Seattle WA Contractors and Flippers... Please help!

[Jacob Wyatt]

Hello BP community,

I just bought my first house that I will be house hacking. It is a SFH zoned LR2 in the Morgan Street Junction in West Seattle. It currently has a half unfinished basement and half crawlspace. My vision is to convert the downstairs to a nice basement apartment and I would greatly appreciate your help!

Getting going on my first project, it seems daunting. Especially with Seattle's extensive permitting process and never having done a project before. I want to keep everything legal and would prefer to contract out a good portion of the work and do a good amount of the work myself (I worked in construction from the age of 17-21) instead of hiring a general contractor, although my mind could be swayed because I do love the idea of having this project completed ASAP. A few questions about getting started... Please, pardon my ridiculous questions... I can't wait to learn a ton on this project:

1) What are my first step in getting started with this project (in terms of beginning the process to permit it/setting up construction)?

2) Do I need an architect to draw up the plans for my basement or will drawings I do myself suffice? 

3) Does anyone have connections or had a great experience with a concrete/mini excavation company that would be able to complete the downstairs by digging out the crawl space (about 450 sqft), chipping up the current 500 sqft slab, and pouring a new 950 sqft slab, in the greater Seattle area? I have considered doing the digging myself but just don't think it would be worth my time. Plus with all the beams under my home and posts to support those beams, a crew would be able to better complete this task, I am sure. 

4) Does anyone have connections with someone in the electrical industry? I will probably have my upstairs updated (its currently knob and tube) and then I will need the whole downstairs completed. 

5) Of course you never know until you see or begin the project but what do you think I will be paying to complete the basement or what have some of you paid for similar 950 sqft basement apartments? I can foresee hiring out all the concrete (the slab and also the stairwell going down into the apartment), the heating, the plumbing, the electrical, and definitely the mud and taping (possibly the hanging of the drywall as well)... and probably taking care of the rest myself. I have done some rough numbers and I can't really see it costing more than about 65k. That would make it an almost 3% investment and it would pay for over 90% of my mortgage on my 350k loan. 

I am sure I forgot details but anything you have to say from your experience would be appreciated to hear about. If you're a Seattle contractor, I would like to hear from you as well and maybe we can do business. Thanks everybody and I look forward to hearing your responses! 

[Thomas Mattausch]

Let me tell you one thing I know...it could definitely cost more than $65k!

Not sure what kind of funding you have available, but you might find that you dig yourself a nice money pit when you dig out that basement. If you have lots of cash available, you can try to GC it yourself and potentially save money, but my recommendation would be to get all-inclusive firm bids from reputable GCs so that cost overruns are not your problem. It WILL cost more and take longer than you expect. Take notes and ask questions on their process and maybe bite off more of the role next time.