The distinction that actually moves the number is permit status, not finish quality. A basement finished to a high standard without a secondary-suite permit is valued closer to useful finished square footage, which supports comfort and comparable-sale positioning, while a permitted secondary suite can be valued partly on the income it can legally produce.
Development quality is the next lever once legality is settled: a separate entrance, proper egress windows, sound and fire separation, and a code-compliant kitchen all affect how an appraiser and a buyer's lender treat the space. A rough or partial build reads as a project still in progress, not a finished asset, even when the square footage is technically there.
Public records and most online estimates see the finished square footage on file but miss whether the work is permitted, and that gap can be significant against a citywide benchmark of $444,700, which is exactly the kind of improvement a hand-reviewed valuation is built to catch. Get your hand-reviewed valuation from Joel Dyck.