Estimating Construction Costs
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Calculated Industries 4019 Materials Estimating Calculator $25.72 The Material Estimator is designed for contractors, trades people, and estimators who need to estimate materials and costs for concrete, fences, decks, bricks, tile, flooring, gravel, painting, drywall, panelling, and more. It helps users quickly and easily calculate material costs and allowances, and get exactly the materials they need. Reducing estimating errors will same time and money. Solar/b… |
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Cost and Estimating Guide Vol. I: Practices & Procedures $160.00 PDCA’s Const and Estimating Guide Volume I: Practices and Procedures presents a step by step method for estimating the cost of painting and decorating work. This manual will present viable methods for those in the industry to accurately perform this important task…. |
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QuickBooks Premier Contractor 2012 $249.99 Financial Management – Standard Retail – CD-ROM – PC… |
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Instant Estimator $12.96 Labor and Material Cost EstimatingSoftware for Contractors and BuildersProduct InformationEstimate project costs quickly easily and accurately with Instant Estimator – an essential business resource for every successful contractor. When it comes to construction costs nobody likes surprises. Instant Estimator puts the tools you need for accurate cost projections right at your fingertips. Esti… |
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Primavera SureTrak Project Manager 3.0 $750.00 Aimed at those who won’t put up with limits in their project management software, Primavera SureTrak 3.0 provides an excellent all-around package for getting control of time, resources, and budget. With excellent built-in Web and collaborative capabilities, this is a program that can simplify any busy manager’s life. To get started, SureTrak 3.0 bundles the KickStart tool, which lets even tho… |
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Calculated Industries 4080 Construction Master Pro Trigonometric Calculator $79.95 Built-In Time Saving Functions Complete Stair calculations for Risers, Treads, Stringer Length and Incline Angle |
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RSMeans Building Construction Cost Data 2012 (Means Building Construction Cost Data) $104.99 RSMeans Building Construction Cost Data 2012 is the most used, quoted, and respected unit price guide available to the construction industry. It is the professional estimator’s first choice for reliable price data for accurate budgeting and estimating, with more than 23,000 completely updated unit price lines…. |
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RSMeans Contractor’s Pricing Guide: Residential Repair & Remodeling 2012 (Means Residential Repair & Remodeling Costs) $23.55 RSMeans Contractor Pricing Guide: Residential Repair & Remodeling Costs 2012 provides reliable construction cost information for the residential repair and remodeling contractor, featuring total unit price costs for every aspect of the most common repair and remodeling projects. In a format organized for the way you build — from frame to finish, it covers every step needed to complete each task. … |
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RSMeans Mechanical Cost Data 2012 (Means Mechanical Cost Data) $110.21 RSMeans 2012 Mechanical Cost Data is the definitive source for HVAC cost data available, featuring unit costs for materials, methods, equipment and other building services, plus crew and productivity rates. This cost data is referenced by professionals nationwide, from general and HVAC contractors, to engineers, architects and facility managers…. |
Owner Builders Beware: The Dangers of Construction Cost Estimators
Owner builders need to put a budget together prior to starting construction on their new home, not only to qualify for an owner builder construction loan, but also to properly plan for the construction phase.
All too often, though, owner builders use the latest and greatest cost estimator that claims to have eliminated the need for getting real bids from individual sub-contractors and material providers.
Just plug in some quick specs about your home, and you have an instantaneous construction budget to build your dream home.
Right? Wrong.
Here’s the problem – not one of those cost estimators is accurate for your specific project, especially for your owner builder project. All estimators, no matter how fancy or expensive, are based on average costs. Your house, no matter what, is not exactly average. Your house may be more detailed or less detailed than average. It is guaranteed not to be exactly average.
Cost estimators are almost entirely based on square footage and costs per square foot. Let’s say you, the owner builder, are building a 2000 square foot house. A cost estimator will spit out some number for you based on costs per square foot x 2000 feet. You can make some adjustments, typically, for higher or lower grade finishings, but that is it.
Is your 2000 square foot house a simple shoebox, or is it a Victorian style house? Your estimator software is likely not to care. A 2000 square foot Victorian could cost an owner builder over twice as much as a very simple design of the same size. Things like roof pitches, number and design of windows, porches, and many other variables are often not considered. So, using an estimator without getting proper bids, could force an owner builder to make gross budgeting errors.
And, it gets worse. Even if you think you are using a super detailed estimator designed just for owner builders, you will fall short if you fail to account for your local costs, which vary from town to town and even within different parts of the same town.
Also, owner builders constantly run into inaccuracies for any aspect of a home that is not completely standard. For example, if window sizes come in a standard size, and you need something an inch or two different, you will pay a huge premium that your estimating software will not account for. Do you want any curves to those windows? Any transoms or sidelights? These discrepancies are just for windows. Spread this across an entire house, and you should get the point.
Now add one more factor to the equation. The actual number of owner builders who use estimating software correctly is miniscule. Most people, especially owner builders, do not do this sort of thing professionally. And no matter how smart you think you are, you will most likely make mistakes. So, not only are most owner builders starting out with a faulty premise when using a cost estimator, they are using the application incorrectly on top of that.
Often owner builders want to use cost estimators that are provided by material package suppliers or home design companies for their particular set of blueprints. The owner builder’s argument is always logical – the blueprint company or the home kit supplier based the overall construction cost estimates on the specific set of blueprints. So, they should know the actual costs to build that particular house.
Well, sadly, they might only have a rough feel for the typical costs, based on some of the reasons listed above. And even if they do have a good idea, they may underestimate the costs just to get you to buy their package. Why would they do something like that? Put yourself in their shoes. They make more money by selling larger home designs or large material packages. So, by low-balling the estimated cost to complete the home, they can convince owner builders that the larger houses are affordable.
Therefore, owner builders opt to buy the larger houses, and more money goes into the company’s pockets. It happens all the time. When you confront a house plan provider or a home kit company, you will always get the same answer: the budget provided is just an estimate.
The only costs that the company can assure are accurate are the costs for the specific materials that the company is selling. The cost estimate to complete the house is meant solely as a helpful, rough guide for the customer.
The best advice for any owner builder is to disregard the cost estimate completely. If you want to know what it will cost for the labor and materials to build that particular house in that particular town, then go find out. Don’t rely on others to tell you what you want to hear.
In conclusion, do not rely solely on estimating software. They lead to trouble for owner builders every single day. And remember this last point: your cost estimator, and the person who designed it, has no liability when you run out of money during construction. But, you do.
So, when should an owner builder use cost estimating software? There actually is a good time to do so, and that is at the very early stages of thinking about your new home. If you just want to get a very rough idea of the costs of a house plan you like, by all means use a cost estimator to start your thought process. But, add 10-15% to be extra safe. Then, once you have decided to go forward with a home plan and a specific owner builder project, toss those estimates in the garbage and go about the process the right way.
About the Author
Chris Esposito and Owner Builder 101 provide owner builder construction loans to people who want to build instant equity into their new homes by avoiding General Contractor fees. Discover the secrets of owner builder financing and planning at www.OwnerBuilder101.com. Or, call (877) 876-3688.
Need Help with a math problem please! Show all your work please thank you?
The city commission wants to construct a new street that connects Main Street and North Boulevard as shown in the diagram below. The construction cost has been estimated at $90 per linear foot. Find the estimated cost for constructing the street.
(The base of the triangle is 6 miles and the height of the triangle is 7 miles and the new street is the hypotenuse) Thank you in advance!!
You need to find the length of the Hypotenuse, You do this by doing 6^2 + 7^2 = 36 + 49 = 85
You then find the square root of 85, which is 9.219544457.
Now as I have always worked in SI, I’m not 100% sure there are 5280ft in a mile, so you do the hypotenuse x (90×5280) = $4,381,127.53
Gerkin
Project cost control and estimating integrated with Primavera
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