Renovation estimates per square foot in philly

[Karl Washington]

Hello,

What are you all using for your price per square foot renovation estimates in Philadelphia?

Thank you!

-Karl

[Rich O'Neill]

Quote from @Kevin Paulk:

@Karl Washington

Don't know what your project looks like but I think if your doing a typical PHILLY         row-house (1100 sqft -1500 sqft) Maybe 3/1 or 3/2.

You can get away with pricing the rehab by square footage. Just make sure that the 

contractors that are giving you their bids, they do those type of projects all day.

But in the last 6 months I've seen $95 to $120 per sqft. 

While this is true, as a contractor I always get very anxious when clients ask me for this number or have an expectation. I ALWAYS explain to them that there are far too many factors involved in a renovation project to accurately estimate this. Even a “full gut” has nuance that varies from project to project. Is the framing all staying? Is the exterior being completely redone? Does the roof need to be replaced? If the roof needs to be replaced, how many sheets of plywood need to be replaced? It’s too much to estimate and I would argue that if someone is giving you that number, they either don’t understand their numbers or they do and they have so much wiggle room (profit) built into their number that they can afford to give you a blanket number like that. The only time a price per square foot number makes some sense is in new construction, and even then there can be variations in current conditions like the soil types, is underpinning required, are utilities already tapped, etc. 

In short, be VERY cautious about a price per square foot number and only use it for rough, initial estimating purposes.