Digging out my crawl space in West Oakland

[Pavan Gupta]

Hey! I've been very seriously considering digging out my basement in West Oakland. Based on some quick research, the value per square foot in my area is around $700/sqft and it looks like I've got about 1000 sqft below me that could be reasonably dug out and converted into an awesome mother-in-law. I'm your quintessential newbie and I'm trying to understand the path to getting this approved? Does it start with a conversation with the city? Is this even something people successfully do in the region?

And I'm very curious about contractors that you may have successfully worked with to pull this off. Perhaps even architects and engineers you trust.

And, broadly, eager to network with folks in the area that are doing this sort of work!