| How do I adjust prices
for different qualities of construction?
All unit costs in the Goldenseal estimating
software are based on our experiences with
Turtle Creek Construction. We timed our crews for several years, and "tweaked" our cost database at the end
of each job, based on the actual costs from our job costing.
HINT-- Turtle Creek mainly did residential room
remodeling and additions, most often in moderately "high
end" neighborhoods, but occasionally pretty far down in the "low end".
Our typical projects ranged from $80 to $160 per square foot
(adjusted to 2011 prices), with a total project cost between
$800 and $250,000.
From user feedback, we've found that our database works well for nearly all remodeling projects,
and for fairly custom new construction or additions.
You may need to make adjustments for the following types of projects:
- Tract housing-- If you build new houses quickly, our framing costs will definitely
be too high. Foundations, roofing, siding, trim and some other unit costs may also
be high, especially if you use high-volume specialty subcontractors.
- Extremely custom work-- If you do extremely high end work, many of our unit prices
will be too low. Unless you do nothing but high-end work, you may want to set up a "high end" database with
fancier specifications and increased prices, and use the existing Goldenseal database for your more
normal projects.
- Commercial work-- our database works fairly well for "light commercial" projects such
as restaurants, offices and retail stores. You probably will want to add more unit costs
for hardwood trim, formica work, or other specialties, depending on the exact style
of finishes that you use on your projects.
- Renovation work--
for general remodeling projects, Goldenseal
should work fairly well as is. If you
are doing historic rehab work, "the sky is the
limit" and you'll
probably want to add some much more expensive
items to our database!
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