How can I estimate road building costs?

[Michael Elifritz]

I'd like to know how estimate the cost of improving raw land by building roads and extending utilities.  Is there any way to get a ball park idea for this without engineering documents to generate a quote from an excavation company?

[Tommy F.]

@Michael Elifritz  I'll take the liberty to assume you're at the very early stages of planning. That being said, I believe you may be putting the cart before the horse. I'm not a builder nor developer although I have worked with both in the past to develop land. Building roads and extending utilities comes after a lot of other expensive and time-consuming work. Consider the time, effort, and expense to develop a concept plan to include site drawings, home types, homes per acre, site storm water retention plan, tree save areas, conservation areas, wetland setbacks, time considerations for meetings with county land use planners, negotiating easements for utilities, rezoning meetings with county council, revisions to your plans to meet demands of neighbors, planners and/or county council, and hopefully getting a final approval for your project. Then you can start turning over dirt. Estimating cost for streets and utilities is just a piece of the puzzle, and likely easier, although more expensive. You can start by going to your county public works website and find the cost for tapping into sewer and water. You may find that accessing sewer comes with a high one-time tap fee plus a fee for each unit that will be served, the same for water. These fees can be in the tens of thousands and must be paid in advance. You'll need to know if your site will gravity feed to sewer, need easements to cross other properties, or will need a pump station or grinder pumps for each home.  For a 10" sewer line ballpark $90 per linear foot, for 8" line consider $75 plf, estimate sewer easements at $20 plf plus repair and restoration costs. If you can't get sewer, then your alternative is onsite septic, if soil is suitable, then your buildable area shrinks dramatically due to drain field and reserve areas for each home. I still haven't answered your basic question, so if you're still reading at this point and haven't taken two Excedrin, then you'll need to know your street layout, width, curb & gutter requirements to get any type of estimate from a contractor. Costs for residential street improvements will vary due to local code requirements for different materials, street types and layouts, and utilities. The combined costs for grading, surplus disposal, gravel base, asphalt, curb and gutter, manholes, sewer laterals, and sidewalks could easily be $200 per linear foot for a 20' wide street. It's all a guess until you get a professional involved to work with you.  I hope this helps.