Depends on type of project.
Historical Data.
We have a professional in-house estimator.
I do a walk through with customers and ask questions once i find out type of work that needs to be done then take measurements and ask them there overall budget and work off that and do a materials cost list & labor costs break down , man hours and from experiences in the field dealing with renovations and set up budgets from their.
Some other contractors are looking for time spent and average their pricing based on days that take to complete work. Sometimes a project is 100 square foot but it takes a lot more time to do.
Gross estimate of resources and manpower.
We are unable to provide a price per square foot. Our costs are determined by the scope of work, materials, and labor that takes place with each individual trade. Many contractors throw a number at the wall by thinking how much they want to make on a project by profit and how long they estimate the job will take. Our estimating is much more sophisticated than that.
It depends what type of work is being performed. Some jobs such as roofing and flooring are priced at the cost per square foot.
A square-foot number is merely a guideline. There are certain costs that are much more expensive for the first couple hundred square feet that may not pertain after you reach a certain point. Especially for the epoxy stone surfaces, my square foot number gets lower as the total area increases. Though at the same time, with more difficult working conditions, the cost-per-foot increases as well. I always bid on total material costs, expected installation times, allowing time for overruns, and of course profit. There are times I feel a project could be done cheaper than what I have bid and I will communicate that to the customer, but I try not to have to ask for more money to complete a job.
A lot of jobs can easily be estimated with a simple price per SQ. FT.
But there are many that I start out with by considering the size of the job and then thinking of the difficulty and/or toll it may take on me and my equipment.
I will often add to my bid price just because of the difficulty level of the place or the amount of extra work it would take to complete the job.
There’s always the human factor to consider.
Is the jobsite in a confined area? Up a steep road? Access is difficult?
One good example for me is a customer who hired me to remove and replace all of his TREX decking on his deck.
It was behind his house and it was a long walk to carry the demo’d stuff out to the truck and then carry the new stuff all the way around his house.
I took that into consideration after I had a basic cost for the job and added $600 to the bid.
It was well worth it. It took a LOT of time and effort carrying all that material in and out.
I also sometimes will simply google the work and see what average costs are if it’s a line of work that I’m not too sure of.
It’s easy to just search " how much should i pay to have my house painted" or whatever.
Every industry and every office have their ways. At Segalla-Architects we calculate the true working hours we plan for the project. We base the required hours on past projects.
For the most part, the price per sqft is how remodels/additions are estimated. Most of the subcontractors look at a set of plans and bid off of the square footage. There are miscellaneous charges that get rolled into the estimate also, but it is very common to bid as $$/sqft. With that said, the design changes that cost/sqft. If someone just wants a garage added to their house, their estimate is going to be much lower per sqft than someone who wants a master bathroom suite added. I tend to break down the project into charges for each craft so that the homeowner gets a feel for how much they are paying for each phase.
We use square footage/linear footage pricing that has been established by a combination of previous experiences and/or statistical industry averages published by multiple sources. When creating a budget, these are used with “contractor grade” materials planned. If material upgrades are requested, the budget prices will increase the differences in material costs. For example, a vinyl siding replacement project is estimated with material costs estimated at $150 per square for standard contractor grade .042 - .044 thickness siding. If a customer selects an upgraded siding that costs $300 per square, the costs will increase $150 per square. For a 20 square job, this could change the price from $13,000 to $16,000.
K&M does not use per square foot budget pricing. We review the job description, details, scope of work and blue print. We complete detailed accurate pricing on every project so that there are no surprises from the customer or the contractor. Honesty upfront makes for success, budgetary pricing is never beneficial to the homeowner.
A great tool is Homewyse.com it can compare costs in your area and give you an average for what you are looking to do.
We don’t use a square foot price, that is very inaccurate and leads to problems later. We prefer breaking each part of the project down to what actually going to be needed for your situation looking for possible problems so we don’t have to come back to you. This is a little more time consuming but it’s worth the effort to insure that you are satisfied customers
All bids are personalize as to what the home owners wishes to be installed, The braking down price per square foot may be given only when owner will follow allowances given by contractor for fixtures such as flooring , cabinets , faucets… etc, etc.
Just like the Capital One Financial slogan goes: Whats in your wallet? Your budget is how much money you have in your wallet or it’s how much you’re prepared to spend in total. We have had past clients wait a year or two just to add more money to their budget.
Time, square footage and materials
Many contractors use square footage as a base…for example rewiring, etc. Others estimate by the job and charge more or less from there. Some jobs are easier to quote and others must be seen to give an accurate quote. Its almost always better for the homeowner to have the pro actually quote the job after looking. They may be able to quote a ballpark figure on the phone.
Yes there are set prices on everything and the sq. foot of something involved is the main thing to determined the overall price of the project.
Every problem is unique, so every solution is as well. We don’t just stick to one brand or one metric when it comes to providing HVAC solutions, you simply can’t. Some people want to pay more for the super high efficiency models and upgrades, while others are simply interested in keeping their home cool and comfortable. Some people need their whole home cooled, some people needs rooms cooled, some needs surgical operating rooms cooled, dehumidified, and dust free. As for square-footage, well sure it determines the adequate size of an air conditioning systems capacity. Adams Air generally sticks to 400 square feet per ton of cooling capacity for our residential applications. And again this can differ from scenario to scenario, there’s just so many factors involved and the general application is just as important. We remove heat and humidity, period, but a hospital operating room may only be 200 square feet and have a 5 ton air conditioning system, whereas a 2000 square-foot home also falls into this 5-ton capacity range. So it just depends, as always, it’s about removing the heat and humidity and that all depends on the heat load which depends on the application.