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Re: Materials Cost Vs Labour Cost?

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Re: Materials Cost Vs Labour Cost? Calvin Henry-Cotnam 06-14-2005
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Posted by Calvin Henry-Cotnam on June 14, 2005, 2:54 am
Jim B (Jimmydud@abcdnet.net) said...
>
>If I engage contractors or builder to rebuilding and enlarge
>a house, what will be the percentage for labor and building
>material?

There are a lot of factors that can effect this, as others have posted,
but a good rule-of-thumb is that you will spend $2 on labour for every
$1 in materials.

We build our own house, finishing about a year and a half ago, and we
did about 85% of the work ourselves.

In some areas, the materials/labour ratio was close to the rule of
thumb, in others it was hard to tell since the contract price was for
the total deliverables.

Shingling the roof was easy as we purchased the materials ourselves
(about $1600) and hired the labour separately (about $2200), so the
ratio was about 42% materials, 58% labour.

A few areas where we considered having the work done, but ended up
doing it ourselves, the chance to compare is a bit easier:

Windows:
total cost from supplier: $5300
two quotes for supply & install: $11,000 and $14,000
(about 37% to 48% materials)

Ceiling texture spraying:
total cost of supplies and equipment rental: $185
estimate for job: $750
(about 25% materials/equipment)

Framing:
cost of materials (excluding roof trusses): about $16,000
quote for labour (excluding roof): about $20,000
(about 45% materials)

I find the 1/3 materials figure a good rule-of-thumb for estimating as
actual figures tend to lean towards a slightly higher percentage for
materials, meaning that total costs tend to be estimated higher than the
come in at (e.g.: if materials are estimated at $1000, then labour is
estimated at $2000, for a total of $3000 -- but if the $1000 of materials
ends up representing 40% of the total, then the total is $2500)

--
Calvin Henry-Cotnam
"Never ascribe to malice what can equally be explained by incompetence."
- Napoleon
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: if replying by email, remove "remove." and ".invalid"


Posted by ConcreteFinishing&StuccoGuy on June 14, 2005, 3:11 am
Depends what part of country and how much of the housing bubble you are in.
Concrete and forming runs 4 to 1 materials to labor, but concrete is very
expensive this way at $125 per meter.
Last time i built a house on spec (as an investment) 2:1 seemed the rule.
It also depends how connected you are in the trades and how you are paying
those working for you. Roofers, electricians and siders are famous for
wanting cash under the table because they are collecting compo elsewhere.

--
Troweller^nospam^@canada.com

Remove the obvious to reply. Experienced and reliable
Concrete Finishing and Synthetic Stucco application in the GTA.
> Jim B (Jimmydud@abcdnet.net) said...
> >
> >If I engage contractors or builder to rebuilding and enlarge
> >a house, what will be the percentage for labor and building
> >material?
>
> There are a lot of factors that can effect this, as others have posted,
> but a good rule-of-thumb is that you will spend $2 on labour for every
> $1 in materials.
>
> We build our own house, finishing about a year and a half ago, and we
> did about 85% of the work ourselves.
>
> In some areas, the materials/labour ratio was close to the rule of
> thumb, in others it was hard to tell since the contract price was for
> the total deliverables.
>
> Shingling the roof was easy as we purchased the materials ourselves
> (about $1600) and hired the labour separately (about $2200), so the
> ratio was about 42% materials, 58% labour.
>
> A few areas where we considered having the work done, but ended up
> doing it ourselves, the chance to compare is a bit easier:
>
> Windows:
> total cost from supplier: $5300
> two quotes for supply & install: $11,000 and $14,000
> (about 37% to 48% materials)
>
> Ceiling texture spraying:
> total cost of supplies and equipment rental: $185
> estimate for job: $750
> (about 25% materials/equipment)
>
> Framing:
> cost of materials (excluding roof trusses): about $16,000
> quote for labour (excluding roof): about $20,000
> (about 45% materials)
>
> I find the 1/3 materials figure a good rule-of-thumb for estimating as
> actual figures tend to lean towards a slightly higher percentage for
> materials, meaning that total costs tend to be estimated higher than the
> come in at (e.g.: if materials are estimated at $1000, then labour is
> estimated at $2000, for a total of $3000 -- but if the $1000 of materials
> ends up representing 40% of the total, then the total is $2500)
>
> --
> Calvin Henry-Cotnam
> "Never ascribe to malice what can equally be explained by incompetence."
> - Napoleon
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> NOTE: if replying by email, remove "remove." and ".invalid"
>



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