PARKVILLE, MISSOURI
An unfinished lower level is the cheapest square footage you'll ever add to a Parkville home. Built by Design plans and builds finished basements with one design-build team on the layout, the selections, and the construction, so the finished space feels like it belonged to the house all along.
WE'VE BUILT HERE
We took a Parkville lower level and opened the whole thing into one gathering space. A theater area with a shiplap-style fireplace wall. A gaming zone with room for arcade games and a foosball table. A built-in bar behind the theater seating so nobody has to leave the room for a drink. A second wet bar in the back corner with new appliances, a sink, and refrigeration. A blue island for color, wood ceiling details, new flooring, and pendant lighting throughout.
Thirteen weeks from demolition to turnover. The full scope, the design decisions, and eight photos of the finished space are on the project page.
START WITH WHAT CAN'T MOVE
Every lower level starts with things nobody gets to choose. Ceiling height. Support posts. Ductwork. Where the furnace and water heater sit. Where the plumbing stack lands. Egress. How water behaves around the foundation.
Those decide what's possible before anyone picks a tile. We work through them first, so the layout gets designed around real constraints instead of fighting them, and the budget conversation starts from actual scope instead of a guess.
WHAT WE BUILD DOWN THERE
The entertaining space most basements are really being finished for.
A bedroom needs egress, a closet, and a bathroom that can reach existing plumbing.
Ceiling height, flooring, and ventilation decide whether it gets used.
Sound isolation and lighting matter more than screen size.
Daylight and quiet are the hard parts underground.
The thing that gets cut first and missed most.
WHAT IT COSTS
Finished basements from Built by Design have ranged from $80,000 to $550,000. Where a project lands comes down to scope, structure, and finish level rather than square footage. An open finished room is a different job from a lounge with two bars, a theater wall, and custom ceilings.
Our guide to basement finishing cost in Kansas City breaks down what actually moves the number.
WORKING IN PARKVILLE
Built by Design has been running design-build remodels since 2004, and the company is family-led. Kristen leads design direction and Mike leads construction and operations, so the owners are the people guiding your decisions.
The consultation happens at your house, never at our office, so we're looking at your actual basement instead of a floor plan.
Building in Parkville also means Missouri permitting rather than Kansas. That's a different process from our Johnson County work, and it's ours to handle, not yours.
FAQ
Practical planning context for your project. Your project team confirms what applies after a walkthrough and written scope review.
Finishing turns unfinished space into living space for the first time. Remodeling redoes a lower level that was already finished, usually one that's dated or laid out badly. We do both, and the planning work is similar either way.
Yes. Our Parkville basement remodel opened an entire lower level into one gathering space with a theater area, two bars, a gaming zone, and custom wood ceilings, and it ran 13 weeks. The photos and full scope are in the portfolio.
If the finished basement includes a bedroom, building code generally requires an emergency escape opening. That usually means excavation and a window well, which is real cost and worth deciding early rather than discovering after the layout is set.
Usually. It depends on where the existing plumbing stack sits and whether the basement was roughed in for one. If it wasn't, the floor may need to be cut, which changes the scope and the number.
It depends on scope, permitting, structural work, and how much of the mechanical system has to move. The Parkville project took 13 weeks, but that's one documented job, not a promise. We talk schedule once the plan and scope are clear.
READY TO TALK?
Tell us what the lower level is now and what you want it to become. We come to you.
Request Consultation