Construction Calculator Confusion
I have to admit the house I cobbled together on the Building Cost Calculator was a mess. I did NOT read directions on the calculator. Mea culpa.
I flew through the program and I mixed up “Quality Class” to make a crazy 3200 square foot house with inadequate bathrooms (and maybe other oddities.)
I thought it was odd, that the Building Cost Calculator never asked how many bathrooms. That was in choosing “Quality Class.” I chose average. Average gave me two bathrooms, back to back. Not what you would find in a typical two story, 3200 square foot home. Of course all of the 3200 square foot real homes that sold in 2007 that I compared to had more than two baths! Build YOUR Columbus dream home for $304,933 Lots more baths.
I went back and redid the calculations for each of three “Quality Classes” Best, Good, Averge. Still 3200 square feet. I believe I made the same choices as far as garage, basement, fireplace, etc for Best, Good and Average.
Best
Total Living Area 3200
Number Of Corners 6
Foundation Quality Class 1
Exterior Walls Quality Class 1
Exterior Finish Quality Class 1
Windows & Doors Quality Class 1
Roofing Quality Class 1
Interior Finish Quality Class 1
Flooring Quality Class 1
Bathroom Quality Class 1
Kitchen Quality Class 1
Plumbing Quality Class 1
Total Cost
Material $223,785
Labor $144,211
Equipment $5,412
Grand Total $373,408
————————————————————————————–
Good
Total Living Area 3200
Number Of Corners 6
Foundation Quality Class 2
Exterior Walls Quality Class 2
Exterior Finish Quality Class 2
Windows & Doors Quality Class 2
Roofing Quality Class 2
Interior Finish Quality Class 2
Flooring Quality Class 2
Bathroom Quality Class 2
Kitchen Quality Class 2
Plumbing Quality Class 2
Total Cost
Material $185,432
Labor $121,569
Equipment $4,479
Grand Total $311,480
————————————————————————————-
Average
Total Living Area 3200
Number Of Corners 6
Foundation Quality Class 3
Exterior Walls Quality Class 3
Exterior Finish Quality Class 3
Windows & Doors Quality Class 3
Roofing Quality Class 3
Interior Finish Quality Class 3
Flooring Quality Class 3
Bathroom Quality Class 3
Kitchen Quality Class 3
Plumbing Quality Class 3
Total Cost
Material $168,760
Labor $111,989
Equipment $4,085
Grand Total $284,834
————————————————————————————-
Best Grand Total $373,408
Good Grand Total $311,480
Average Grand Total $284,834
Make more sense? I still think it is odd… Maybe a bit off. It’s that Columbus ZIP code thing…
The theoretical homes are still inexpensive in comparison to the real home sales I came up for various Central Ohio school districts including the Columbus school district:
Big Walnut School District- $486,165
Columbus School District - $517,531 (These it turns out are condos, the single family home sales were smaller square foot.)
Dublin School Disrtict- $440,466 (seems freakishly low)
Hilliard School District - $484,994
Olentangy School District- $429,978
New Homes Search on the Real Living New Construction Portal This includes more than MLS (multiple listing service) but obviously not ALL Central Ohio new construction.
November 15th, 2007 at 05:23 pm
I’m just following the Randomizer wherever it takes me. Trying to make some new friends, see some interesting websites, and leave a message or two. Today it brought me to you.
How interesting! I’ve been drawing houseplans for fun for years. I drew one plan for a 400 sf home just to see if I could get everything in it that I consider essential for my comfort. Amazing what I came up with. Now I gotta check this out and see how much it would cost to build one of my ‘dream’ houses.
November 15th, 2007 at 06:11 pm
I don’t know what the Randomizer is but thanks for stopping by.
A 400 SF home house sounds interesting, like the Katrina Cottages.
November 15th, 2007 at 06:15 pm
Now I know what the randomizer is… I had stopped by Eve’s site and saw she was doing the NaBloPoMo but thought it was just a coincidence, but it’s not.
the randomizer on NaBloPoMo
“What’s this? National Blog Posting Month?!
During the month of November, a group of bloggers - led by the formidable Mrs. Kennedy - have banded together and made a pact to blog every single day.
What’s that? A “randomizer”?!
As I was perusing the lengthy list of NaBloPoMo contributors, I thought about how much fun it would be to be able to click through them in a random fashion. And here we are!
Just click the “view next blog” button at the top of the page to check out a random selection of participating blogs.”
November 15th, 2007 at 06:37 pm
I had to see if I could do a 400 SF house, I did it all Average Quality Class and in a Columbus ZIP it would be $53,452.00.
I did no attic, no garage, no fireplace but I did a 400 SF basement. Thanks Eve, that was fun.