Basement Apartments in Orem, UT

Why Orem homes are good candidates for basement apartments

Orem is full of houses built with a full basement the builder never finished. Between the age of the housing stock and the steady rental demand from Utah Valley University, finishing a basement here does double duty — it adds usable family space, and for many owners it opens the door to a legal basement apartment with real monthly income.

The housing stock here is a deep inventory of 1960s–1990s ramblers, split-entries, and two-story homes, most built with full basements that the original builder left unfinished. That shapes what a project actually involves — which is why we scope work in Orem differently than we would two cities over.

Neighborhoods we work in

We take basement apartments projects throughout Orem, including Sharon, Cascade, Northridge, Hillcrest, Windsor, Cherry Hill, Geneva Heights, Suncrest, and Lakeridge. Landmarks nearby include Utah Valley University, University Place, Scera Park.

What Orem allows

An Orem accessory apartment has to be inside the main residential building, and the owner has to live in one of the two units — either the house or the apartment. That owner-occupancy rule is the one that most often decides whether a purchase pencils out, because it rules out buying a house purely to rent both halves.

Orem publishes a list of every legally approved accessory apartment in the city, by address and tax ID. If you're buying a house advertised as having a basement apartment, that list settles in about a minute whether the unit is legal or whether you're inheriting somebody's unpermitted project.

Checked against City of Orem — Accessory Apartments and Utah County cities prepare for statewide detached ADU changes — Daily Herald on 2026-08-31. Rules differ city by city and the detached ones are being rewritten ahead of an October 1, 2026 deadline — see where all nine cities stand, or let us confirm your specific parcel.

What's included

• Zoning and ADU feasibility check for your specific parcel before design
• Full permitted construction — framing through final inspection
• Separate exterior entrance and code-compliant egress
• Complete kitchen with appliances, cabinetry, and countertops
• Full bathroom
• Fire separation and sound attenuation between units
• Dedicated HVAC or zoning for the unit
• Electrical subpanel and optional utility submetering
• Rental-durable finish selections that hold up to tenant turnover

Permits and inspections in Orem

Basement finishing permits in Orem run through the city's Development Services division, and finished basement bedrooms must meet egress requirements. Orem also has specific standards for accessory apartments, so if a rental unit is the goal it's worth confirming zoning for your parcel before framing starts.

Permits here go through the Orem Development Services, Building Safety Division. Orem takes basement finish applications through its online permit portal, and the application asks for your contractor's Utah license number alongside the owner information — which is a quiet advantage of hiring a licensed contractor rather than a handyman working off the books. Plans need to be drawn to scale with square footage by floor and walls labeled with materials and stud spacing. The city publishes a Residential Basement Finish Plan Checklist that spells out exactly what the plan set has to show, so there's no guessing about whether a submittal is complete.

Inspections are scheduled ahead of time through Orem's building permit portal or by phone at (801) 229-7198. We schedule them, meet the inspector, and handle any corrections — you don't need to be home or take time off work.

Orem's basement finish permits use a fee structure of a $40 base plus 1.5% of the ICC valuation, plus the applicable trade fees for electrical, plumbing, and mechanical work. That means the permit cost scales with the size of the project rather than being a flat number, and it's a line item we put in the written estimate instead of surprising you with it later.

We handle this part; it isn't something you deal with.

For the full walkthrough of how a project runs stage by stage, what drives the price, and what to watch out for, see our basement apartments page.

Orem permit details above were checked against the city's published information on August 19, 2026. Cities revise fees and ordinances, so confirm current requirements with Orem Residential Basement Finish Plan Checklist and Orem Development Services — what needs a permit — or let us confirm it for your address as part of the estimate.