Clean Construction / Basement Makeovers / LaGrange, Ohio
Basement makeovers from your LaGrange neighbor — from Grey Hawk builder-basics to farmhouse basements, with moisture solved first and one crew through final trim.
Around LaGrange, when a family needs more room the instinct is to think addition — but the cheapest square footage you'll ever finish is the space already under your house. A basement makeover costs a fraction of building new walls and a roof, and Clean Construction happens to be based right here in LaGrange, which makes this the easiest job on the schedule to supervise closely.
The town's basements split two ways. Newer builds — Grey Hawk and the recent village streets — have poured walls, decent height, and builder-unfinished space that's practically asking to become a rec room, bar, or guest suite. Older village and farmhouse basements need a more honest first conversation: moisture, ceiling height, and mechanicals get assessed before anyone talks paint colors. Brad gives you that assessment straight, because he'll see you at the hardware store either way.
Rural properties on wells and septic get extra attention on one point: where the water table sits and where the sump sends it. Below-grade rooms on acreage live and die by that answer. Bedrooms get code egress windows, insulation is below-grade-rated foam rather than damp fiberglass, and permits run through the Lorain County Building Division — all handled.
Around LaGrange, finishing a basement without solving its moisture is just installing expensive mold food. Brad assesses how your foundation, grading, and sump actually handle water — and fixes what needs fixing — before a single stud goes up.
Bare fiberglass against block walls is how basements grow that smell. Brad builds with below-grade-rated foam insulation, moisture-tolerant flooring, and assemblies that can dry — so the finished room stays a room instead of becoming a science experiment.
A below-grade bedroom legally requires an egress window — a real escape opening cut and flashed into the foundation. Brad builds it into the plan from day one, along with the smoke/CO, outlet, and stair details the Residential Code of Ohio expects.
Your furnace, water heater, panel, and sump all live down there, and they'll all need attention someday. Brad frames access into the design — doors, panels, clearances — so the finished basement never has to be opened up with a drywall saw. Permits run through the Lorain County Building Division.
The finish carpentry shown here — millwork, trim, countertops — is the same work that goes into Clean Construction basement bars and built-ins. More in the full portfolio.
Family room, guest suite, bar, gym, office — or "all of it, somehow." Rough ideas are fine. If you know the basement has a damp history, say so up front; it changes nothing about whether Brad will take the job and everything about how he plans it.
Moisture evidence, ceiling heights, mechanical locations, where the sump discharges, where an egress window could go. This is where the honest constraints surface — and where the plan starts fitting your actual house in LaGrange, not a Pinterest board.
Layout, finishes, and a line-by-line number — framing, insulation, electrical, plumbing, drywall, flooring, trim. Nothing buried. Money is settled in the contract before anything starts.
Permits pulled, rough-ins inspected, insulation and drywall in, floors and doors and trim down, punch list closed. Brad is on site through it. Most basements run four to eight weeks depending on scope — you get the schedule before work starts.
Yes — finishing a basement is real construction: framing, electrical, usually plumbing and HVAC changes, each with its own permit and inspections through the Lorain County Building Division. Brad handles the drawings, applications, and every inspection. Unpermitted basement finishes are a classic problem at resale; yours won't be one.
Yes. The Residential Code of Ohio requires any below-grade sleeping room to have an emergency escape opening — in practice, an egress window cut into the foundation with a code-sized well. Brad cuts, flashes, and finishes egress windows as part of the job, and they have the side benefit of real daylight.
Usually, yes. If your home has a rough-in under the slab, it's the natural spot and saves real money. Without one, the options are slab cutting to reach the drain line or an up-flushing system — both legitimate, each with trade-offs Brad will lay out plainly, along with what your specific house makes practical.
Most run four to eight weeks of build time depending on scope — a straightforward family room lands at the short end; a suite with a bathroom and egress window at the long end. Rough-in inspections set the rhythm. You get a schedule before work starts, and Brad tells you the same day when something moves it.
Scope drives it — square footage, bathroom or not, egress, and finish level — so Brad doesn't quote blind. He walks the basement, then you get a written, itemized estimate with every line explained. The walkthrough and the estimate cost you nothing.
One big thing: capacity. A new basement bathroom on septic needs the system to handle it — tank size and leach field condition matter, and a bathroom below the sewer line usually means an ejector pump. Brad scopes both before promising a bathroom, so the answer you get is real. The finish work itself is the same quality conversation as any city job.
Fill this out or call him directly. Either way you're talking to the person who builds it.
Brad will call you back the same day. If it's urgent, call him directly at 440-315-4438.