Guesstimating home improvement projects, maybe a dumb question

[tjr]

But I'll ask anyway:

Is there a handy resource for getting very rough figures on how much various projects should cost? For example, at some point we need a new HVAC system and new gutters. Yeah, I could have some guys come out and give bids but for planning purposes it'd be a lot handier if I could just look something up on the web late at night when I've got the time.

The other method of course would be to find someone who's just had whatever done and ask how much they spent and were they satisfied. But around here it seems to be inappropriate to ask someone how much they spent. And unless the project went really, really, really badly they're always satisfied.

[Tom Slick]

The answer is 3 times your best guess. It seems to be pretty accurate for me.

[thrytis]

I don't know if HVAC and gutters are covered, but there are two books i know of to help estimate costs:

Interior Home Improvement Costs: The Practical Pricing Guide for Homeowners & Contractors
Exterior Home Improvement Costs: The Practical Pricing Guide for Homeowners & Contractors

They contain a bunch of different scenarios and break out costs on material and labor. There is also a table in the back containing multipliers for different areas of the US and Canada, with maybe an average of 15 regions per state. It won't be perfect, but it should give you a ball park number.

[tjr]

Thanx, Eric, sounds like just the ticket. If our library ever gets the sewage out of its computers I'll see if they have a copy.

[radhak]

around here it seems to be inappropriate to ask someone how much they spent. And unless the project went really, really, really badly they're always satisfied.

my observation too - people like to tell you how much they paid for the GPS or even the new car, but useful stuff like this spooks them. maybe they think if i knew it was high I'd assume they are rich and plan a heist? more likely is that I'd think they are now poor!

Thanx, Eric, sounds like just the ticket. If our library ever gets the sewage out of its computers I'll see if they have a copy.

interesting - our county library got flooded last week and the servers were out for a day!

btw, I think I've seen those books at HD : you could just browse and note the cost in minutes.

[tjr]

The flooding here was pretty bad. On the other hand the library didn't seem to have any backup plan for their computer system - the catalog and circulation system for all the branch libraries will be unavailable for at least another month we found out at our branch today.

We can still check out books. The librarians record the bar codes and card numbers in a giant Word document, 80 pages of it at our branch as of today. Hope they're backing that up better than the servers. We can't find any books other than by walking the shelves or asking a librarian with a good memory for the Dewey Decimal system, and nobody has any idea when books are due.

It's pretty bad. I do like our library system and most of the staff but upper management are fairly out of touch with reality, as most recently seen with their lack of disaster planning.

Should be a great help for those suburbanites answer to public libraries, Borders and B&N.

Anyhoo, thanx for the advice about HD.

[siliconbauhaus]

http://www.meanscostworks.com/

It's probably the most accurate of the estimating sites and well known to architects