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Old 11-11-2014, 07:40 AM
 
Location: Wonderland
67,655 posts, read 60,273,788 times
Reputation: 101006

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Quote:
Originally Posted by crakerz01 View Post
Thank you Kathryn. We do have a square footage in mind and my husband will be doing the finish work himself (he's an electrician). A rough approximation is all we are looking for. I have no problem paying for plans after I have a general idea of what my money will buy me. Thanks again, we are meeting with someone else tonight and hope to have better luck.
Gotcha! They should be able to give you a pretty good ball park figure, in my opinion.

We were considering adding a pool to our backyard, with some landscaping. While we could get a general idea of the price range, we were told that we would need to pay $1200 for the blueprints pretty early on to get a more specific price. That seemed reasonable to me, because it's important for all parties to be on the same sheet of music so to speak - or in this case, the same sheet of drafting paper - with the same expectations. I would think that the same would apply to an addition to a home.
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Old 11-11-2014, 09:25 AM
 
Location: Beautiful Rhode Island
9,229 posts, read 14,779,737 times
Reputation: 10243
Quote:
Originally Posted by crakerz01 View Post
We are planning on adding some sort of addition to our house, at the bare minimum we want to add a bedroom. We figured we would get some ball park quotes to see what we could get for our budget, someone to come out and say here are some options for your budget. We met with only one contractor so far and he refused to give us any cost idea until we paid for blue prints from his architect ($2400). He said he needs the plans to give us a quote. Well we don't want to pay $2400 if this addition is way out of our price range. The situation just seemed so bizarre and a waste of everyone's time. So I guess my question is, can I get a contractor to come out and give me a ball park estimate for what I can do with my budget or do they all require purchasing of blue prints before quote? I've never done this before so maybe I'm asking too much? Thank you for your help!
Keep trying. You may need to meet with three or four or more to get someone to ballpark you.
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Old 11-11-2014, 09:47 AM
 
Location: Over yonder a piece
4,267 posts, read 6,256,546 times
Reputation: 7132
We had 4-5 contractors submit bids for our home addition/kitchen remodel - not one them required architectural drawings before providing a quote. However, we did have our plans in the process of being drawn up by an architect, so we already knew EXACTLY what we wanted done so that we could describe the project in detail with each contractor.

We paid about $120/sq ft for our addition and kitchen remodel. We converted a useless 12x15 kitchen into a custom 22x27 kitchen complete with huge eat-in area, bar seating for 8 and a large walk-in pantry. Houses in our neighborhood go for $100/sq ft, so we're a bit above there, but we're not moving for at least 6-7 years (if not longer), so we'll get our money's worth out of it long before we put it on the market.

And we actually came UNDER budget because I shopped for almost all the supplies myself (granite, cabinets, appliances, sink, flooring) because I knew I could find really good deals on my own).
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Old 11-11-2014, 10:21 AM
 
13,011 posts, read 12,963,198 times
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Ted Bear in post #3 is correct. Follow his advice exactly.

Hiring an architect is your first step. They can work with you on budget. Tell them you have a $70k budget including design and contingency and they will be able to work up a plan that is within your budget.

Your husband is an electrician, he should know this stuff. Would he bid a job without plans, based upon some vague idea that a house needs to be wired? What kind of fixtures? What kind of switching? Does the homeowner want to use the existing service or upgrade? Is the electrician responsible for getting a drywall guy afterwards or not?

If I were a GC I absolutely would not provide any ballpark info for you without plans. The red flags are that you haven't committed to the job by going through the design excercise and you have some weird inclusions, like you husband who is an electrician doing the finish work!? Why would he do finish work rather than electrical? If he does electrical, how is the GC going to schedule that with the other trades?

Sorry, but you sound like a problem client, so I would stay away.
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Old 11-11-2014, 02:50 PM
 
2,957 posts, read 5,868,949 times
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You should be able to get an estimate without the architect. Also, ask to see completed examples of his work and ask him what they cost.
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Old 11-11-2014, 06:02 PM
 
Location: Riverside Ca
22,146 posts, read 33,237,834 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crakerz01 View Post
Yes I have already received an estimate from this forum. Therein lies my problem. I'm looking for something slightly more accurate for my area from a contractor who has been doing it for 15 years. So back to my original question, I can assume it's unreasonable to ask a contractor to give me a cost per square foot estimate for my area without paying $2400. Thank you for all the time you have invested in "answering" my question.


He CANT give you the estimate you want because he doesn't know what type of materials, difficulty of the project as far as design and finishes you want.
You're saying "give me a more exact idea of cost to build x"
He's saying " I can't because I don't know the scope of work ". In turn he can't get bids from his subs because they can't give prices without knowing the scope of work. They can't estimate the labor and how much labor is needed or know what materials are spec'ed out for the job.
If you're gonna build a addition you're going to need plans. All a builder is gonna do is get the plans, give them to all his subs, they come back with price. That's why he can't give you a more exact price.
It's unreasonable for you to expect a more exact price without giving the person a exact idea of the work you want done. If you want a exact or really close price you're gonna have to describe the work and what materials you want
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Old 11-11-2014, 08:51 PM
 
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
563 posts, read 1,779,343 times
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1. Kitchen remodel is not the same as bedroom addition.
2. General contractors are not architects/designers/engineers. This is how GCs work - you tell them what to do, they will do it. Some may offer design services, but a good GC, who does things to code, and to standard, will want blueprints to build off of.
3. Blueprints are needed so the GC can build to spec, not guestimate. You, as homeowner, work with the architect to drive requirements (plumbing requirements, electrical requirements, location requirements, etc.), architect will spec them out, and work with engineering on other requirements (hvac, roof load, electrical engineering, etc), you then sign off on it, then use spec to shop around GCs for quote.

without that spec, a GC can only guess what it would cos, and that range could be as mentioned above - $100-$200/sf.

if you have $70k to spend on an addition, you best get some specs drawn up. Otherwise who will be accountable for mistakes, you or the GC?
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Old 11-11-2014, 08:57 PM
 
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
563 posts, read 1,779,343 times
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btw you are lucky you are dealing with an honest GC, as opposed to someone who would quote you some unrealistically low number, like $40k, and stick you with a $70k+ bill later on.
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Old 11-12-2014, 07:38 AM
 
5 posts, read 5,769 times
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Thanks everyone, I met with someone yesterday referred to me by a couple people that informed me yes you can get a 400 square foot bedroom addition for 75k and even change the layout in my family room. He then drew some sketches and showed me some ideas. He's sending someone out to draw blue prints (which I will pay for) to give me an exact quote. That's all I was looking for. The first guy gave me absolutely nothing and wouldn't even look at the project, he just wanted to talk about his company, show me pictures of work he's done then have me pay $2400 for him to design it. Anyways, I think people misunderstood my original question wondering if that was normal practice. At no point did I say I would not pay for blue prints, I just didn't want to pay for them without ANY knowledge of what could and couldn't be done for my budget.
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Old 11-12-2014, 01:13 PM
 
Location: Riverside Ca
22,146 posts, read 33,237,834 times
Reputation: 35433
Quote:
Originally Posted by crakerz01 View Post
Thanks everyone, I met with someone yesterday referred to me by a couple people that informed me yes you can get a 400 square foot bedroom addition for 75k and even change the layout in my family room. He then drew some sketches and showed me some ideas. He's sending someone out to draw blue prints (which I will pay for) to give me an exact quote. That's all I was looking for. The first guy gave me absolutely nothing and wouldn't even look at the project, he just wanted to talk about his company, show me pictures of work he's done then have me pay $2400 for him to design it. Anyways, I think people misunderstood my original question wondering if that was normal practice. At no point did I say I would not pay for blue prints, I just didn't want to pay for them without ANY knowledge of what could and couldn't be done for my budget.



The way you stated ( in your situation) it no it's not exactly normal nor is it abnormal. Anyone can give you a looking out from space figure. It won't be anywhere near right. The problem with a figure as such is that people tend to latch on to that and when it goes over they freak. MOST contractors don't like to give a price in the way you ask. Too many variables. And if you give them such request they will normally bid high to cover all the bases.

My one suggestion is once you pick your specs ( tile, paint, finishes and layout ) stick with them. Change orders WILL ABSOLUTELY KILL YOUR BUDGET if you're a I changed my mind type if you do it after things are completed.
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