Before you call
Most contractor websites exist to make you call. This page exists to save you the call if we are not a fit. Below is what we do, what we turn down, and who we work best with. If you recognise yourself in the wrong column, better to find out here than three weeks into a conversation.
BCR Basements · Durham Region and Toronto · 700+ projects · 20+ years
What we do
BCR is a design-build company. Drawings, permits, every trade and every inspection under one contract with one point of accountability. The ranges below are real. Your Feasibility Assessment turns a range into one fixed number.
Legal basement apartments
Fully permitted second units. Egress, fire separation, separate entrance, kitchen, bathroom, second unit registration and final city sign-off.
$70,000 to $115,000
In-law and multi-gen suites
Self-contained living space for family. Full kitchen, private entrance, real soundproofing.
$60,000 to $95,000
Basement finishing
Family rooms, open plan living space, the whole floor finished properly.
$40,000 to $70,000
Home theatres and wet bars
Acoustic treatment, AV rough-in, tiered seating, custom millwork.
$40,000 to $90,000
Home offices and gyms
Built for how the room is actually used. Acoustics, lighting, ventilation, dedicated circuits.
$30,000 to $65,000
Kitchens and bathrooms
As part of a basement project, or as standalone renovations in the same home.
Varies by scope
What we do not do
Saying yes to everything is how contractors end up doing everything badly. These are the jobs we turn down every time, and we would rather tell you now than after you have waited a week for a call back.
Standalone trades
Painting, tiling, plumbing, electrical, flooring, drywall or carpentry on their own. We do all of it, but only as part of a full project.
Separate entrances or egress windows alone
Among the most common calls we get. We build both, but only within a complete basement project. We will not cut a foundation and walk away.
Handyman work and small repairs
Leaky taps, patched drywall, doors that will not close. Worth doing, but not by us.
Subcontracting for another builder
We do not work as a secondary contractor under someone else primary contract.
Exterior work
Decks, porches, landscaping, siding, roofing, detached garages. We work inside the house.
Cabinet refacing or painting
Quick cosmetic kitchen makeovers are a different trade at a different price point.
Free quotes or free estimates
We do not price a basement without measuring it. The Feasibility Assessment is paid, and it is the only way we give a number.
Who we work best with
A good fit
You will get a lot out of working with us.
✓You want the whole basement done once, properly, by one company that carries the accountability.
✓Your project is likely $30,000 or more. Most of our work sits between $60,000 and $200,000.
✓You are in Durham Region or the eastern GTA and want someone who knows your building department.
✓You want a fixed price before work starts, and will pay for a proper assessment to get one.
✓You want to make the design decisions but not manage the trades.
✓You have a real deadline and need the timeline to hold.
Not a fit
No hard feelings. Better to know now.
×You want the cheapest number. We are not it, and we will not pretend otherwise.
×You want a free quote over the phone. We do not give one, for any project, ever.
×You want one trade. A bathroom fan, a door, a room painted.
×You want to manage your own trades and have us do part of it.
×Your budget is under $30,000. That is a real budget, it is just not ours.
×You are outside Durham Region and the eastern GTA. Distance affects how fast we fix a problem.
If you are in the right-hand column, it is not because your project does not matter. A handyman will do a small job faster and cheaper than we ever could, and a homeowner managing their own trades genuinely saves money doing exactly that.
How working with us actually goes
01
Free 20-minute Planning Call
No charge, no site visit, no pitch. We talk about what you want, what it is likely to cost, and whether we are the right company. If we are not, we say so on this call.
02
Paid Basement Feasibility Assessment
Ninety minutes at your home. We measure to the millimetre, check the permit path for your municipality, look at moisture, panel capacity and ceiling height, then give you one fixed price. $697, credited in full if you build with us.
03
Design and build
Drawings, permits, every trade and every inspection managed by us. Fixed price, written timeline with a $1,000 per week penalty if we run late, and a 7-year warranty.
Every free quote you have ever received was a guess, priced to win the job rather than to be accurate. That is why the number changes later. We charge for the assessment because measuring properly takes ninety minutes and produces a price that holds.
Straight answers
No, for any project. We give a free 20-minute Planning Call where we talk through your project honestly, and a paid Feasibility Assessment where we measure and give you a fixed price. A number given without measuring is a guess, and guesses are why renovation prices change halfway through.
Because it takes ninety minutes on site plus the work behind it: checking your municipality permit path, verifying ceiling height against the right standard, assessing moisture and panel capacity. It is credited in full against your invoice if you build with us, so if you proceed it costs you nothing.
No. We build both, but only as part of a complete basement project. Cutting a foundation and leaving is not something we will put our name on.
Durham Region and the eastern GTA. All eight Durham municipalities: Oshawa, Whitby, Ajax, Pickering, Clarington, Uxbridge, Scugog and Brock. Plus Toronto and Scarborough. We have worked as far out as Millbrook. Staying close matters because it means we can get to a problem the same day.
Family room $40,000 to $70,000. In-law suite $60,000 to $95,000. Legal suite $70,000 to $115,000. Our published projects run from $138,360 to $264,341, and each of those pages explains exactly why that number was what it was.
We focus on basements, kitchens and bathrooms. If a basement project extends into other parts of the house we handle that, but whole-home remodels are not our primary work any more. That focus is deliberate.
Seven years on materials and workmanship. Alongside a fixed price that does not move, and a written timeline with a $1,000 per week penalty payable to you if we run late.
Then we tell you, and you have lost ninety minutes instead of ninety thousand dollars. We publish an article on the seven situations where we advise homeowners not to build a legal suite. Septic capacity, ceiling height, resale timing and whether you actually want a tenant are all real reasons to stop.
Start with twenty minutes on the phone. No charge, no site visit, no pitch. If we are not the right company we will tell you on that call, and point you at someone who is.
