Milgard Full Lifetime Warranty Deciding on windows and patio doors? Choose Milgard and enjoy an industry-leading warranty that is clear, easy to understand and comes with the best support possible for your windows and doors. Request a brochure Request a quote Help Me Choose Find a Dealer Energy Calculator Installation & Finishing Case Studies Photo GalleriesSummary: Estimating the cost of construction to build a house and controlling that cost during construction is the critical job of the general contractor. You can come very close to estimating your total cost to build a new home, and you can guide your home building project toward that estimated cost right up till the last cost expenditure, especially if you are the general contractor. Cost estimating is more accurate today than when I started in this business because of construction estimating software and spreadsheets. I always found it difficult to manually list construction bids from subcontractors and suppliers, make adjustments, and keep track of cost overruns during construction.

Over the years, I have been involved in thousands of homes under construction and thousands of construction loans and have seen the absolute necessity for cost control. Spreadsheets certainly help builders control their costs during construction. Cost estimating is the most important step! If you can't afford your new house, the time to find out is before you start construction or even apply for a construction loan. It is critical to do accurate cost estimating and even more important to control those costs as the house progresses. If you don't calculate an accurate construction budget before you start building and stick to that estimated budget, you probably won’t save 25 percent of the cost of the project, and you may well end up not being able to afford to finish and/or keep the house. This is not good! Putting together your construction bids and estimates requires shopping. How do you shop for a whole house? You use the categories on a Spreadsheet as your shopping list.

Below are the Cost Categories that are found on most construction estimating spreadsheets, each one with a detailed description. You will notice a (suggested) percentage after each category. These represent typical percentages of a total home building budget. Percentages are NOT “cast in stone”. You may spend less for that category, or you may spend more. All the cost categories and percentages add up to 100%, so if you spend more than the indicated percentage for one category, you try to spend less in another. stanley garage door opener companyIt’s up to you as the general Contractor to “shop till you drop” to keep it all in balance.bi fold doors vic For example, let’s say you have determined that your maximum budget for construction costs excluding land is $200,000.schlage door handles and locks

That would mean that if you find out that building permits, impact fees, other fees, & surveys, one of the 1st categories you’ll get costs for, are going to cost $4,000 instead of $3,000, you are .5% ($1,000) “in the hole” so to speak. Not to worry though, as it’s very early in the estimating game and there should be many areas where you can save more than .5%, without sacrificing quality. Note: In determining the square footage of a house, measure from outside wall to outside wall, not from inside wall to inside wall, and not from roof overhangs. garage door redmond waIf the house is not easily divided into rectangles for simplifying square footage determination and you can’t figure it out, have the designer do it for you. door pull handles with backplateReady-made plans generally come with the square footage broken down for you. wood garage doors mesa az

Let Your House Plans Do the Talking (Shopping) Once you get your house plans, start shopping for bids and estimates from contractors, subcontractors and suppliers. The items you will be shopping for are broken down into categories as seen on a spreadsheet. These are suggested categories. You can alter them and/or add more as you see fit. Your objective is to get firm bids for all items. Never accept a bid that is "by the hour." Remember Murphy's Law # 390: "If you want to see how long a job can take, pay them by the hour." kitchen door fronts aberdeenYou may pay a little more for a firm bid, but it's worth it for peace of mind. For example, if an excavator quotes $X per hour per man plus $X per hour per piece of equipment, insist on a firm total bid. If he (or she) won’t offer one, move on to the next excavator on your list. Read "Finding Your Subcontractors".The people and companies you will be contacting know how to give estimates based on plans and are used to being asked for bids.

Don't worry, this is part of their job, whether you eventually hire them or not. I take my plans, drop them off or mail them to a sub or supplier, and say, “Give me a price on XXX. If you see anything else on the plans you can provide, give me a price on that too.” One morning early in my building career I met with an excavator at my lot to give him the plans and get a price for excavating. I had never met him before. He was a friend of a friend. He gave me what I thought was a good price. He then said, "We also do septic systems, driveways, backfill, rough and final grading, and a few other things, and my brother does foundations, concrete slabs, flat work, etc.” Wow, I struck gold! I hate to shop, so I got bids on four more parts of the project. Note: Your suppliers, contractors and subcontractors will determine the exact (almost) number of items and square footage of materials needed based on your house plans. This is called a "materials take off." NOTE: GET ALL BIDS & ESTIMATES IN WRITING!

As you go through this process line by line, category by category, you may find even better prices for previous line items that you already have bids for. With the spreadsheet up and running, you'll be amazed how easy it is to watch that bottom line (that's the "total" line, by the way) shrink as you get the best prices. You can make as many spread sheets for subcategories within the line items as you need. For example: Foundation costs may be made up of several costs such as sand, fill dirt, steel reinforcing, forms, etc. Simply start a new spreadsheet, label it "Foundation," and change the list of costs by typing in what you need. Do a new spreadsheet for each "Main" category as needed. “Whew!" you may be saying, "it’s a lot of work getting all those bids and estimates!” Well, I never said you didn't have work to earn your 25 percent, but you still won’t have to pick up a hammer! When you finally see the bottom line of the first column approaching 75 percent of your budget, you should feel pretty good.

As I have already mentioned and will discuss further in chapter 4, your lender will be ordering an appraisal that will tell you the market value of your completed house. Your estimated total cost of construction (that bottom line), excluding land, permits, and the 6 or 7 percent real estate commissions figured in by the appraiser, should not exceed 50 percent to 60 percent of that market value. If it's higher, get back to work shopping. Building supply companies, home centers, carpet stores, appliance dealers, and so forth all know what to do. They will give you the best price they can, as they know you are shopping elsewhere. If they don't, you'll know as you enter their bids on your spreadsheet, and the bottom line grows too large. As you pay for items during construction, enter the actual price paid under the "adjusted cost estimate" column on your spreadsheet. Scroll down to the "total" lines, compare "adjusted” to “original” and you'll know instantly if you are running over cost.

If expenses run higher than estimated in some categories, you may have to trim costs in others. Most of the heavy costs come at the beginning of construction for such items as excavation work, well and septic digging and installation, lumber, masonry, carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, windows and doors, and heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC). Some of the items bought later still have a very significant effect on the total cost of the house. These include hardwood floors and other flooring, appliances, plumbing fixtures, wallpapering, millwork and interior trim, and carpeting. It is possible to cut costs on many of these items by choosing less expensive options or postponing installation of certain items (such as wallpaper) until after you've moved in. Molding and trim details (such as a wainscot or cornice molding) can be added later if reducing immediate costs is important. Windows can vary as much as $100 each just because of brand name, though the difference in quality is negligible.