What Will My Office Cost?

We all want to know “what’s it going to cost?” You may have built an office before, or you know of others who have. Are your experience and/or the experience of others really a good barometer of what this project is going to cost? Well, yes and no.

“Yes,” in the sense that it can give you a good rule of thumb. But the answer is “No” if you don’t fully explore all of the variables that are going to make up the total cost. Let’s consider an example:

Say you want to build a log cabin in the mountains. On one hand you might want a real show place, or, on the other hand, you might just want a simple place to escape - just the basics.

In the show place, you’re going to want nothing but the best: ceramic tile, high-end carpet, granite countertops, a real stone fireplace, top-of-the-line kitchen appliances, crown molding throughout, and high-end paint finishes. Lots of high-end materials and money is not an issue.

In the just-the-basics place, you just want a fireplace and running water because it’s just going to be a place to escape and you want to make sure you can cook, sleep and go to the bathroom. There is nothing but the basics and everything has to fit into a tight budget.

Two wildly different costs - and yet the same place: a cabin in the mountains. So, what’s it going to cost? Here’s the answer. There are three variables in the scope of your project and of the three, you get to decide on two of them. Your Design/Build Team gets to decide on the third. The three variables are

• Materials
• Size
• Investment

To explain: If you want a 5,000 square-foot office and have $400,000 to spend, your Design/Build Team will tell you what materials can be used. If you want the finest materials and have $400,000 to spend, your Design/Build Team will tell you how large your office will be. If you want the finest materials and still need the 5,000 sq. ft., then your Design/Build Team will tell you how much your investment will be.

So now when your associates tell you their office cost $400,000 (or even worse, they say it cost them “x”dollars per square foot), you can now ask them some things that might help you determine what to expect yours to cost. The bottom line here is that you shouldn’t get caught up in the hearsay and hype. Your Design/Build Team can help you determine your budget so you’ll have a reasonable figure to plan on and take to your bank.

The DSKW Team