06-17-2007, 02:40 PM
My parents bought land in the Puna District almost 17 years ago in hope of one day building a house and retiring. For all those years they have visited the BI and looked at the land, always thinking of that day. Of course things such as us kids, schooling, dentist, college, medical expenses, aging grandparents, etc have always prevented them from doing so. Us kids have sat down and realize that with their pensions (both reduced due to corporate bankruptcy claims), social security and the proceeds from the sale of their house; they could retire and live a normal life. But there is still no room in their budget to build a house. We don’t want them paying for the house if it means they have live in a severely diminished live style or worry about sudden medical expenses.
So we have decided that if the numbers work, us kids will pay for the house. This is the least we can do for them. I’ve had some designs drawn up through a friend and he was able to give me a cost estimate of material base on our local market. My sister and I hit the lumberyards on our last visit and got a sense of the general cost for material around Hilo.
Where we’re stumped is trying to estimate cost for the actual construction of the home. We (and my friend) have no idea how to estimate Hawaii cost for:
Framing (interior and exterior), Plumbing, Electrical, Post & Pier foundation, Drywalling, laying hardwood floors, tile labor, Septic, Catchment water, Metal roofing, and al those little things different from our cookie cutter on slab homes on the mainland. We also don’t know what other major things we should be estimating specific to Hawaii.
Does anyone have a general ball park idea of how to go about estimating these items?
Does anyone know a service near the Hilo or Puna area that does construction estimation that isn’t going to cost us a sizable amount? (Our local mainland service want’s several thousands to do a Hawaii estimate but even then they say they are using a base figure for HI labor rates)
Is there any builder out there that does general ballpark estimating?
None of the "sq. foot" numbers seem to make any sense, but if that's a good way, we'll use it.
We can do the interior finish stuff like painting, kitchen cabinets, connecting the fixtures etc, but will need the main stuff done by a pro. We’re basically trying to figure out how much it will cot for a completely framed house with exterior and interior walls completed, doors & windows hung, all electrical and plumbing rough in done, roof installed, and us doing finishing stuff.
I know this is very broad in scope but if we can get a handle on cost and if it looks like it’s within our combined budget, our parents are in for a great anniversary gift.
Mahalo
So we have decided that if the numbers work, us kids will pay for the house. This is the least we can do for them. I’ve had some designs drawn up through a friend and he was able to give me a cost estimate of material base on our local market. My sister and I hit the lumberyards on our last visit and got a sense of the general cost for material around Hilo.
Where we’re stumped is trying to estimate cost for the actual construction of the home. We (and my friend) have no idea how to estimate Hawaii cost for:
Framing (interior and exterior), Plumbing, Electrical, Post & Pier foundation, Drywalling, laying hardwood floors, tile labor, Septic, Catchment water, Metal roofing, and al those little things different from our cookie cutter on slab homes on the mainland. We also don’t know what other major things we should be estimating specific to Hawaii.
Does anyone have a general ball park idea of how to go about estimating these items?
Does anyone know a service near the Hilo or Puna area that does construction estimation that isn’t going to cost us a sizable amount? (Our local mainland service want’s several thousands to do a Hawaii estimate but even then they say they are using a base figure for HI labor rates)
Is there any builder out there that does general ballpark estimating?
None of the "sq. foot" numbers seem to make any sense, but if that's a good way, we'll use it.
We can do the interior finish stuff like painting, kitchen cabinets, connecting the fixtures etc, but will need the main stuff done by a pro. We’re basically trying to figure out how much it will cot for a completely framed house with exterior and interior walls completed, doors & windows hung, all electrical and plumbing rough in done, roof installed, and us doing finishing stuff.
I know this is very broad in scope but if we can get a handle on cost and if it looks like it’s within our combined budget, our parents are in for a great anniversary gift.
Mahalo
