A poster in another thread (djj) linked to a site for estimating building costs. He said the overall cost of his house was within 5% of the projected cost per that site. A friend’s spec house was within about 10%, he said.
It’d be fascinating for some of you builders to run a recent project through the questions (only takes a few minutes) and see how close it comes, where it’s good and where it’s flawed. I found it low on excavation, and especially on the differences be/c the qualities of interior, plumbing, kitchen, etc.
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I'm interested in this thread so I'm adding my 2 cents worth just to keep it going.
Plus I worked on that house that DJJ mentioned so I'd say that makes me at least partialy responsible for staying on budget!
I did an addition for a farmer once, the bid was $64,500. It finished up at $64,500! The wife made some requests but only if it didnt affect the cost. They had alocated the money and had no intention of spending a dime more.
Doug
Cloud,
I have a fairly complicated plan that I've run down all the costs on for myself. IF you are familiar with Schantz Rd ans Arrowhead lane, there is one very much like it at the top of Arrowhead Lane.
Anyway, after plugging all of the numbers in, it came up about 10% higher than what I have. That's probably pretty close after you add in anything that might pop up.
>IF you are familiar with Schantz Rd and Arrowhead lane, there is one very much like it at the top of Arrowhead Lane.Just beyond Rt 100? My Godson lives on Arrowhead!!! Cool.You know the vineyard/winery along Arrowhead? I worked with him at APCI for many years before he retired. My dad sold insurance to lots of people in that area (we lived on Main St in Macungie) many moons ago. Memories...
I'm sorry to say that you might not recognize the place today unless you've been back recently.
The land east of Arrowhead and north of Schantz is now a development of $200-300K twins and $450-600K singles. All of Jandl's land south of 100 is filling up with warehouses. The Grim's and the Shellhammers have let some land go and there are a few small tracts springing up along Schantz rd, Twin Ponds and Haas Hill.
COnstruction of the "Jandl" bypass is now in full swing.
Places like the actual village of Brienigsville and Alburtis are hardly recognizable anymore.
But, probably the hardest hit is Macungie itself. The 7-11 is boarded up but it's been replaced by a Gas Wawa and a Gas Turkey hill. There are no less than four strip stores within a mile of those railroad tracks and it looks like every square inch of land is either being developed or is in the planning stages.
Ryan, Pulte, NVH and THP have all moved into town.
Would you have ever thought that a 2000sqft two story on a 1/4 acre lot in Macungie would ever go for $350K?
Gonna visit this summer, spend some time at Parkettes and see friends and family. Our family home was the brick two story on the corner of Main and Walnut across Main from the bank. Dad sold it in '70 for $36k when we moved away. 2000sf in Macungie for 350k? Wow. I doubt the cost estimator is showing that, huh?Ever go to the Iron Horse in Alburtis? I used to run the country roads behind APCI...last time there (2003?) saw it was endless developments of homogeneous houses. What's the bar/Mexican restaurant that was back there? Used to go there after every softball game. Sigh.