Case coming up where I need national comparative pricing on a few issues

(1) Turn key price for installation of residential PT slab-on-grade foundation per square foot, labor and materials.

(2) Residential design and construction documents p.s.f.

Any submissions will be greatly appreciated.

Aaron

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Well, gosh, after 18 views and two weeks we have a grand total of 0 experts out there. That's about what I thought anyway. . .

Aaron

So, you're angry that Home Inspectors don't have specific turn-key pricing information and hard costs for installing foundations?

We don't even have PT slabs around here, so the local rates wouldn't matter.


Dom.

Dom:

Angry? Me? I think you'll know when that's the case.

Take a look at this forum section name:

Expert Witness and Defect Litigation: Home Inspection & Commercial Inspection

Experts should actually be experts in something, right? Since we are home inspectors is it too much to assume that at least one - uno - one MF besides me out there actually has some residential construction experience? I think not.

Where, or where, is he?

Aaron

Aaron,

On that part, and that part alone, you are correct, and (I would presume) *ALL* experts *are* experts on something - just don't expect all to be experts on *PRICING* PT residential slabs.

That would be like me making a judgment on your "expertise" based on your lack of knowledge of some of the things here ... you know ... like trying to insist that CPVC is not acceptable for use as the discharge pipe from a T&P relief valve because it is not the same exact measured size as some other pipe ...

Does that, then, make you *NOT* an expert on home inspection? If so, just say the words ...

__________________
Jerry Peck, Construction / Litigation Consultant
Construction Litigation Consultants, LLC ( www.ConstructionLitigationConsultants.com )

Not all, Jerry, just one would be fine. I mean, out of an entire continent of HIs, just one, that's all. Too much to ask?

What, just because you got clobbered on the "C word" thingy?

Anonymous

So, you are saying that you fit right in there with the rest of us 'non-experts'? (you did ask the question which is as yet unanswered) Cool!

The "condo" thing? You stopped answering questions and participating before the code got clarified and straightened out, even on 'condo 2'. Saying you did not inspect anything other that IRC, then saying otherwise, then hedging on other aspects - you got clobbered on that "C" word thingy.

__________________
Jerry Peck, Construction / Litigation Consultant
Construction Litigation Consultants, LLC ( www.ConstructionLitigationConsultants.com )

ECJ:

Maybe. It all depends on which fields of expertise we are referring to and the actual degree of non-.

Aaron

Sure, they would be appreciated. It would save you, the "expert", a lot of work. Some folk make their money the old-fashioned way. They EARN it. Your tone is not appreciated.

__________________
Randy Aldering, RHI CHI
Housesmithe Home Inspection
www.housesmithe.com

Randy:

I have several 2008 construction estimator discs, books, etc. and know how to use them. I also know that the only way to get a national consensus that is accurate is to poll people in other areas of the country to see what the boots on the ground are charging and not the bean counters at Craftsman Books, Means, or any of the other usual characters.

Since this is a professional forum, and since there is this small matter of this particular area being assigned to expert witness matters, I thought it appropriate to ask the question(s) here. When I received no answer I assumed that the readers were just clueless, like you, not to put too fine a point on it. I still do not have an answer to my question(s) from the members of this forum, but it's a moot point because I got them elsewhere. In a place where the people actually had the answers and were not so mean-spirited that they refused to share them.

Now, as to my TONE. Let me soften it a bit for you. Phuque off, please . . .

All better now?

Aaron

So.... Aaron;
After you posted the question, and I had no clue, I went and searched for an answer. The closest I got to it was the fact that a standard slab will last through 10 years of assigned maintenance costs while a PT slab will last 26 years with those same assigned maintenance costs.
Since the actual "turn key" cost was not imperitive to me, I ended my search.
BTW.... all my "cost" books are older since I gave up my job as a "Cost Estimator" back in '82.

Would you be willing to share what you found out?
Inquiring minds would like to know.......

__________________
Critical Home Inspection Services
www.Home2Spec.com

Victor:

Yeah, I wish I never had to see another GD estimator book or software program for the duration . . . had enough of that during a 20-year stint in the industry building stuff for people like us to critique. Time sure changes things.

So, I don't ever quote prices for repairs on inspections. But, in some of these expert things I have to dig up a price now and then. This case is particularly difficult in that they require both a national average and a local price on several items.

PT slab prices are all over the map nationally because they don't build too many of them in some parts of the country. The average I arrived at was about $5.25 to $6.50 psf., depending upon the thickness of the slab and the dimensions of the footings. Exotic stuff like elevated slabs or adjustable slabs are off the chart and not applicable to this case.

Plans are another ball of spaghetti to unravel. It seems that "construction documents" means a lot of things to a lot of different people. Seman-tic bites all over me by the time I got through with this one. Depends on the price of the house, it seems. Something like from a run-of-the-mill, off-the-rack P-O-S from one of the production "builders" would run about $1.50-$2.00 psf for a set of docs to include enough detail to fly it by an examiner (like Peck) and for the trades to have an inkling what it is you want built. Make it $3.00 psf if you want more flash like colored velum presentations to make your wallet open a bit further. Add more if it is exotic construction. If you really are well-heeled and can afford a true custom home the architectural firm is going to gouge you for 5-7% of the total cost of the project.

Why then, after high school, did I not continue with my drafting classes?

Aaron

"Why then, after high school, did I not continue with my drafting classes?"


Probably the same reasons I had.

Started out after High school majoring in Architecture, but after a visit to several Architects offices and seeing the layouts of the "work rooms" , I decided that chances were pretty good I'd wind up looking at the back of someones head for a long time.

Seems like they all line up drafting tables and each is assigned a portion of the drawing.

Not to my liking.........

__________________
Critical Home Inspection Services
www.Home2Spec.com

Mee too.

Aaron