract.

Kam Oveisy, Owner and Principal Designer, comes to the house. He measures the floor, checks the ceiling height under the ducts, looks at the stairs, the mechanical room, the windows and where water would come in if it ever did. Then you talk about what the space is for: a rental suite, a theatre, a gym, a place for the kids to be loud.

There is no presentation and nothing to sign. The point of the visit is that the person who designs your basement has stood in it.

Kam draws the basement in 3D: the layout, the bathroom, the bar, the TV wall, the millwork. You walk through it on a screen before a single stud goes up. Walls move, the bar grows, the bedroom swaps ends. This is where changes cost nothing, so this is where we make them.

The design is free and it is yours. We would rather lose an hour on a layout you reject than a week on a wall you want moved later.

Every room is measured and every line is priced: the framing, the drywall, the subfloor, the pot lights, the doors, the stairs. Cabinetry, stone and tile you chose in the 3D design are priced as their own lines, so you can see what each decision costs and change your mind before you sign.

There is one standard of work and no tiers. A 1,000 sq ft basement with a three-piece bathroom comes to about $67,800 before HST, and the price per square foot falls as the basement grows. Once you sign, the price is guaranteed. Price yours first with the basement cost calculator.

Your contract names the completion date. Demolition and the bin come first, then framing in wood studs with metal tracks, insulation and vapour barrier, electrical and plumbing rough-ins, the municipal inspections the permit requires, drywall, subfloor, flooring, tile, millwork, paint. The crews have worked with Kam for years, and the same people are in your house from the first day to the last.

If we finish after the written date, we pay you $200 for every day we are late. That line is in the contract because the schedule is ours to keep.

You walk the finished basement with Kam, room by room. Anything that is not right goes on a list and gets fixed. Then the lifetime workmanship warranty begins, in writing, and the only phone number you need is (647) 620-6601 or service@desirebasements.com.

See the finished work in the project gallery, or the Sickick Studio, 1,400 sq ft and the first studio of its kind in Canada.