Am doing a small addition (600sq. ft.) as well as semi-extensive re-model to an existing house in portland oregon. Am attempting to get an estimated price for this project before starting. I will do all the doors, windows, trim & G.C. duties. Sub’s will do the rest. My permits are still in engineering so can’t really start getting bids from my regular subs yet…. Any guidelines for average sq. ft. cost for the NW? I have the 2007 national construction estimator, which I will use, but wondering about general average costs for this area…. $1 ft./$2 ft.? Thanks in advance for any reply’s…..
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
This 654-sq.-ft. ADU combines vaulted ceilings, reclaimed materials, and efficient design, offering a flexible guest suite and home office above a new garage.
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Fine Homebuilding Magazine
Fine Home Building
Follow
-
Fine Homebuilding
Dig into cutting-edge approaches and decades of proven solutions with total access to our experts and tradespeople.
Start Free Trial Now -
GBA Prime
Get instant access to the latest developments in green building, research, and reports from the field.
Start Free Trial Now
Replies
$99,850.59
SamT
There are three kinds of people: Predaters, Prey, and Paladins. For the life of me, I can't see why Prey feels safer from predators by disarming and emasculating Paladins.
why did you lower yur pricing???Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Times are hard.SamT
There are three kinds of people: Predaters, Prey, and Paladins. The really strange thing is that Prey feels safer from Predators by disarming and emasculating Paladins.
Take the drawings and specs for the project, weight them carefully with a laboratory scale, using the metric scale. Get it in grams. Store that figure in your calculator.
Now total up all the bills for professional services that have accumulated thus far in the project. Architect fees, engineer fees, anything else like that. Add in all fees for permitting. Round up the total to the nearest dollar.
Now take that total and divide it by the figure you have stored in your calculator's memory.
Voila!
As another exercise, take all the money you have invested in your ride. What you paid for it, what it has cost you to date for insurance, taxes, maintenance, etc. Now divide that by how much it weighs. Use pounds.
Isn't this fun?
My permits are still in engineering so can't really start getting bids from my regular subs yet
Why not?
$1.47/sq in should be a close swag
"Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Why do you guys always sugar coat every answer about pricing?
As my Cajun grand daddy might've said: "The simple truth of de matter is dhat one never do know 'bout de outcome of de egress on-tell she e-gresses.
Assuming this is not a troll ($1 - $2 / sq.ft.?), I can tell you that the project I'm presently doing, a three-floor addition (basement, sunroom, bath) with a deck/porch is running about $115/sq. ft. pretty much for materials only.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
general average costs for this area.... $1 ft./$2 ft.?
Can I have some of what you're smoking?
That won't cover the roof. Or the windows. Or the siding. Or the framing. or... or... or....
What we are telling you, each in his own inimitable way, is that square foot pricing is meaningless, except as a number calculated after the job is completely done.
There are 137.8397 variables per square foot of foundation that must be known before a square foot price can be calculated. All those variable values can not be known until the final payment is made.
A range of costs is the only way a sqft price can be of any value. If forced, I always say $25.00 to $2500.00 per square foot. Perhaps I should change that, after all, I have seen sqft costs as high as $837,000.00. That's right, over 800 grand per foot! And Junkhound built a structure for, IIRC, 15 cents a foot.
SamT
There are three kinds of people: Predaters, Prey, and Paladins. The really strange thing is that Prey feels safer from Predators by disarming and emasculating Paladins.
Lefty im sure theres others smarter then me here, I have been a carpenter for 35 years and just did some remodeling on my house and rentals, When i got done i knew there would be no way i could ever bid something like that,Consider your existing house is out of sq out of plumb , The lumber is not gonna match up Etc... Every sub is gonna want more for a little job, You say you have subs??? I cant see how this book is gonna work.
This is like going into the grocery store and asking, "How much for beef."
Most contractors won't tell you a per square foot cost, because they think you will then try to get the most for that price, and then blame them because it cost $300 a square foot for your granite counter tops.
When we get a phone call like this, we usually about $100 a square foot. That is the minimum. It cuts out most of the people that don't have any cash at all and are just curious. That is for an average home in an average area. Because working with an addition costs more for tearing up the old stuff making flat floors work with slanted floors, etc., you might be looking at $150 a square foot. (So start there for your square footage.) The inspector's may also demand that you upgrade other things in your home that may not be to code, before they let you do the construction or even right in the middle of it. The cost is limitless for "changes."
So take that $150 square foot, and add in any cabinets, upgrades (in flooring, wood trim, windows and fancy doors) or special lighting, etc. Anything that is out of the ordinary or nicer than the cheapest available and you have a basic idea. Impact fees and permits may be higher in some cities too. Our town just raise the price of a new home by $20K.
Another clue as to cost is the average of what houses in your area are selling for. If you live in an expensive area and need this to be a classy job, like those featured in Fine Homebuilding, or fancy magazines your wife may be looking at, it can cost more than $500 a square foot.
Teni
My most recent bid against two other local contractors was about $210. per sq. ft.
A two story reno. The other guys were in the $175 range. I think they were a little nuts going into this a job that low. It was all good quality specs, not fancy or detailed, but nice, complete job.
Sadly I was not chosen, but was ok to have "only" 50 evening hours into my proposal.
Went over those plans with a fine tooth comb. Found the lumber yard missed approx 10% of the materials I woud need.
""How much for beef." "LOL, more like "How much for groceries?"I've often heard the one, how much per pound for a car? for comparison.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Kent WA uses $88 sq ft for minimum assessment charge basis for permits.
I can build you a shed for under $2 sq ft (no permits, labor extra) <G>
when your done lets us know if theres anything left at 200. a sq ft. on a 600 ft addition. if you can buy supper with it youve,done pretty well. did my own 1100 sq ft, with upgrades that weren't planned at begining i probably spent over a hundred a ft. no hired help,2 years plus and still not really done.what was i thinking larry
hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
Dont feel to bad by the time i did a little addition and some remodeling they built a new house next door, It different when you remodel then just framing or trimming
jeeeze..... hadn't had my coffee yet..... that was supposed to be $100-$200 sq. ft..... you guy's are ruthless.....my sub's generally don't want to give a solid price without stamped drawings since things inevitably change in the planning process & again after the permit department red lines the drawings.... anyway.... thanks for the advice, although not much of it was very helpfull.... lefty
Lefty just so you know i had no intention of being mean, I had a lot of troubles on my own place, I hate to sound like im bragging but this is just what i have done for a long time, Dont know your house but on a small job its hard to pick up steam as you are always shifting gears and running into snafus, Im actully real good at saying how long a job will take thats why i never get any, cause i tell the truth, A guy that does not know will always say he can do the job in half my time and it winds up 5 times longer, Just saying thats all
No coffee?
That'll do it.
Well. in that case, and seein' as how yer so new here, yer welcome to start over.SamT
There are three kinds of people: Predaters, Prey, and Paladins. The really strange thing is that Prey feels safer from Predators by disarming and emasculating Paladins.
Lefty - a Point of reference (also, fill in your profile, NW is a big area: Actually did build the 5300 sq ft house we've been living in for 34 years for under $5 sq ft, and that includes everything, down to the light bulbs, carpet, appliances, mailbox, etc.
1974 - concrete was $14 yard then and 2x6s were $64 MBF. If you DIY EVERYTHING, you can still probably keep it under $40 sq ft. The $3 sq ft did not include tools i got to buy<G>
If you hire anybody, since the housing market is still GROWING in most of the NW, you may not be able to find anybody to work for you that is capable of a class job for under probably $150 sq ft. Heck, I'm traveling 2000 miles next month to put a new roof on Mom's house, city still building where she is, cant hire anybody competent that I can tell, everbody competent is committed elsewhere. Brother hired somebody to paint the house, sheetiest job I ever saw.
Client gc = price went up.
No plans = price went up more.
Unrealist expectations = add pita multiplier.
Remodel = add bigga pita multiplier.
Bid on uncertain scope = add 3x multiplier.
Client carpenter = price went up more.
Cost per square foot = a bunch.
Passing on the job altogether = priceless.
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.
Variables,variables...as well as semi-extensive re-model to an existing house what does this really mean? The addition is a 600 square foot what? Is it a 10'x60' box with 8' walls and a 3/12 roof? Most common quote here in the PNW is $125-150/sqft for an average house in an average area. Again we all know that my average is going to be different than Donald Trump's average. I think you could start at say $225/sqft to give yourself some idea then multiply by 3.1415 divide by .798 add 10% for a margin of safety then subtract by 449,602 and you should be pretty close. If that does not help you might want to enlist the help of a professional. Ok seriously $225/sqft give or take...a few hundred...and that's my last offer.
Jeff
(Caution - serious reply)
I'm located in the Chicago Metro area, Mid-range neighborhood. I put a 600-700 sq. foot, 2 Story addition on my 1890's house last year. Cost was about $100 per square foot for a plain vanilla addition, including basement, framing, standard windows, roof, standard (cheap) floor coverings. After adding in additional rough plumbing for a new Kitchen, Bathroom, and Laundry Room, Bath fixtures, Kitchen cabinets, Kitchen appliances, and various other upgrades we came in near $200 per square foot. We also did some additional renovation such as a complete roof tearoff and new waste and water supply lines to the street.
Before making such a large financial commitment you would be well advised to talk to an appraiser or realtor who is familiar with your neighborhood. They can provide comparable sales in your neighborhood that will give you some idea of how much your home will be worth after the addition. Most of the time the contributory value of the addition is less than its cost. In other words usually you are better of just buying a larger home.
In my situation we bought a run down older home on a block of much larger, superior quality homes, so our project made sense financially. That being said, if we had to sell the house we would likely recover about 90% of the cost of the addition and renovation, tops.
Mike K
Old House Remodler & Real East Appraiser
lefty1980,
Others have said it so I won't add, however you can do it yourself for much less. How much less? Buddy of mine just built a ICF house himself. for $25.00 a sq ft.
His brother helped with the stone work, his other brother helped with the electrical.. He did all the grunt work. Took him the better part of two half years of part time work..
Nice house, the bank appriaser appraised it at $330,000.00 and he kept saying that if the market were stronger it would be worth $150,000 more. To put things into perspective, he made about $60.00 an hour of tax free money for his efforts..So assuming you make at least $90.00 an hour you can afford to have someone else build it for you and still be money ahead.
thanks for the input... My company will do a good deal of the work... H.V.A.C., electrical, plumbing, concrete & excavation will all be subcontracted out... This is my second G.C. job after 15 yrs. of finish carpentry.... the last was also an addition/re-model that while turning out top notch & flowing fairly smoothly, ended up costing more than anticipated.... I realize the sq. ft. calculation is somewhat of a joke among my fellow contractors ( I really realized this after reading the reply's to my original post) but without stamped plans in my hands, a guy's gotta' start somewhere.... anyway.... i'm gonna' shoot for $125.00.... I'll be sure to send pictures when i'm done.... Have a good weekend, ya'll... lefty