Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





YoL. XXI.





NEW YORK, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1878.





No.  .516.











Published Weekly by

C^e Ulcal €sf aic S^ toi"^ ^ssodaiiait.

TERJIS.
OiVE YEAR, in advance.. ..SlO.OO.
Communications should be addressed to

C.   AV.   SWEET,

Nos. :M5 AND 347 Broadway.





THE ECONOMICS OF BUILDING.
III.

COSTS.

Probably no item of public concern gives rise to
more pretentious assertion, based upon inade¬
quate data, or to more misleading statoinents,
than do the costs of building. As divergent as
estimates usually are w-ith regard to the value of
a given plot of vacant laud, they seem harmoni¬
ous when compared with the wide disi)arity of
statements which we are accustomed to hear with
regard to building costs.

The manufacture of buddings iu some respects
is not unlike the manufacture of ready-made
clothing ; the material and workmiuiship in either
case admitting of endless varieties of quality
and degrees of skill. The failure of the anal-
ogj-, however, occurs in the disposition of the
products. AA''hile ready-made clothing, of what¬
ever grade or quality, may have settled and
easilj' defined values, it is not possible to specifj-
of building products that resulting sale will in¬
demnify the builder for his outlay or insure to
him a profit. The common confusion in the pub¬
lic mind with reference to building costs arises,
no doubt, from the blending of the two ideas of
cost and A-alue and in a still greater degree from
the ignorance -ivhich necessarily prevails with
reference to such an intricate and complicated
work as building. There has always existed a
glamour of mystery and uncertaintj', even in the
minds of well-informed persons, as to what are
the actual costs of building. The builders them¬
selves have taken no pains to dispel this 'uncer¬
tainty, either through iuability to mastei- the
details of their business, or the lack of sufficient
education to enable them to combine together in
a grand total the \-arious items of cost. Many
builders either do not know or pretend to not
know, what is the actual cost; and others again
wilfully seek to mislead the public mind by claim¬
ing as cost an amount which really includes an
exorbitant profit. We believe it would be for
the best interests of the buildei-sand of the public
if plain and authentic items of cost could be ob¬
tained of a variety of building constructiions. It
is common to say that no two t^ibles of costs are
alike; that this knowledge c;iu only be gained by
experience, and that with private individuals
who seek such experience one trial ordinarily suf
fices. It is no unusual thing for builders who
ha\'e completed their works t6 be assailed by the
criticism that such buildings could be produced
at a price very much less than that set up as cost.
While the value of vacant land may be readily de¬
finable upon some accepted basis, and while the
costs claimed.for a good building may be reasona¬
bly and satisfactorily demonstrated; when the two





are combined in one proiluct and olfered for sale,
in their conipo.site .state, being neither land nor
building, but the two united iu one, the ditlicul¬
ties then seem to be niultiplietl of determin¬
ing what may lie the actual aggregate cost.
This subject of costs is considered a legitimate
enquiry on the part of the house-buying public as
a means of determining value, although cost and
value are totalh- unrelated and disconnected
sums—as buildei-s, through practictil anil painful
experience, have learned during tbe pas four
yeai-s.

The builder depends for realizing his cost^ and
any possible profit upon the value which the
public ma}' fix upon his completed product at
the time it is offered for sale. The value of the
builder's product should, in ordinary times,
include a reasonable profit, of whicli no honest or
fair-minded buyer would seek to deprive him. A
fair and iutelligeut exposition of the subject of
costs will have its effect in inciting the bu\-ing pub¬
lic to a candid and just interpretation and appre¬
ciation of the builder's product and profit.

The misconceptions which usually exi.st in ref¬
erence to this matter may be classified under
three headings, in which we propose more con¬
veniently to discuss them.

Igiioraid fonJeelKre.—There are many wiseacres
and busybodies going about w-ho claim to know
ever3'body's business but their own, aud these
are usually- the most outspoken and officious in
attempting to determine the costs of a given
building projection. It is a singular fact that
this class of critics, as a rule, seek to underrate
such costs, and betray their ignorance in the very
statements that they make. When it is claimed
that a given building could be produced for a sum
of money hardly sufficient to satisfy five or six of
the leading and necessary contracts, the con¬
jecture in that case may be set down as both
ignorant and false. If these parties purpose to
continue their calling as buUding critics, it would
be well for them to gather information of the
details of building affairs, A superficial knowl¬
edge would enable them to estimate much more
correctly than'they do as to real cost.

Wilful Mi.'irepre.'sentation.—On the other hand,
there are builders and others interested iu main¬
taining the value of property Avho seek to give
currency to the idea of enormous costs atttichiiig
to this line of work. Personal interest often lies
at the bottom of such representations—either the
desire to secure an inordinate profit, or tbe piu--
pose.of procuring an excessive [loan on the prop¬
erty. At any rate, the direction of this influence
is always one and the same, and that is to undulj-
inflate the values of land and building material.
This course of procedure is quite as prejudicial as
the other, tending to increase the confusion which
exists in the public mind, and to deter buj-ers
from venturing into the mtirket, through dread
of encountering a practical demonstration of
these inflated ideas.

Discrepant Estimates.—As strange as it may ap¬
pear, it is nevertheless a matter of common ex¬
perience to find several master builders present¬
ing estimates for the same work which vary iu
their given totals.from twenty-Jflve .to fifty per
cent. This discrepancy may be due to excess or
reduction of profit charged, or may be the special
measure of individual responsibility assumed by





the o;io w-ho makes the caleulati<iii. AA'bere
such w-ide discreiiancies as to cost tire found
to exist among master Iniiltlers, it is hardh"
surprising that the public should go so egre-
giousl}- a.straj' in the same matter. The tnie
solution of these differences is the one already
indicated, that master mechanics are not al-
waj-s nuister book-keepers, and in the mtijority
of cases, lack the gwjd .seii.se to eniploj- eflicient
aid iu the translation of their accounts. Ignor¬
ance, particularly in trade callings, is a vice that
may be ranked next to disljouesty. A wilful ex¬
cess of estimate, like a wilful underestimate, may
often be traced through one of these vices to the
other.

AA'^e propo.se to straddle all these dilliciilties, and
try to elucidate our conception of this subject of
costs bj' presenting practical and reliable foi-mu-
las, embodying a simple aud complete antilysis of
tha building business, aud the actual i.-osts of con¬
struction in the case of three dift"erent types of
building. AA'e are indebted to a prominent active
builder for the information here presented, and
claim authority for it only as the transcript of
one man's experience, AA'e commend this system
of arranging accounts to all members of the craft
as likely to be serviceable to them in perfecting a
mercantile method of accounts. It presents a
ready rule for determining in advance the prob¬
able cost of any production, and will enable
the builder to intelligentlj^ distribute a given
total of expenditure through the different de¬
partments of work. After the completion of
a job, these tables, properly corrected and
revised, will afford trustworthy and accessi¬
ble data as a basis of future operations. They
will enable the builder also, to solve the import¬
ant problem of w-hether he is making or losing
money in a specific undertaking.

To the public at large, house buyers, lenders on
mortgage and appi-aisei-s, we present these formu¬
las as useful guides in estimating the value of
proi^rty. The skeleton headings maj- be employ¬
ed to elicit detailed information as to costs, or
they ctm be filled in out of the abundance of in¬
dividual know-ledge and experience. If an
amount in excess of cost is claimed, or if an
amount below the actual cost is asserted, the
proof in cither case can be easily ai-rived at by
attempting to distribute the entire sum through
the different items of wtjirk here given. Of the
figures arrayed in the subjoined lists, we assert
nothing more than that they represent the cost
of first-class w-ork recently executed. In each
respective ctise, the total of specified items may
be taken as the current expense of producing
a first-class dwelling of modern appointments
of the indicated dimensions. This total expense
woiUd vary with any alteration in size, tuiy mod¬
ification of work—but particularly with any
change of tho lot value.

We may be pardoned for taking an especial
pride in the presentation of these tables, as they
have involved the expenditure of considerable
time and labor in their preparation, and are, wo
believe, tbe first practical attempt at the dissec¬
tion of the costs of modem building. We shall
be happy to receive any criticism of their con¬
tents, .and our readers may expect to become
familiar with their outlines through futmre repro¬
ductions, when we expect to avail ourselves of