How do I estimate my construction costs?

[Tuvia Goldstein]

I’m trying to crunch my numbers for a real estate deal and was wondering if there is a way to estimate how much it would cost me to have a GC to build new construction in the Philadelphia area per square foot. Or is there another metric to calculate this price without have architectural drawings. I’m looking to build a total of 10 units on 3 consecutive lots. The bottom three units would be commercial but on top would be 3/4 units respectively. The square footage of the ground floor would be about 925sq ft. And each of the 3 buildings would likely have a basement and 3 floors above ground

Any feedback would be great. Thanks.

[Nick Marrs]

I agree $125-$150/SF is more reasonable.  $85 per SF is way too low unless you are building a garage with no finishes or the contractor isn't going to make a profit (GCs usually make about 25% of the total construction cost, design team makes about 15% of the total construction cost).  Most of the cost is due to your interior and exterior finishes (not the structure itself) so the price range really depends on how fancy you want to get with you finishes/windows/floorin etc. If you have a tight budget and want to put in low end finishes you can probably get $125/SF to work.