Dry in cost estimate help

I'm thinking of hiring a contractor to dry in our addition. It's 28 x 20 or 560 sq ft Plus a 10 x 28 ft, or 280 sq ft. porch. The foundation is done. What I want:

Exterior 2 x 6 walls

Interior has 34' of 2 x 4 walls

8' ceiling, on the inside contractor stops with rafters. i'll be covering with a wood ceiling.

3 interior door frames (I'm supplying and hanging the doors)

1 exterior door frame (I'm supplying and hanging the door)

4 exterior window frames (I'm supplying and installing the windows)

No interior finish wall material just leave framing open

No exterior siding, just end with plastic wrap

No plumbing or electrical

No metal on roof, end with felt

No finish flooring, stop with 3/4" plywood sub floor.

No floor on porch (I'll be putting down the planking)

The reason for me doing the windows/doors/finish floors/ceiling/roof is it's a cypress cottage and I have to source the wood. I want to take my time doing this.

If this is enough info, what price range either per sq ft or total should I be looking at? I'm in rural Louisiana, things are relatively inexpensive down here. I'm responsible for all permits. As an example, Chinese sub division homes are selling for $65/sq ft new. Custom homes $90 to $100 sq. ft.

If I can afford this, I'd be using a real contractor with insurance and the right to make a profit.

Many Thanks!

I don’t know the answer to your question, but I once was doing a similar addition and asked several builders I knew to quote much the same as you want. They all came back and said they would do it cost plus material and gave me those rates. For some reason they didn’t want to do the math or they wanted to be able to keep going or stop when I figured they did what I wanted.

Why not get bids from a few local contractors.That would be a lot more accurate than asking on a internet forum. Prices can varie considerably just from one part of one state to another and from one contractors overhead to another.

Well, what are your other options? Are you considering doing it yourself? Is it in your skill level? And what's your time worth? Sometimes the professional shortcuts and workarounds - knowing what to do in a particular circumstance - is a huge time saver.

slownsteady said:

Well, what are your other options? Are you considering doing it yourself? Is it in your skill level? And what's your time worth? Sometimes the professional shortcuts and workarounds - knowing what to do in a particular circumstance - is a huge time saver.

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Yes, do it myself. I can do it, albeit not as fast as a contractor or skilled trades person. While I'm not under time pressure, having a contractor step in would be much faster.

Get a few estimates. Don't be afraid to pay for quality. Perhaps you get someone on a day rate.

You want someone to frame it, and wrap it with tyvek and tar paper then stop

my advice, it is going to be hard to find a contractor to do just that.

drive around, find where they are framing houses.

talk to the framer, about a side job, most are sub contractors, that would be your best bet

then, YOU buy the material.

pay them for labor only,, ask him what kind of nails he uses for his gun, buy a box

Thanks guys! I've obviously asked a question that can't really be given a good answer. I'll get some bids and If I can't afford it, perhaps try the idea of approaching a framing Sub Contractor. If that fails it's good old DIY.

Thanks again for the replies.

You do not need a general contractor, you can do that, job. Find a framing crew, You buy the lumber and the framing crew will charge by the sq ft.
Framers don't usually do house wrap or roofing paper but they usually do windows.
Make sure you look at the latest on window installation. ( rain screening) And if you are doing more than vinyl siding, look at rainscreening the walls too.

Check with local real lumber yard for refferences for framing crew or as suggested go talk to people actually building houses.
Take your plans to a real lumber yard and they will do a lumber take off and give you a price for everything you need.

Just in case someone else lands here, I got a Contractor to give me a quote and it came in at $32/sq ft.

Up here framers get between 5 and 10$ psf but you buy the lumber and nails, trusses and delivery charges, so that might be reasonable.
Just make sure the permit is attached to the front of the house and you see every inspection sheet. And make sure all his sub trades are paid before you pay in full.

You can ask for a release of lien when each sub is paid.

And make sure all his sub trades are paid before you pay in full.

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You can ask for a release of lien when each sub is paid.

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Things i never would have thought about.

Up here the trades have a set time I think 45 days from the date their job was finished to lein the house, he also adds a little for his trouble and any fees he has paid for the paperwork.
So homeowners should always hold back some of the generals money for that many days. Most builders now have home owners pay the subs directly but it is still a problem if the general has his own employees.

Not sure how it works north of the border, but down here the gov't is coming down hard on the relationship between a business and their sub contractors....not just in the trades, but everywhere that employers use sub contractors. It seems they see it as a work-around to not having to cover benefits etc. since the subs are not officially employees - even though some subs only work for the same company every day for years.

Ya, that was the samre here and the gov. cleaned that up. I was talking about subs like the electrical contractor or the plumbing contractor or the framing crew, these can have employees or be just one person but they actually do the job for a quoted price or a contracted price. But even when every guy working for a framing crew was a contractor working for the framing contractor the home owner had to worry about everyone geetting paid as the only re-coarse for every one is to lien the house

Every states lien laws and their business and professional code are published on line.