If I was building a house I would want a square foot price also.
Kinda like an open bar or all inclusive vacation.
Without even factoring in local conditions and codes there are so many variables.
How tall are the ceilings? Two story ceilings don't reflect in the square foot price.
Unfinished areas like basements, garages, crawl spaces, attic utility rooms are not counted in sq/ft.
It's possible to divide up the space to get more smaller rooms and more bathrooms at the same sq/ft.
So many factors like how many smoke detectors.
Depends on number of bedrooms, distance between bedrooms, different floors, and even different ceiling heights.
How far is the home runs and what clear path do you need to take to make that run.
What appliances. New home builders I seen love to up-sell appliances.
Like 2 laundry areas, a frig in the master bedroom under a wet bar, another wet bar off the living room, whole house vacuum, water softener, USB receptacles, Wall mounted TV's w/receptacle and coax, speaker system, outside TV's, outside kitchens, pool / spas, hot water recirculating, etc.
One national builder I know will let the buyer lay out any electrical they wish with a cad program on a flat screen in the sales offices. Move walls, change door locations. No problem. As long as it meets code, does not change the sq/ft, and the pay the extra up front.
Many home planes don't have the electrical at code minimum. If the submitted plans called for a receptacle on each side of the bed or a GFCI on every outside wall, then that's how you need to build it.
To bid out 4 tract house plans shouldn't take that long compared to the scope of the project.
I have seen others in the past try to do sq/ft pricing with exclusions.
Like no more than 20 can lights, up to 2 HVAC units, 1 refrigerator, no pool equipment, 1 cable jack in each bedroom, etc..
Contract wise it makes more since to say what you will provide such as "install electrical per plans dated ..." or "provide 75 receptacles, 20 GFCI's, etc..".
Vs "Do everything electrical you want except..."
The days of minimum electrical in new home construction seemed to be a thing of the past in the areas I lived.
Do you pay workers per sq/ft?
Some do in Vegas on resi. I herd some horror stories how the electricians working pennies per sq/ft on a 1099 on welfare. Or one electrician works as a 1099 sub for the EC, then hires undocumented cash workers to do the work. People end up working for less than minimum wage doing that. No overtime or weekend pay. The electrician just needs to supervise and then fix it so it works. The end result is every corner cut, poor workmanship, and tons of minor code violations that get by.
