Your favorite building/remodel cost estimators?

hazmat · Aug 18, 2004

I checked the 2001 edition construction cost estimator 2004 on amazon out of the library yesterday.

It has lots of good info, but is set up to help a contractor know HIS costs for his employees to do a job, no overhead, no profit. Ie they are waaaaay lower then you'd pay "retail" to have something done. I'm looking for a resource that would tell me what I can expect to pay someone to do various remodel jobs.

Thoughts?

Stonefox · Aug 18, 2004

Hazmat, I'm looking at building a home in a couple of years. I found a site at http://www.building-cost.net that seems to take into account variables such as geographical region, quality of materials,and breaks down estimated material and labor costs for each facet of construction. I don't know how accurate this estimator is but its a start for a rough ballpark figure.
Stonefox

neilly2 · Aug 18, 2004

Hazmat,

You might find that figuring material and labor costs, then applying a % for O and P and escalation might be your best bet.

Talking to some family in New Jersey, and they're saying the house contractors/remodelers are still getting top dollar due to the amount of work. Meaning, they're putting out super high estimates cause they're not hungry for work. If they get the job its great $$$ if not, no big loss because they are overbooking work. Another thing is schedule -- will the guy ever come out and do it?

At least if you know their cost you can get an idea if they're gouging you. Depending the trade involved you can figure 15 to 25% O and P as a fair number. If its a GC you're dealing with, some get upwards of 30 - 50% profit alone after they're done giving their subs and the owner an enema. If you project is a year or two out, add 5% per year escalation for both material and labor. Though, materials are incredibly high right now, there may be some relief in the future.

To directly answer your question, my favorite estimator is a spreadsheet and a telephone/internet connection for getting the best possible pricing.

I don't know about home estimating programs, but the one I've used commercially depends on the user inputting the unit prices. They're essentially a user friendly database program.