Basement Finishing Cost Per Square Foot in Tooele County
Upterra Builders · April 15, 2026
The first question almost everyone asks us is the price per square foot for finishing a basement. It is a fair question and a useful one, as long as you know what the number includes and what it leaves out. Here is the honest breakdown for Tooele County.
The Range: $35 to $70 Per Square Foot
Basement finishing in Tooele County runs roughly $35 to $70 per finished square foot. Where you land depends mostly on how many rooms, bathrooms, and wet areas you are building. A big open rec room is cheap per foot. A basement carved into a bedroom, bathroom, wet bar, and theater is expensive per foot because every wall and every fixture adds labor and materials.
- $35 to $45 per sq ft: mostly open space, one or two simple rooms, no bathroom
- $45 to $60 per sq ft: a few bedrooms, a bathroom, standard finishes
- $60 to $70+ per sq ft: bathroom, wet bar, theater room, and upgraded finishes throughout
On a typical 1,000 square foot basement, that puts most projects between $40,000 and $65,000.
What Is Included
When we quote a per-foot price, a complete finish covers:
- Framing all interior walls
- Electrical rough-in and finish (outlets, switches, lighting, panel work)
- Insulation on exterior walls
- Drywall, tape, texture, and paint
- Flooring throughout (carpet, LVP, or tile)
- Interior doors, trim, and baseboard
- Ceiling finish
- Permits and inspections through the Tooele County Building Department
That is a turnkey finished basement, not a shell.
What Is Not Included
This is where surprises happen, so we are upfront about it. A base per-foot price usually does not include:
- Egress windows. Every legal bedroom needs one. Cutting a new egress into a poured foundation wall and digging the well runs $3,500 to $6,000 each.
- Bathrooms. A basement bathroom is $9,000 to $18,000 on its own and is usually priced separately.
- Wet bars and kitchenettes. Cabinets, plumbing, and counters add several thousand.
- Upgraded finishes. Custom built-ins, coffered ceilings, and high-end tile push you past the base number.
- Structural or moisture fixes. If we find a water issue or a cracked wall, that gets addressed first.
Why Per-Square-Foot Only Gets You So Far
Two basements the same size can cost $20,000 apart because of what goes inside them. A per-foot number is a great gut check, but the only price that means anything is a real written quote based on your actual layout, your egress needs, and your finish choices. We walk the space, measure it, and put it on paper so there are no surprises later.
How to Get Your Per-Foot Cost Down
If the number comes back higher than you hoped, there are honest ways to bring it down without building something you will regret. Keep more of the space open instead of chopping it into small rooms. Choose carpet or mid-grade LVP over tile in the big areas. Hold off on the wet bar and add it later. Pick a flat, well-lit ceiling over a coffered one. Do the bathroom now while the walls are open, since coming back later costs more than doing it in the same trip. None of these change the quality of the build, they just change the scope, and scope is what drives the per-foot number.
A Note on Moisture and Our Climate
Before we frame a single wall, we look for moisture. Tooele County basements are generally dry, but our freeze-thaw cycles and the occasional wet spring mean we check for it every time. Framing over a damp wall traps the problem behind drywall. We would rather fix it cheaply now than tear out finished walls later.
Upterra Builders is owned by Danny and Trayson and finishes basements across Tooele City, Stansbury Park, Grantsville, Erda, and Stockton. Licensed and insured in Utah. Call or text (435) 248-0339.