Good but not Special

Recently Dave and I (well mostly Dave) have been in 'talks' with the building department to get our partial basement included in the total square footage of our house. In doing this we're hoping to obviously add value to the home but also do some renovations by adding a bath to make it a nice spot for the parents and guests who sleep over. Alas the building department has been putting up a fight, refusing to believe the basement was originally part of the house due to some erroneous record taking downtown. In an effort to clear up the situation, David had me get the original permit on the house from the city assessor. I should first say the date on the permit is 2/26/24! and its a whopping 1 page of info. It says the house is a single story bungalow with a kitchen, 2 living rooms, and some bed and baths. It also notes the trim, inside finish and exterior cladding out of many choices. Most importantly under the construction category there are 4 choices: Cheap, Medium, Good, and Special. Maybe after Dave and I are done with it we can raise the check to Special. Definitely if you consider we're spending oh a wee bit more than the $3,000 it cost to build the ENTIRE house.... oh and the garage a mere $180 more.