Four Factors That Could Affect Your Building Costs

Construction jobs vary considerably depending on where they're taking place, but there's one concern that home builders in Tennessee and across the nation all worry about: accurately pricing out a project and controlling building costs.  Materials are far from the only thing that can change the price tag on a building project, a lot of things could affect the price of project.  If you want to ensure that you stick to your budget and keep your clients happy, remember the factors that have the potential to affect your price tag:

Geographic Location

Climate and weather won't just affect a few on-site building days; they could end up adding some additional costs to your project.  Delayed construction because of weather, and materials damaged by the weather can tack on some additional costs to your project. 

Regulations

Some builders make the mistake of assuming that building requirements are generally the same all across the country, but building codes can vary drastically depending on the state, county, and even town that your construction project is in.  Building design and construction are affected by a variety of building codes and standards as well as planning, zoning, environmental protection, construction labor, and site safety laws and regulations.  Unmet regulations could cost you some hefty fines, and cost you some time and money on your project.

Workers

Some builders are fortunate enough to have a reliable and consistent crew to work on their projects, but the majority of builders need to hire new employees to work on a project.  New workers may not work as fast as you'd hope that they would, and their slow pace could end up extending your project and costing you more money.  And if you choose to hire unionized workers, you may have to pay your employees slightly more than you expected.

Site Condition

Maybe the bearing capacity of your soil is much less than you had hoped for, or perhaps you hit a large rock mass where you foundation is going, or your well has to be drilled deeper to hit quality water.  The condition of your site can affect the overall cost of your project significantly, and unfortunately many of these problems may not be discovered until you're well into your project.