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A
simple and rapid plan for estimating the cost of any building is
by comparison. If carefully done, it will give figures that may
be relied on. We will suppose that a party desires to erect a
building. Let him select such a house already built in that
vicinity as shall represent, in style of architecture and
character of finish, about what he desires to construct, and of
which the cost of building is known; then compute the area or
number of square feet covered by the building; divide the number
of dollars of cost by the number of square feet thus found, and
the price per square foot is ascertained.
Thus
a house 40 feet by 40 feet covers an area of 1,600 square feet;
it costs $8,000; and dividing $8,000 by 1,600, shows $5 per
square foot. Now what will be the cost of a similar house
covering 1,400 square feet? 1,400 x $5 = $7,000.
This plan will do
very well to approximate roughly to cost. A better and closer
one is to ascertain the cost per cubic foot. Thus, a house 40
feet by 40 feet, and an average height of 30 feet. 40 x 40 x 30
= 48,000 cubic feet, cost $7,200, or fifteen cents per cubic
feet. Then a house containing 57,000 cubic feet, at fifteen
cents, would cost $8,550. Where all conditions of comparison are
equal, such as equal facilities for buying, equal advantages in
capital, credit, good management, etc., one can very closely, by
this last method, ascertain about the cost of such a building as
he proposes to erect.
George E.
Woodward, Cottages and Farm Houses, 1867
The cost of the
proposed work is like the algebraic x, an unknown quantity,
unless one of two methods is adopted - and they are open to
adverse criticism. To sell a house for thirty thousand dollars
one must ask thirty-five for it; to build a house for a
prescribed sum one must name to the architect twenty per cent
less. It is quite impossible to determine whether it is the
ambition of the architect, or the extravagance of his client, or
the unstable scale of prices for either labor or materials,
which makes this a truism; but certain it is that no one ever
yet built within his first-named sum. If time were plenty and
years did not count, it could be possible to use the other
method of keeping within a certain amount. The architect would
then finish his drawings and specifications, from excavations to
brass keys, and draw and sign all contracts. Then, by adding the
amounts, he would know the entire necessary expenditure. This
sounds simple, but experiment has proved it to be almost
impracticable, as well as unsatisfactory to the owner, for it
makes changes impossible, and few know from drawings what the
completed structure will be.
If the purse is
small, let the necessary economy be confined to the elimination
of ornament, but never let it tempt the builder to slight the
construction of the house. Where there is a choice between
showiness and worth, put effect aside, and aim first of all to
have the house well constructed of durable, but not extravagant,
materials.
The House
& Home, 1897
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