Square foot cost for Churches

[jmsbrush]

With out a detailed plan, then there is no way you can give a price. If bid 100 jobs, you will have 100 different prices.
If you divide the price by the sq foot, you will get 100 different sq foot costs.
It could vary between $4.00 to $30.00 a sq depending on whats in there.
We just bid a house that was 7000 SQ. The fixture quote was $67,000.00.

You are wasting your time with this client. When he pays money and has real plans drawn and has had it go through plans review. You can give him what he needs. A true bid based off real plans.

 

[cdslotz]

We want an approved set of plans before we spend any time on pricing a project like a church, at that stage they have a serious investment in the project, after design you may have a square ft figure to put a picture together.

Satcom, ed downey is right.
Schematic Design, Design Development & Construction Documents are the stages of budgeting that occur as the design gets finished.
Usually the GC gets awarded prior to the CD drawings are done. If that GC is MY GC, guess what? I'm usually the successful EC, or at worst case, I'm bidding against only two other EC's.
I'll take those odds any day.
I have on my table right now, a big local prestigious Country Club that has only drawings of walls, pictures and a design narrative.
The GC HAS the job. It's around 60K sq/ft and will probably run a little over 1,000,000 electrical.
I will be invited to the next round because I'm helping the GC help the owner.
I just got awarded a chapel job where the electrical is 4.6 million. Worked over a year on it. Was it worth it?

 

[ed downey]

I work for a large GC and I do quite a bit of Mechanical & Electrical budget pricng I get check numbers from a Sub-Contractors that then usually get on a select bid list.

If you wait to bid every commercial job you will most likely be bidding against 10 to 20 other electrical contractors but if you have the knowledge to work on a job early you will most of the time get rewarded by either negotiating a fixed fee arrangement or bidding against a select number of your peers.

 

[CDELECT]

I work for a large GC and I do quite a bit of Mechanical & Electrical budget pricng I get check numbers from a Sub-Contractors that then usually get on a select bid list.

If you wait to bid every commercial job you will most likely be bidding against 10 to 20 other electrical contractors but if you have the knowledge to work on a job early you will most of the time get rewarded by either negotiating a fixed fee arrangement or bidding against a select number of your peers.

Or loose your tail trying to work with a GC that crap shoot bids. that in not knowledge, it's a sure way to problems, but have fun.

 

[Jodonnell]

I work for a large GC and I do quite a bit of Mechanical & Electrical budget pricng I get check numbers from a Sub-Contractors that then usually get on a select bid list.

If you wait to bid every commercial job you will most likely be bidding against 10 to 20 other electrical contractors but if you have the knowledge to work on a job early you will most of the time get rewarded by either negotiating a fixed fee arrangement or bidding against a select number of your peers.






Thank you for the reply. This is exactly why I did a square foot budget. I used $34 pr foot. When I am working with the GC on the early design phase I end up with the job. All of these budget cost are to see if the project is viable for the owner to move foward.

If I would have used the recommendation of most of the replys I would have been out a customer and out of a possible job. There was a reason I was asked to come in. I think it is because I have been know to be honest and work very hard to make every job work without extras.

It was called a budget price for a reason. If I do get to move forward on the job I will get to design it and diktat my price through my design. If the owners require additional pricing after I put in hours and hours of work. I am the one who gets last look.

 

[ed downey]

I do not know how you do budgets but I try to break them down into the following categories which helps people understand where the money is in the budget:

Site Work
Power Distribution
Mechancal Hook-up
Lighting (including Branch Circuits)
Branch Devices (Including Branch Circuits)
Emergency Power (Generators, ATS, Paralleling Gear, etc.)
Fire Alarm (Including Branch Conduit)
Tele/Data (Including Conduit)
Security (Including Conduit)
Special Systems (Paging, Nurse Call, Clock System, etc)
Misc. (Temporary Power, Commissioning Assistance, etc.)


Also I would suggest after you do a hard takeoff on a project you take the time to break down the project so you can use that information to do future budgets. Not necessarily the dollars per square foot but the number of Receptacles per square foot (per building type).

Like I generally see an Electrical room every 15,000 SF, In a Hospital you will have one light fixture every 55 SF. All of this information comes in handy when you do future budgets.

If you send me a PM I can forward you some of the SF information I have used.

 

[cdslotz]

Or loose your tail trying to work with a GC that crap shoot bids. that in not knowledge, it's a sure way to problems, but have fun.

Good GC's don't crap shoot, or use subs that do

 

[cdslotz]

Thank you for the reply. This is exactly why I did a square foot budget. I used $34 pr foot. When I am working with the GC on the early design phase I end up with the job. All of these budget cost are to see if the project is viable for the owner to move foward.

If I would have used the recommendation of most of the replys I would have been out a customer and out of a possible job. There was a reason I was asked to come in. I think it is because I have been know to be honest and work very hard to make every job work without extras.

It was called a budget price for a reason. If I do get to move forward on the job I will get to design it and diktat my price through my design. If the owners require additional pricing after I put in hours and hours of work. I am the one who gets last look.

Good for you. A lot of times we get awarded based on early budgeting on a "design/assist" basis. This means you budget the job, then keep the designing engineer in check as he finishes the design.
I love that. I mean, I love telling the engineer what he can and can't do.

 

[bradleyelectric]

I'm amazed by the number of people on here that don't know the difference between a budget and a bid.

 

[480sparky]

I'm amazed by the number of people on here that don't know the difference between a budget and a bid.

It even more amazing how many that are NOT on here will assume the 'budget' number is the 'bid'. :roll:

 

[satcom]

I'm amazed by the number of people on here that don't know the difference between a budget and a bid.

Kind of makes you wonder, but then look at how some operate, and you can see the results.

 

[Jodonnell]

I spoke with the General that I gave the BUDGET number to. He said that he had a meeting with the powers to be. They are now moving forward on the purchase of the church and they wanted to know what the next step was for construction..... Thank you for the help from the positive ones and if I would have listened to the others I would have not been asked to get pricing from an electrical engineer for the design.

Jim