Construction cost estimator

This estimates a build in the order the owner's lender reads it. Conditioned area times your own cost per square foot is the building; site work, utilities and permits on their own line make the direct cost; contingency as a percentage of the direct cost is what the unknowns get; overhead and profit on the whole is the last line; and the total is the estimate to the owner. Every figure is yours; the tool publishes no market cost. Free, on the page, no account; the paid plan saves it against the client and the project.

Area times your cost per square foot, both on the page

The building line is the conditioned area times your cost per square foot, and the rate is yours from the last jobs of this type, because a published average has never seen your subs, your market or the owner's finishes. Both numbers are on the estimate so the lender can see what is behind the building figure.

Site work on its own line, contingency on the direct cost

Site work, utilities and permits depend on the lot and not on the square feet, so they are their own line and the direct cost is the building plus the site. Contingency is a percentage of that direct cost, agreed before the job starts, shown as a line so the owner sees it and sees it come back if it is not spent.

Overhead and profit on everything above it, then the total

Overhead and profit rides on the direct cost plus the contingency, because the office and the margin carry the whole job including its risk. It is the last line before the total, and the total is the estimate to the owner, the figure the contract sum will become. The paid plan keeps it against the client so the draws start from it.