Estimating New Home Construction Cost

Trying to estimate home replacement costs for my Mom's home insurance

Talk to the city or county building inspector (depending on who has jurisdiction over that area. He should be able to give you a really good idea of what it would be. You could also check with the assessor's office in that area to see what similar homes are going for (selling wise). A third idea is to have a licensed contractor give you a bid to replace the house just like it is. It may cost a small fee though.

2006-07-02 15:32:30 by kjothermail

This is 16mm home movie from 1929 of the construction of a large estate home. 16MM film was introduced in the 1920's as a home movie medium ...

I am thinking of building this home http://www.houseplans.com/plan_Details.a sp?id=2160 in Wisconsin. The plan costs $1,060. I did cost estimates and the total construction costs ranged from $225,000 to $275,000 (because I fiddled around with some building material and building options). Would you say this is a good estimate?

Acermill is correct, those numbers are not good. Also keep in mind that you do not get to fiddle much with materials, those are building code.

Also, put aside about 10k for an architect if you buy those plans. If the planning department requires any change, no matter how small, you need new plans, signed and stamped by an architect. You will end up with 6-7 complete plans before you are done.

Personally I think you will be better off hiring an architect in your county in the first place (building rules are by county, so you may as well hire there).

2008-11-26 21:17:57 by John

Price: $19.95 $15.56

I recently had some renovations done on my home. The final bill presented by the contractor is considerably more than the estimate he gave me. What is considered an acceptable margin of error for a construction cost estimate?

~~This answer will probably differ from state to state laws, so I can only tell you from California laws. You do not have to pay one cent more than the quoted price unless the contract you signed allows for actual material costs changes, or unless you signed a change order approving the extra costs. If you don't live in California then go to your state's contractors board or call them for answers. Here there is no acceptable margin of error increase unless stated plainly in writing.

2008-09-04 19:26:59 by white_bunny_slippers

Price: $99.95 $99.95

I have the land on the Peninsula (slight slope w/ leveled areas) and architectural plans (2 story home (~2500 sq/ft)). I am looking to have average finishes with the exception of the kitchen which will be higher end. Does anyone have any ballpark estimates for construction costs on a per sq/ft basis?

I just finished a remodel (almost complete rebuild) of a home in San Diego. It has a lot of custom appointments, but nothing too esoteric. But, everything is basically brand new. It's about 1750 square feet, and the insurance company said we should insure it for about $600,000 to cover a complete rebuild. So, you're looking at just over $300 a square foot. And, this makes sense, because I seem to remember it was more like $150 to $200 about 10 years ago when I was looking into building a custom home.

2007-10-17 16:52:49 by Robert D

My home is a bungalow with a floor space of about 100 sq. m. I'm planning to have a 2nd floor built. However, instead of galvanized iron roofing; I'm inclined to have a concrete layer where I can have a garden. How much would I be budgeting for these? I realize that water proofing would be an important cost element.

The first thing you should budget for is an engineer's analysis.  You are going to need it to get a ground-up (literally) appraisal of your need for:
— Stronger roof trusses to hold the weight of concrete and whatever you put on it, like soil.
— Strength of the walls (especially over door and window openings) under the increased weight of the roof.
— Any necessary improvements to the foundation, so it doesn't sink under the increased load.

Mistakes in any of those could make the cost of the project look small, so make sure it's right the first time.  But if you do, you'll have a nice quiet space two floors above the street.  I'll bet it's worth it!

2008-04-05 06:22:34 by santiago