Online building cost estimator?

Would anyone know a website that helps in estimating construction costs? Materials, and labor?

I'm investigating the affordability of a 3000 square foot storage annex at a local non-profit. One or one and a half storey, hvac, concrete floor, no basement, steel exterior, fully insulated, probably a slightly slanted roof. Will house several hundred shelf units and file cabinets, with minimal windows and no interior walls planned. Will be built onto the side of the existing two-storey steel building.

I'm just assuming "steel exterior" is cheaper than any other construction.

The annex would be similar to this, but without the tall doors:


We don't have funds for the building yet, so I'm looking for a ballpark figure as a basis for moving forward with the idea.

Thanks.
Tom M.

I don't know about the cost estimator, but considering where you are located and the snow that happens there, I'd seriously not consider a flat roof.

What about paying to store your files. No upfront building costs, no maintenance, no taxes. Just my $0.02.

Gliderman8 said:

What about paying to store your files. No upfront building costs, no maintenance, no taxes. Just my $0.02.

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Thanks Elliot. We need immediate access to the materials, so they have to stay on the premises.

TM

Tom, I've seen you accused of living in another century before but have always commiserated with your acquisition and knowledge of obsolete technology. Today I am accusing you of living in another country after seeing how you spell "storey."

Walt - you just didn't get the benefit of good elementary education like I did! Here's my sixth grade diploma:

FWIW, my BIL had a somewhat larger building built last year in rural MO. Roughly 100 by 60, 12' high at the eaves and a steep steel roof. Less insulation, wiring and HVAC but including windows, 2 regular doors and two big roll-up doors (with openers); cost was $31k.

Plan is to build a smaller shop for machine tools inside the large building and only heat/cool the smaller space.

Thanks Randall. That's really helpful.

Do you recall what flooring/foundation he used? We're just thinking of a poured cement floor.

Did that $31K include labor?

TM

A quick Google search found:

https://www.softwareadvice.com/resources/free-construction-estimating-software/

or https://www.buildingjournal.com/

I used to use https://www.rsmeans.com/products/online.aspx, but it's not free.

Hope that helps.

How about calling a prefab steel place like this for an estimate: https://packagesteelsystem.com/specifications/ I know nothing about them, but might be good for an estimate.

NutmegCT said:

Do you recall what flooring/foundation he used? We're just thinking of a poured cement floor.

Did that $31K include labor?

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Yes, that included a poured concrete foundation and labor. Also some stubbed drain and water pipes (the shop will also have a shower & toilet but only the pipes in the slab were included in the building).

I don't know what just the materials cost, he contracted for the whole thing and the contractor supplied the materials. I'm not sure how deep the footers are, you may need to go deeper to get below the frost line.

Thanks gentlemen. I've got a call in to Package Systems; we'll see how this goes. I'm a total newbie to this (obviously), so my natural paranoia will get quite a workout.

Randall, your cost for the 100 x 60 building gives me a start. We're looking at half that floorspace, but with insulation and lighting. This will be interesting. The $30K estimate is do-able for us.

Tom M.

I had a 40X60 free standing steel building put up with 14 foot high walls, two 12 foot high 12 foot wide remote controlled electric doors, two walk in doors and a 5 inch thick rebar re-enforced floor setting on 18 inch wide and 18 inch deep footers to support heavy equipment, the cost was a little under 40K. The roof has 8 light emitting panels, like day time inside when the sun is shining. Cost of the floor took the price up a bit because they used 3/4 inch re-bar and 4000 lb concrete. PJ

Thanks Paul. Are the walls insulated?

TM

Not insulated Tom, If I had to do it over again it would be. I was thinking of having it sprayed. It's nice in the Summer, but not when the temps are around 20 degrees! To have it sprayed, it would take me a month just to clean it out. PJ

I would check with your lumber building materials vendor
menards were pretty close on the end all cost for the rental shop

A friend had his shop about 50x80x10 feet insulated about 5 years ago. He had it sprayed on roof and walls and said it cost about $10,000.

I had close cell foam sprayed on top of the steel roof. They added about 2.5 inches and it dropped the temperature about 10-12 degrees inside. also is much quieter. The top of the foam has elastomeric coating on it. Re coat every 5 years. But, I found a product from Henrys that is a silicon roof coating that may never require a recoat. The insulation on top was worth it. Some days in the summer it was hotter in the garage than outside.
In the winter, I can even heat the place also.

Jerry

Thanks gents. There are so many options and alternatives, I feel swamped! Will be climate controlled, so insulation is a must. Main thing is to find a contractor willing to give me an estimate of total cost for the project, with various options. Then I can try to raise funds. I'm totally new to this (obviously), I've never used a contractor, so I'm taking it one step at a time.

TM

A few things I've learned from working with contractors:

1) Never, Ever, make the final payment before you are totally satisfied with the work. Last one I used promised he would be back the next day to clean up, patch mistakes and so on; never did come back. Did the same thing only worse to the friend who recommended him to me.

I also neglected to inspect the work he did on the roof; wound up having to redo it myself as it was blatantly wrong and started leaking the next time it rained.

2) Get in writing exactly what they are going to do, including how much clean-up and so on. The guy that stripped off the shake and put on asphalt shingles was careful to explain that they were going to knock a bunch of dirt (and a few nails) down into the garage and attic; but the one who did the house next door forgot to mention it. My neighbor was seriously unhappy!

It's best to get an estimate in writing BEFORE you agree to any work. One contractor even told me to my face that everyone wanted to back out after seeing an estimate in writing ... oddly enough, his verbal quote was about 3 times what I wound up paying.

3) Get their contractor license number up front, and check it out before signing anything. Some friends of mine just assumed it was good and didn't discover until later that it was phony. Wound up ruining some friendships, as one of the owners sued the condo association after getting overspray on their classic Mustang.