Replies

1. 
   Guest_ | Mar 05, 2000 10:43pm | #6

   *
   Hi Folks,

   This may be an incredibly numb question from someone with 20 years in the business, but how do you calculate square footages for estimating purposes? For example, I have a house that is 1300 SF on each level, 2 stories plus a full finished basement, with a 400 SF attached garage. At a quoted price of $320,000, what would you call the per square foot cost? What I've done in the past is call the garage and basement 1/2 of what they are, so I'd call this house 3450 SF, or $92.75 / SF. Isn't there an industry standard way of calculating this? Thanks!

   Ross

1. 
   Guest_ | Feb 26, 2000 03:05am | #1

   *Ross,To us a square foot is a square foot is a square foot.If you're figuring per square foot, you have to take all the areas that you are working on into consideration. If you want to seperate the fancy area from the plain area, then you can't estimate by the square footage of the entire house. You will have to take it on a room by room basis.My thoughts,Ed. Williams

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   Guest_ | Feb 26, 2000 03:18am | #2

   *Ross,

   Since these guy's write the "book" on estimating costs each year you might want to take a look at their site. RS Means.com

   Joseph FuscoView Image© 1999"The first step towards vice is to shroud innocent actions in mystery, and whoever likes to conceal something sooner or later has reason to conceal it." Aristotle

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   Guest_ | Feb 26, 2000 05:22am | #3

   *....well . I'll tell ya Ross... been wondering about tis for twenty five years......fianlly decided about 20 years ago tat there was NO standard.. and you're free to make up your own... (NO WORD OF LIE)...so if your trying to look like you're competiitve ...count everything..if your trying to do do energy calcs,,use expsoed surface..if you're trying to use it for estimating prurposes,,, good lucknew construction.. i use :first floor and foundation + 1Sf2 d fl + .5 sfcovered porches and garages + .25 sfdecks don't get figured ... they have their own coststhen I convert everything to Equivelent 1st floor SFand I can roughly compare one structure to another=but its only good for comparison, you bet the ranch on it, and you'll lose the ranch...IMHO

1. 
   Guest_ | Feb 26, 2000 03:48pm | #4

   *Hi Joe, Thanks for the link. It's just what I've been looking for.

2. 
   Guest_ | Feb 28, 2000 01:11am | #5

   *Appraised value on a home is finish sq. ft. living area above ground level. So in your case it would be 2600 sq. ft. house with finished basement and garage. Extra value on finish basement would be appraised at going rate in your area. May add up to 10 grand or so depending on finish. Remember that your appraised value on your home is primarily based on your ZIP code and going rate on similar houses in your area than actual construction quality.

3. 
   Marc_Russon | Mar 05, 2000 10:43pm | #7

   *I went to the site that you recommended, but the cost estimator seems to be geared for commercial not residential. Did I miss something?MJR