RS Means

[Dan Blanchard]

I bought a copy of RS Means Contractors Pricing Guide 2008 yesterday. That is one strange book. I will be ordering plans and specs Monday morning for residential construction. My intent was to estimate cost of labor, overhead and profit (that I plan to pocket) for different phases of construction that I plan to complete myself prior to obtaining actual bids. I can’t even complete a simple cost approach using RS Means. Anyone familiar with this book? I have all weekend to fiddle with it.
Thanks

 

[Dan Blanchard]

I can’t figure their system out. For example:
Additional upgrades or components (on page 14)
Kitchen Cabinets & Countertops see Page 93
On Page 93 is Driveway Price Sheet.

Appliances see Page 95
On Page 95 is Septic Systems Price Sheet and so on.

Another question; Take page 15. Is that a work sheet filled out by the individual user from the Assemblies Section, those four columns on the right or what?

Also are they implying on page 14 under Exterior Wall there is no real difference between vinyl, metal or wood siding?

Under Modifications; they assume every one car garage is the exact same size as any other one car garage. I guess that’s what they mean, they have a one car adjustment at $9,905, two car garages aren’t even there.

I don’t get it.