Help on Cost Estimate....

[rob000001]

Hey guys,
I'm Rob an engineer student who needs an architecture help!
Our professor assigned me to go and find a Cost estimate for a single family house. That includes Land Purchase, engineer design, county fee's and permits, site development and work, and construction of building. So if any of you guys are architect contractors and know what i need pls let me know, i would appreciate all the help i can get.
-Rob

[teamjdc]

Let me get this straight. YOU're in a class. YOUr professor gave YOU an assignment. Am I right so far?

Now, I'm assuming that YOUr professor isn't a complete whack job and gave YOU something that he thought someone in YOUr class should be able to handle. Reasonable?

So, why are YOU asking us what YOU need?

With the information YOU've provided, all I know that YOU need is a swift kick in the ass.

[rob000001]

You are right except that I'm not an architect therefore I don't know what are the requirements for, example county fees and permits for building a house. Also, our prof. told us to interview a architect hence since this isn't our field. I found this website and decided to ask all architectures instead of just asking one.

[teamjdc]

You don't need to be an architect to know. Obviously, you're in a class that is teaching you the information so it should be clear that engineers need to know.

What is the course you're in and what level is it?

When asking this type of question, it's best to lay it all on the table.

There are still too many unknowns. Give as many details as you have.

If you weren't given a particular city, then fees will make no sense as they can vary from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands.

Your instructor should know better.

Same problem with land costs. It's absurd to even sugges that there's an average. Sure, there may be at any given moment, but what value would that number be to anybody? I can buy a lot for hundreds or millions.

Just go down the line and there is no way to give you numbers without some parameters.

I'm still unclear about your assignment. Are you supposed to come up with the individula numbers and compile an estimate? Are you supposed to find a complete cost breakdown that someone else did for a project? Or, are you supposed to come up with a list of costs that must be considered?

Obviously, there's all kinds of information available online but you cannot find something if you don't know what you're looking for.

It should be clear that I want to help, but you need to help me help you. that usually requires some initiative, legwork & focus on your part.

[starkca3]

buy a lot for hundreds? show me!! i want

[nanrehvasconez]

teamjdc apparently you do not understand the purpose of this blog, It's for students to ask questions, there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.

rob000001. use the PDF forms from these sites

www.- abuse alert -/uploads/Construction_Cost_Breakdown, www.glacierbank.com/PDFs/ConstructionCostBreakdown

You will itemize all the costs as " soft costs", i.e. land aquisition, surveyor, architect-engineer fees, city-county permits, school district fees, sewer, water, electricity and so on.

Hard costs: i.e. grading and excavation, foundation, framing, lumber, structural steel, flooring, doors, windows and on and on.

It's a lot of leg work, but necessary so you can understand what are you trying to learn.

[teamjdc]

[starkca3]

exactly!, hey if i could find a lot for cheap, idc where it is, its bound to be accessible in the near future, and even if not, bound to become somewhat more valuable

[teamjdc]

nan,
First, this is not a blog.

Second, there are stupid questions. I see them all the time. The only people that insist on using that tired, old saying for every situation are people who are either too stupid or too lazy to help themselves.

Third, spoonfeeding is not the way to teach an adult anything but how it feels to have a spoon in their mouth.

So, now that you're done at a feeble attempt to chastise me, try re-reading what I wrote -- both posts -- and honestly tell me that there is no value there.

If you believe that college students should be coddled, then there's no point. All I know is that 90%+ of the topics on this board (not blog) reflect a laziness and lack of initiative or thought and it makes me cringe.

So, I'm not going to ignore them for a while to see what happens. I fully expected your type... you're a dime a dozen. You're not the first enabler and sadly, not the last.

But every student that gets it after my brand of tough love is worth a hundred with your attitude.

Maybe someday you'll understand a fraction of what I'm saying.

[teamjdc]

[starkca3]

ha ha yes,

well i too am from california.

I have an interesting story.

Well its probably not unheard of.

ANyway, small town of Clearlake, family i knew bought a lot 50x100

for about 4,000. couldn't afford to build on it so held onto it.

Ten years later, its worth 30,000 at least. BUT, thats probably common, knowing about all the inflation that was going on in the early 90's to near mid 2000's.

Anyways, if i could find a lot in California for a few hundred. ha. I would die with joy. (and be extremely skeptical)

But yes, dubai would be better
Its amazing.

[MA2PA]

Maybe someday you'll understand a fraction of what I'm saying.