New construction costs

[b_m_hart]

I'm curious to know if there are any good sites out there that give a decent estimation of new construction costs (inclusive of foundation, permits, architectural / structural, material, labor, etc).  Anyone know of a site that can list this for specific areas?

 

[gcs]

Reed Construction Data is a publisher of that kind of data.

You can buy their books at amazon or at your local home depot.  I don't know if you can buy the data from their web site.

 

[Holzhacker]

I've bought various versions and publishers of those books over the years. I've never been able to successfully bid a job using them. I've given the books to other contractors and don't know anyone who has been able to use those numbers to bid jobs. I think those books might work for general reports, but I wouldn't rely on them for budgeting a job.
I collect pricing ongoing from guys I run into a jobsites. Far more reliable of a gauge.

 

[harry_]

I cannot imagine any published data being any kind of accurate in today's economy/marketplace.

The work that I have been taking lately is 1.5 (on a good commuting day(metro Boston, MA)) from my house (southwestern NH). I take this work, because even after the cost of fuel and my windshield time I am able to make significantly more money than taking work that is quite local to me.

The problem with this is, locally I do not have to compete with 'Brazilian wages' (this is not meant to be an insult by any stretch, but it is a reality, and differing regions have their own version, I am sure), in metro Boston I do. What I had to learn was not to be afraid to walk away from a bid.  Some jobs are simply not for me. My personal philosophy is that if I lose a job by less than %5 on bid,... I need to work my references harder, not the calculator. Reputation should be able to cover that %5 (IMO).

I have found that chumming up with other (sub) contractors, I can get a "shelf price" from them to use in my bids. If the job (or the customer) presents itself as being particularly difficult then I increase my margin. I never go 'below the shelf' for things that look particularly easy,.... EVER!

In short, a successful bid needs to be what you can do the job for.

 

[counterfix]

i have found that if you can get info from an insurance company regarding fire damage they have the most comprehensive list of site cost for instance we bid jobs down to the Pennie example painting trim casing .67 lft its broken down two the cost of nails. now you can expect to spend a lot of time on just data entry but when you have all of it in what ever program you use it goes much faster. keep in mind that ins company's use regional date this can mean that cost may differ from state to state.

Lance

Counterfix Inc

 

[TheToolPlace]

i have found that if you can get info from an insurance company regarding fire damage they have the most comprehensive list of site cost for instance we bid jobs down to the Pennie example painting trim casing .67 lft its broken down two the cost of nails. now you can expect to spend a lot of time on just data entry but when you have all of it in what ever program you use it goes much faster. keep in mind that ins company's use regional date this can mean that cost may differ from state to state.

Lance

Counterfix Inc

Lance is quite right.  Insurance and Restoration/Disaster companies use software that calculates EVERY possible expense.  Including finishing nails, caulking and paint for trim.  These won't necessarily help you bid, but they do break out all of the individual costs that you will have.

Chad

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

I'm curious to know if there are any good sites out there that give a decent estimation of new construction costs (inclusive of foundation, permits, architectural / structural, material, labor, etc).  Anyone know of a site that can list this for specific areas?

not going to find that.

cost of construction varies too much.

It is all about each comany's cost of doing buisness.

 

[Jesus Aleman]

I work for an engineering firm.  Both contractor and engineering firms spend a fair amount of staff and dollars in developing cost estimating tools and adjusting these based on market conditions, trends, and geography.    Cost escalation and unknown conditions (surprises) are typically the two biggest risk issues.  I am talking here about municipal and industrial construction in the order of $30-250M contracts.  However, the same applies to residential construction, whether you talk about 1 or 100 houses.  You can have a boilerplate estimate, but you will need to adjust it accordingly to take into account contingencies, unkowns, delays, material cost escalation (there continues to be volatility in rebar, copper, and aluminum), site conditions, etc.

Anyways, my point is that you can get a software that will spit out a number from quantity take-offs, the number (s) will then need to be adjusted by trained eyes to reflect the reality of that specific job.

Cheers.

JGA.

     

 

[harry_]

Having dealt with insurance adjusters before, I would want to have a *multiplier* to go with anything that an insurance company uses.

However, that does sound like a good place to gather info. If there is _ONE_ thing an insurance company can do, it is calculate. It is just unfortunate that rarely does anyone like their numbers aside from the shareholders

 

[counterfix]

Harry is correct regarding the mu tiplier. i use this type  if your cost are 500.00  divide that by .4 this is what i consider wholesale if you divide your wholesale number by .75 i use this as retail cost