Orefield, Pennsylvania
Finished Basements in the Orefield Area, Pennsylvania
Orefield has the best basement stock in our service area for a full finish, and nearly half of it went up between 1990 and 2009.
- Town
- Orefield
- County
- Lehigh County, PA
- Typical range
- $75 to $125 per sq ft
Subdivisions built on former farms
Across the 18069 area, 25.5 percent of housing dates from the 2000s and 22.2 percent from the 1990s, with a median build year of 1990 (American Community Survey 2019 to 2023, tables B25034 and B25035). Only 7 percent predates 1940. Neighborhoods such as Apple Valley Estates and South Whitehall Estates, and the Parkland-area developments around them, are that stock.
That vintage typically gives you poured concrete walls, an eight foot pour, 200 amp service, frequently a bath rough-in, and enough footprint that a nine hundred to fourteen hundred square foot finished space is realistic rather than aspirational.
The egress window is usually the gap
Orefield stock runs roughly fifteen years older than Breinigsville, and that fifteen years is exactly the window in which builders stopped pre-installing an egress-sized basement window. So on most Orefield jobs the foundation and the service are fine and the egress opening is the thing that has to be added.
That matters because an egress window is not a nice-to-have. It is the legal requirement that turns a basement room into a bedroom under the code. If a guest suite or a fifth bedroom is part of what you want, the egress cut and the window well are the first line in the budget, not the last.
Owners, not renters, and where the permit goes
The 18069 area is 79.3 percent single-family detached and 91.4 percent owner-occupied, the highest owner share in our service area. Median home value is $407,200 and median household income $125,357 (ACS 2019 to 2023).
Orefield is a village, not a municipality, and it is split between North Whitehall and South Whitehall Townships. We confirm which one your address falls in before drawing, because the permit and the inspection schedule go through that township. Schools are Parkland, Orefield Middle School is here, and Shankweiler's on Route 309 has been running since 1934.
What it costs
$75, $125 / sq ft
The published rate in Lehigh County. $50,000 project minimum. A bathroom and a designed ceiling move you up the range.
Plan My Project- On site
- 6 to 10 weeks
- Permitting first
- 2 to 4 weeks
- Price
- Fixed, in writing
Most relevant for Orefield homes
Everything we include in a finished basement is on the finished basements page. Other Lehigh County towns: Allentown, Bethlehem, Emmaus, Macungie, Whitehall, Salisbury Township, Trexlertown, Breinigsville, Fogelsville, Alburtis, Schnecksville, Coopersburg.
If you are still weighing it up, read how a build runs from first visit to final walkthrough or the answers on cost, permits and moisture.
Planning a basement in Orefield?
A walkthrough and a written line-item price come before anything is demolished.