I just recieved a 30 day trial offer for the 2004 copy of
Architects, Contractors, Engineers Guide to Construction Costs.
The cost is $50. if I like it.
Do any of you use this book?
I have the books by Means and find them a good starting point.
Thanks
Stephen P.
Replies
The Means books are good particularly the Means Estimating Handbook ($100). The beauty of it is that it does not go out of date. The data in it is all in manhours then you can plug in your rate.
The books published by Craftsman also seem to be pretty good. When I've used it properly I've made pretty good dough
I have never heard of the "Architects, Contractors, Engineers Guide to Construction Costs." Who publishes it?
I have at least nine relatively current (2001-2003) estimating data books on my shelves that I pull data from but the ones I like and trust the most are #2 RSMeans Repair and Remodeling Cost Data and #1 the Craftsman National Renovation & Insurance Repair Estimator. I also have two Home Tech Books (the Remodeling & Renovation and a K&B estimator), an old Walker Remodeling Reference Book , and several other RSMeans books including Interior Home Improvement Costs and Exterior Home Improvement Costs. They're helpful for quick ball-parking and I find they are also important to have because potential clients sometimes buy and use them so I need to know what they are talking about when they quote numbers from those books so I can explain to them what differs with their particular project.
Considering I don't do any insurance repair work at all the question I often get is why do I use and recommend the Craftsman NRIRE book. It's the detail level of the tasks they cover in that book. In the finish carpentry section you can actually get numbers for some seriously fancy finish work such as coffered ceilings, built-up architraves, specialty moldings, and victorian gingerbread for example. Plus because it's a "Renovation & Insurance Repair Estimator" there are also the numbers for removing the work that is described in the book too which can be a real help when planning a project that requires selective demolition or salvage.
With all the books I don't use any of their labor costs but instead use their figures for Labor Hour Productivity with my real costs and my markups. I will use the material numbers from the National Renovation & Insurance Repair Estimator at times without checking them but I wont do that with the RSMeans data which since it is based on companies doing a significantly larger volume than I do so they don't account for waste (or as I call it surplus) as well. On smaller to midsize projects having and accounting for that surplus is more important so the RSMeans material numbers are just too conservative for my taste.
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I've been using it some. Seems to work reasonably well for most things, but way off on a few things. Their numbers for concrete are almost twice what it costs here. It's pretty much the same thing as the Means or National Construction Estimator books, set up on the CSI format which works with our estimating spreadsheet.
The only thing with the ACE book is that it's pretty basic- only a few items for any one category, and minimal breakdown of the costs (material, labor, subs, etc). It's a good double-check, but like every estimating cost book, it's only good if you verify the pricing against actual costs in your area. I've found it to be good for some items here in NJ, extremely low for some, and way high for others.
Like I've always said, nothing beats your own historical data for estimating.
Bob
So who publishes this "ACE" data book?
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I had to dig out the copy that I had laying around. There's no address/publisher info in the book, but luckily, I still had the invoice that came with it. It's from Design & Construction Resources, PO Box 52470, Irvine, CA 92619. No phone number shown. Fishy......
Bob
Yeah, that's weird, no info on my book either. Here's what I found on Google though:
http://www.bnibuildingsmagazine.com/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=BCBS&Product_Code=1558855063x
Okay, BNI is the the publisher. That's why I didn't reconize the title. I'm not particualary enamoured of their books or data. Like Bob I think there coverage is light ("only a few items for any one category"). I haven't purchased a BNI book in ages.
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