Construction cost

“ On the basis of a rate of 6% per annum and construction lasting one year, only a very small portion of the construction cost will pay 6%, while the great items of rails, buildings, motive 108power, and equipment will be put into the work from 90 days to 10 months after the commencement of work, and will actually bear but little interest. In the Michigan appraisal the assumption was made that all work must be replaced in one year, and that on long roads partial operation would commence as various sections of the line were completed ”

“ The companies assert that the rule to be applied in valuing the physical property of a utility is reproduction cost at the time of the inquiry less depreciation. The 1921 construction costs were about 70 per cent. ”

“ The material for construction best suited to the circumstances and locality of the proprietor must govern all those matters; and as good builders are in most cases at 81 hand, who are competent to give estimates for the cost of any given plan, when the material for construction is once settled, the question of expense is readily fixed. The same sized house, with the same accommodation, may be made to cost fifty to one hundred per cent. over an economical estimate, by the increased style, or manner of its finish ”

“ The cost of building construction in 1907 in forty-nine leading cities of the United States, reporting a total population of less than 18,000,000, amounted to $661,076,286, and the cost of building construction for the entire country is conservatively estimated at $1,000,000,000. ”

“ Computation will show that the difference in cost of materials, between the usual two-course construction and a single body of rich concrete throughout, is not very great, while the saving in cost of labor is so considerable as to make the actual difference in cost of the two types very small. There can be no doubt that the simpler construction and the consequent greater certainty of securing a durable and satisfactory job is greatly in favor of the construction here recommended. ”

“ In regard to the important factor of cost involved in this system of béton construction, its average for beams, floors, and roofs, including the supporting platforms for laying them down, was a fraction over sixty cents per square foot. This cost also includes the re-enforcing iron beams and rods. The cost of the heavy wall-work, not including cornices, was about twenty-four cents per cubic foot, which includes the cost of plank molds, required for building up the walls. The advantages that contributed most to these economical results were cheap material and cheap labor. ”

“ The money cost of the seasoning and the adaptation of the roadway to such a condition as will permit heavy trains to be run at high speeds, is great, but the amount is not readily ascertained. An estimate of cost of reproduction, to be true, must consider this item; and probably the more usual method of ascertaining it is to assume it to be an amount in some proportion to the cost of the excavation. This proportion will vary with the character of the material through which and of which the cuts and fills are made, and with the methods of construction necessarily adopted. ”

“ The increase in the cost of engineering and construction is due to a substantial enlargement of the plan of construction by widening the canal 100 feet in the Culebra cut and by increasing the dimensions of the locks, to the underestimate of the quantity of the work to be done under the original plan, and to an underestimate of the cost of labor and materials both of which have greatly enhanced in price since the original estimate was made. ”

“ The figures given in Chapter XIX, showing the reduction in lumber cost coming from using the same material over a second or third time, should be studied in this connection. The leading firms of engineering-contractors which both design and construct reinforced concrete buildings fully realize these opportunities and take advantage of them, but the general practitioner, particularly if he be an architect, does not do so. ”

“ It is important to note that the costs given in the table are labor costs only of mixing and placing concrete and moving forms; they do not include engineering, first cost of forms, concrete materials, reinforcement or grading. ”

“ Then it is very evident that the cost of building is increased, and every one has to pay more for construction and ask a higher rent to repay himself afterward. Evidently, then, by this action of the bricklayers every man in the trade receives $2.00 more per day for each day's work, which must be paid, directly by their employers, but indirectly by the whole community. ”

“ But the most important factor by far in the low cost of housing construction during the development period of the United States has been cheap lumber. It was cheap lumber, cut by low-priced labor from land of little or no value, and transported at small cost to the home site, which made possible the colossal production of wage-earners' homes in the nineteenth century. ”

“ When you consider that even in fireproof homes built of concrete, stone, or brick, lumber bears from 20 to 25 per cent of the cost of the building, and that now 80 per cent of the houses in the United States are built entirely of wood, you can easily guess why so much used to be said, even in pre-war times, about the disappearance of our forests and the advancing prices of lumber. ”

“ The age of buildings and their previous care have a direct relation to their value, particularly if they are of frame construction. If the buildings have been standing for a number of years, full allowance must be made for depreciation and repairs incident to weathering and long usage. The actual investment represented in a building erected under war or post-war conditions may not be in line with present values. In measuring the value of the principal buildings that are already on a tract, careful consideration should be given to the cost of replacement. ”

“ The masons employed were regular stone masons receiving the regular scale of wages of $3.50 per day. The number of blocks laid by each mason was 125 per day in building pilasters and 200 per day in building plain wall. Sometimes 250 blocks per day per man were laid in plain wall work. The cost per block of laying above was thus 2.8 cts. pilasters and 1.75 cts. in plain wall. This cost does not include transporting the blocks from yard or of handling them to the scaffold behind the masons, nor does it include the cost of materials and labor for mixing and delivering mortar. ”

“ If made some years later, when the property has begun to pay, the risk and necessary financial loss of the lean years should be remembered, as any one building a road in the 193future will necessarily have the same problems to meet, together with the expenses of interest, depreciation, loss from operation, etc., both during the construction and the lean years following, all of which must properly be considered a part of the real cost of constructing and developing a property. ”

“ The first cost of construction must have been enormous, and the mere existence of the wall suffices to show that it must have been of vital importance and that the land it reclaimed and now protects must have been of immense value to justify such an expenditure. ”

“ It is probable that the carpenter work includes merely shifting and erecting forms and not the first cost of framing centers. No materials, of course, are included. It should be kept in mind that while the output and labor force are exact the wages are assumed. ”

“ Figuring from this alone I should say that 10 cts. per sq. yd. is a fair estimate for carpenter work. In working over the forms for another floor the 1-in. boards require more time to handle and I should say that the saving in cost of work over the first floor would be not over 2 cts. per sq. yd. Two laborers moved their scaffolding and took down the forms from three completed panels of 13 sq. yds. each in one hour. Smaller panels require a longer time per yard. Counting for the proper piling of lumber I should allow one hour for one man to take down the forms for a 13-sq. ”

“ It would seem that interest and taxes during construction is a legitimate charge, and therefore, in the cost of reproduction, sufficient amounts should be added to cover it. Care should be taken to make the time long enough, as engineers are often too sanguine as to the length of time necessary to complete a certain piece of work. It is true that a part of a railroad, for instance, may be completed and opened for operation, but the net revenue derived would be very different from that of the completed road with its terminals and connections. ”

“ Reverting to the economies of the face brick house you will find that the maintenance and depreciation items alone on the frame construction will, in a very few years, entirely wipe out the 5 or 6 per cent excess initial cost of the brick, to say nothing of all the other items that go to make your face brick home all the time an investment of a permanent and remunerative value. ”

“ The cost of a house depends on a well-studied plan; this plan does not consist alone in the arrangement of rooms, windows, doors, etc., but involves a careful study of the anatomy of construction. One may save by a proper distribution of timbers, as well as make a very great saving by the arrangement of rooms. Good management is of the greatest importance, not only as a matter of economy, but as securing the best class of workmanship, and the most judicious use of materials. Good or bad management produces the same results in building operations as in war or any other pursuit. ”

“ For instance, the efforts of the philanthropist and working man together have succeeded in shortening hours of labor and increasing wages—without, alas! increasing the speed or quality of the work done, especially in the trades which have to do with materials of construction, so that house-building has about doubled in cost within twenty-five years, largely due to cost of labor. ”

“ A man wheeling a barrow travels at a rate of 200 ft. per minute, going and coming, and loses 3⁄4 minute each trip dumping the load, fixing run planks, etc. An active man will do 20 to 25 per cent. more work than this, while a very lazy man may do 20 per cent. less. With wages at 15 cts. per hour, the cost of wheeling materials for 1 cu. yd. of concrete may be obtained by the following rule:
To a fixed cost of 4 cts. (for lost time) add 1 ct. for every 20 ft. of distance away from the stock pile if there is a steep rise in the runway, but if the runway is level, add 1 ct. for every 30 ft. ”

“ For example, if carts deliver the material in such form that the cost of spreading is greatly increased over what it would be were the concrete delivered in wheelbarrows, the gain made by cart haulage may be easily wiped out or even turned into loss by the extra spreading charges. ”

“ The methods of work to be adopted and the cost of work will be different in the two cases. In relining work the costs are increased by the necessity of providing for the movement of trains and by the delays due to these movements and also by the labor of removing the old lining and, often, of enlarging the excavation. Comparatively few published figures are available on the cost of concrete tunnel lining, and such as exist are commonly incomplete. The common practice is to record the cost as so much per lineal foot of tunnel. ”

“ The following general figures of the cost of block work are available. Foreman cutters were paid $5 per day; foreman concrete workers $3 per day; stonecutters $4 per day; concrete laborers $1.70 per day, and common laborers $1.50 to $1.70 per day. Plain and ornamental blocks cost about the same, the large size of the ornamental blocks bringing down the cost. The following is given as the average cost of block work per cubic yard: [Pg 395]
It will be seen that the largest single item in the above summary of costs is the item of dressing. ”

“ The cost of buildings of the same class and finish is in direct proportion to their cubic contents, and each cubic foot constructed is commercially unprofitable which does not do its part in paying interest on the capital invested. ”

“ Economy in first cost was the guiding consideration in the construction of the cell houses, although a monolithic concrete structure with brick veneered exterior walls is by no means a cheap construction. ”

“ Had it been possible to make such precise determinations, moreover, the usefulness and validity of an estimate of the ultimate cost of a construction program that must inevitably extend over a period of perhaps 20 years and be affected by unpredictable changes in the general economy, in the habits and desires of the people, in the character of vehicles, and in other circumstances, would still be highly questionable. ”

“ Better not only as to general construction, but as well on account of external appearance, and the convenience of its internal arrangements. One may get more of what are regarded as the little conveniences, which mean so much to the housekeeper. This is not altogether the result of lower prices of the material and labor which go to make a house, but is as well on account of the skill which has been developed in planning and arranging buildings, with reference to economy in space, and cost of general construction. The planning of houses has undergone a revolution within a few years past ”

“ It is not necessary to speak in detail of stone and brick houses, since such structures are quite expensive, and their construction should always be placed in the hands of experts. It may be well, however, to discuss them generally. The cost of building brick houses is nearly twice as great as those of wood; stone houses cost more than brick houses. ”