Need Basement Conversion Advice

[Kyle Doney]

Has anyone done a crawl space to basement conversion in the Denver Colorado area or any area? I'm looking to dig out a basement that has a cellar type of area right now. From what I've been told, its cheaper than going up. There are stairs going down to the boiler and water heater and the ceiling height is about 7 ft in that area. The rest of the basement is dirt and low ceiling height though. Considering that this area is around 7ft ceiling heigh, I'm assuming I have enough foundation depth to dig out the rest and possibly go deeper. I'm looking for any ideas on cost estimates (house is 1100 sq ft), contractor referrals, and any other info you can provide. Below are a few pics (not the greatest) but may give you an idea of what I'm working with.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6uvt2QE8NbYTzN5...

[Bill S.]

@Kyle Doney so I have looked into it and I came to the conclusion that the value of going up was greater than a basement. When the cost benefit was evaluated, going down wasn't the best option. 

Now to answer your question. Going down is difficult. I have a couple of places that I have considered it for. I did investigate it a bit. There is a company on youtube (Alpine Companies) that specializes in basement dig outs in Denver. They seem to be the Cadillac version but they would be a place to start. 

You have two options with the foundation.

1) support the house and build a new foundation to the full depth

2) Underpinning where they divide the foundation wall in parts and do one third at a time. They dig out under each of the slots and then construct the new full foundation. Move over and do it again and finally the last slice. After that is complete, they dig out the middle. 

Either option is fairly time intensive and there are a limited number of people that would do it. If those that do are busy prices are high. 

Let us know what your find out.