Local L.A. building costs?
 

As you know, the economy died and it didn't go to heaven. I've all but abandoned my door and window installation business due to the lack of leads.

However, I am doing a nice high end addition and 60K kitchen on the west side of LA (for those of you not informed, this is the expensive area). These were window and door customers that recruited me. Their timing couldn't be more perfect.

The thing is, I haven't done an addition of any substantiation since the early 80's. I'm getting used to the new earthquake reqm'ts by walking through any job I can find (actually, I've been doing this all along). But costs are another thing. This needs to be CA costs, guys, not Midwest or East Coast. NV and AZ costs could be factored. BTW, I'm not bidding this, I'm simply doing the construction management and some finish carpentry when we get to that stage.

Any sq. footage or lineal costs you can provide due to recent projects would be helpful. In fact, this could become a great thread for members to refer to when getting bids on their projects.

Whatcha got? And, thanks.

Milt, got your email.......All I remember was that I put out more than 28K for doors, windows and sliders....not including installation. The install was done by myself as head "Manual" in charge, two framers and then the stucco weenie.

This was included in the addition of a master suite and a new roof. I didn't break out the costs as I had enough of an ulcer dealing with the total....

We're using about $160 per s.f. for basic residential units with nothing fancy or elaborate custom detailing, etc.

A higher end residence we did about a year ago came in at about $375 per s.f. when bid, but this was custom and had a lot of architectural design elements and staff time put into it. Not your typical McMansion.

Milt,
Basic remodel here in SB is $250 to $275. As P-O-P states that would be pretty basic no frills all work done by good contractors. $400 plus for upgraded counters and floors. Of course over $1000 a sq foot is not uncommon here in the SB area for those who have $$$ to burn. Finishing a remodel (only technically) that will be over $5k a sq foot and have done new construction with build out cost exceeding the cost of large islands. ;)

I was looking for specifics if anyone has them. I've got a handle on doors and windows (sorry, the pun simply occurred) and plumbing/electrical.

We've got a ton of stone/block work, but that's pretty subjective, so I'm just going with the bids I get. The other stuff has to be bounced off a data base. I've got plenty of numbers, I just wanted to see ow they related to what folks actually paid.

The project is very complicated until the frame is up. After that, it should fall into the regular rates. We're looking at 45K for cabinets and counters. That's where it goes back over the top. So much of the kitchen walls are covered with cabinets, tile and trim, I don't even need that much of a great job on the drywall, except the ceiling.

Fill in the blanks, if you will:

Concrete
Framing
Insulation
Drywall and finishing
Floors of any type
Roofing
Stucco

As I said, this will help others, too.

Milt,
Sorry I could not be of more help but I do most of my own work around my house and seem to supply only larger projects in the SB area. I think P-O-P's figures are spot on with your market area and being an architect in that area he would know better of a budget and build cost for that area. His numbers seem to + what my co-workers experience down there.

Is that $160 / foot for a remodel or additions?

The $160/s.f. is for new construction (or an addition) on already-owned property. If you have to acquire the land, it's obviously going to be considerably more.

Labor & materials prices are trending downward slightly from what I've been hearing, but it's slow and is a lagging indicator of the overall RE market, which is starting to come unraveled.

To be fair our office doesn't do much residential and certainly doesn't specialize in it (there isn't much money in it except for high-end work, and then you're competing against firms that specialize in that). We might take on one or two residential jobs a year, if that. Given how things are headed, I doubt we'll be seeing much for the next 2-3 years, too but you never know.

used to use this program installed on my PC when I was in construction to figure bids and check prices. here's a page with a quick lookup of prices that may or may not help you. with the actual program, you can adjust price lines, labor, etc. prices are adjusted for different areas.
http://www.get-a-quote.net/Costbook/costbook01.htm

here's an example
Rafters - Southern yellow pine
Using miscellaneous power tools and small tools
CSI 06-111 Craft@Hrs Unit Material Labor Equip Total


2" x 6" to 2" x 8" ap@.033 BF .66 1.51 .04 2.21

I will check with my sister.
She just tore down here Sherman Oaks cottage and will be building a new house: around 2800 square feet.
The plans just finished structural (with revisions of course) and are on to full approval.
I will check with her on what her contractor quoted.

Contractor is a good friend (hope that stays that way) and pretty smart.

Might be a rare situation, but their contractor graduated from Stanford, and the architect graduated from Harvard! Hope that does not push up the rate... ;-)

This is about additions and remodeling, not new construction. New construction is so much easier than remodeling that many contractors will all but refuse to do it unless there's nothing else. And, as you have tersely pointed out before, they don't always do a good job.

Remodeling and additions are another business altogether and if you can't stand the heat, get out of the pan. I've worked in up to 50 different homes in a good year for 50 different types of people/families. This year I managed maybe 20.

But, I digress. I'm only pointing out that the remodeling business come with its own set of problems and costs and is not necessarily construction, although it involves some.

HOLY COW you Ca guys throw some money around!

i don't know why more of you aren't cashing out and moving out of Ca to live with the normal folk.

Not really. It costs more to live here than some places and workers have to make a living. My take is to spend more for the better worker, but make sure he knows the scope and the quantity of what he/she is going to do.The biggest mistake is to not know the breakdown up front and let someone come in and snowball you. When I tell the dry wall dude what the total sq footage is, he knows on the spot all I have to do is back his bid out by the sq ft. to see where he's at. Only then will I pay the premium for the best. So many don't take the time to see this and the DW guy could "estimate" 30% more area than actually exists.

This happens in carpeting every day. But, they have grain and widths to think of. Nevertheless, next time you purchase carpet, measure yourself first and see what I mean. Let THEM justify why they need more yardage. HAS ANYONE EVER MEASURED THE LENGTH OF THE ROLL WHEN IT FIRST HITS THE GROUND??? no.

Drywall comes in 32 and 48 sq. ft. sheets, so no one is gonna oversell me because I know approximately what the waste factor is and I know what the wall area is. Wanna see some waste? You provide the board. They'll waste it.

Oh, and I sent the final budget in today. I adjusted some numbers, added some things that were missing and came up with about the same numbers as they had initially. So, I guess I caught the slack and we're good to go this week.

Man, I thought you guys would be all over this. Better call me before you sign that next contract. :D