Any reliable sources online to estimate costs of materials to build homes or apts? I know the feedback will be its way to complex, but if you had source info online, do any exist? Seems like it should... not exactly rocket science.. materials is the hardest part to gauge bc of different codes etc, but how do you ballpark?
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Lol, definitely not rocket science. Hard to gauge how much of a preliminary cost figure you are looking for but here you go (not a free source).
I'd add that if it is a very general ballpark figure and you have an idea on the total project costs, just assume 25-30% labor and your remainder for materials. That assumption is for an average residential house; for a project involving more interior details etc, that can easily go up to 50% since the trade labor is so much more intensive.
Hope that helps fam.
It’s difficult my man. Don’t think you understand the complexities involved.
25-30% labor is really low. I do a lot of estimating and bidding. Framing is slightly in excess of 50%. Just ran the numbers and average was 52% labor for our wood framing bids on a Type IIIA building in SoCal.
I think you're underestimating the complexity involved. Labor, materials, standards, etc are all varying from market to market and year to year (or even month to month). New steel tariff? Big changes. Union law gets passed in a city? Big changes.
Also, it is a bit difficult to comp out grade; sure you can say the average class C multi builds for X per foot and the average A multi builds for 1.5X per foot, but how does that play into the architect's design, whatever unique conditions that exist on your plot of land, exactly what finishes and materials you use, etc, etc, etc.
When I was on the acquisition side, we brought in construction cost estimators early to get a feel for feasibility (and almost none of the stuff we touched was actually ground-up; just value-add ).
The source provided above takes into account the issues you mentioned. RSMeans has a reference section for multiple things which includes project costs by type and it is even broken down (architectural/SF, plumbing/SF, mechanical/SF and electrical/SF). These cost figures provided are useful in the conceptual stage when no details are available.
In regards to market to market variances, there is also additional information that is useful:
These are some of the tools that would be used to compare costs from city to city. As to whatever unique conditions exist, that is where the contingency comes into play. Remember, just like a proforma, preliminary estimates require many assumptions as well.
Also depends on what the OX requirements are, is it slab on grade? Underground parking? Mat slab? A lot of variables. Grading and concrete get complicated very quickly. As you pointed out.
Very detailed! Thanks for the informative breakdown.
No, i get the complexity. What I'm trying to do is ballpark if a purchase will be below replacement. I figure there has to be a way to ballpark this. Thanks for the RS Means link but ya it costs, and may be too much detail at this point.
There isn't a website that aggregates this info on a regional basis? So breaking out cost to build a 2000ft home in Savannah GA for example assuming standard materials, but accounting for the cost of materials due to code nuances in the municipality. Or a project in FL for example will run higher because materials need to hurricane resistant. See what I'm getting at?
If you can nail down the hard costs, labor and soft costs can be estimated as discussed here by adding 20-30%.
edit: duplicate.
I see, I'd still say RS Means can work, you can download the 2019 project costs in the link below:
https://www.rsmeans.com/landing-pages/2019-rsmeans-cost-index.aspx
Unless I'm not understanding, you can get to a ballpark number like that based on what I described before. In your example;
national average cost to build 2000 sf home = x savannah ga city cost index = y
cost to build 2000 sf in savannah = (y/100)(x)
Wouldn't you get engineering consultants (Arup, Mott MacDonald or Atkins etc) to do these estimates based on the proper construction material forecasts? They would usually be able to provide a good estimate of a full construction analysis, material quantities needed etc and then you conduct the cost analysis - no?
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