Contacts Needed for basement build out/ separating utilities

[LaJoi Royston]

Hello BP Folks!

I recently purchased my first property, a 2 unit building on Chicago's south side.

The building has 2 units, with the 1st floor duplexed down to a full finished basement.

The building was owned by a family so the gas was never separated.

Ideally I'd like to separate all utilities and build out the basement to be a stand alone unit so that I have 3 units instead of 2. Any recommendations for contractors would be greatly appreciated.

[John Warren]

@LaJoi Royston Separating the gas is a tricky project, and it is going to involve cutting into walls, etc. YOu also would have to think about how the heating system operates. Is this a boiler building? If so, you are probably better served abandoning the boiler and doing two (or three) forced air units as the boiler piping is almost always impossible to separate out to switch to two boilers. 

As far as adding a 3rd unit, this also can get tricky if you are doing this the right way. You would need to speak with an architect to pull plans and permits. The architect would actually be a great starting point if you are serious about this as a good architect would also help you map out where all the mechanical systems go (and which ones you would have to change). 

The last thing to think about is that you may end up digging out the basement, changing parts of the sewer and upgrading water service if you do a basement unit correctly. Many, many investors end up finding a stronger ROI through duplexing down or finishing the basement as an AirBnB unit or something similar instead of going for the full unit addition.