Residential new constr. estimating

[Nature]

I have a c-10 , my question is in estimating the electrical installation cost of a new custom home build, I have learned the electrical bid is usually 8-12 dollars a sq. ft. Can someone tell me, if this cost includes the smoke detectors, data, and coax?

 

[Mr. Serious]

I think there are too many variables for someone to answer a general question like this. I've been doing this over a year, and I haven't really gotten it figured out yet. If I really wanted to focus on residential new builds, I think what I would do is create a spreadsheet to add up all my costs for a house, copy it several times for houses of different sizes, go to the library and photocopy some typical house plans, mark them up with all electrical items, probably add the low-voltage stuff separately as an add-on cost, and plug in all the numbers. The most difficult being, how much time does it take your employees to run a length of wire? One of the major estimating programs that I tried out seemed to have a per-foot cost as well as a fixed cost per piece of wire, to calculate the labor.

You really have to do a few jobs before you know for sure what your costs are.

 

[Strathead]

I think there are too many variables for someone to answer a general question like this. I've been doing this over a year, and I haven't really gotten it figured out yet. If I really wanted to focus on residential new builds, I think what I would do is create a spreadsheet to add up all my costs for a house, copy it several times for houses of different sizes, go to the library and photocopy some typical house plans, mark them up with all electrical items, probably add the low-voltage stuff separately as an add-on cost, and plug in all the numbers. The most difficult being, how much time does it take your employees to run a length of wire? One of the major estimating programs that I tried out seemed to have a per-foot cost as well as a fixed cost per piece of wire, to calculate the labor.

You really have to do a few jobs before you know for sure what your costs are.

While my estimating experience is more in commercial/industrial and the precision and complexity require more time dedicated, I suggest you only square foot receptacle and lighting branch, including panels, kitchen circuits, data runs etc, that are typical in all houses, whether custom or not Create an adder cost for can lights, specialty lights, pools, incoming service.