Fourlakes.

Fourlakes Design Build services

Basement finishing that starts with the water

Every Madison basement wants to be a family room. Whether it should be depends on questions we answer before design: where the water goes, where the egress goes, and what the ceiling height allows.

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Finished basement family room with a built-in white oak media wall

We start with a moisture assessment and mean it: grading, gutters, interior drainage if needed. Only then do we design the space, and the finished product gets the same shop-built cabinetry and trim as the upstairs, because a basement should not feel like a consolation prize.

How it works

How a project runs

  1. 01

    Walk the house

    We meet at your home, talk scope and budget honestly, and tell you on the spot if we are not the right fit.

  2. 02

    Design in the shop

    Drawings, 3D previews, and materials you can hold, in the studio attached to our workshop. Ends with a fixed price.

  3. 03

    Build it once

    A posted calendar, a dust wall, a broom-clean site every night, and cabinetry arriving from a mile away instead of a freight dock.

  4. 04

    Come back in winter

    Final walkthrough, then the Second Winter visit 14 months later to make right anything the seasons moved.

Recent work

See the results

All projects
Opened bungalow kitchen with nine-foot white oak island and original fir trim

The Baker kitchen

Vilas

 Deep green galley kitchen with butcher block counters in a worker cottage

The Alvarez galley

Marquette

 Curbless wet room with terracotta zellige tile and floating white oak vanity

The Okafor wet room

Tenney-Lapham

Good to know

Basements questions

Why do you publish project costs?

Because guessing wastes everyone’s time, ours included. If our numbers are not in your range, better to know before the first meeting. Prices on this site are real totals from the year listed.

What is the Second Winter Warranty, exactly?

Fourteen months after completion, after your remodel has been through a full Wisconsin freeze-thaw cycle, we schedule a return visit and repair anything that moved: trim gaps, miter openings, doors that seasoned out of square. It is written into every contract, on top of the standard two-year workmanship warranty.

Do you really build the cabinets yourselves?

Yes, in our workshop at 2117 Atwood Ave. Clients are welcome to visit mid-project and see their cabinetry on the bench. The shop is the reason our built-ins fit the way they do.

Ready when you are

Tell us what isn’t working about your home. We’ll tell you honestly what it takes to fix it.

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