Construction estimating for Dummies?

[Badfish740]

Now that the finished basement project is just about, well, finished , I'm turning my attention to other parts of the house. We have a two bedroom, one bathroom ranch which we would like to turn into a three bedroom, two bathroom ranch. The plan would be to accomplish this by turning one bedroom into a bathroom (its right next to the current bathroom which will make plumbing easy) and simply putting in two bedrooms on the second floor which will involve tearing part of the roof off, putting in a staircase, etc... I have a pretty good idea of what I want to build, so estimating the materials is not that hard, but the labor and cost of disposal of the old roof and other demolition debris, and other costs are not so easy to determine. Can anyone give me a good per square foot price for a job like this in New Jersey? I'm just trying to ballpark what our goal should be as far as saving for it.

 

[begreen]

Not sure about current costs, $100-150/sq ft? Is there any possibility of putting the new bathroom upstairs directly over the 1st floor bathroom? That would be much more practical and would have better resale value.

 

[peakbagger]

RS Means publishes cost estimation guides on just about anything. I expect they have one on remodeling. They go into great detail so its takes a while to get up to speed.

 

[greg13]

You are leaving out a few important details. You said "You have a pretty good idea of what I want to build". Does that mean YOU are doing the work? Or are you contracting it out? That alone is a major factor in estimates.

Don't forget to figure in permits & Plan prints.

 

[begreen]

You are leaving out a few important details. You said "You have a pretty good idea of what I want to build". Does that mean YOU are doing the work? Or are you contracting it out? That alone is a major factor in estimates.

Don't forget to figure in permits & Plan prints.

And taxes.