Thank you. Given the $100K budget estimate for finishes, I wonder if their definition is indeed broader...

How did they come up with $100K as opposed to, say, $200K? Did you describe what types of finishes you would like in the house?

A few years ago (when folks were not so busy) a couple of contractors were willing to share with me some general cost breakdowns on houses they they were building or had recently built. That helped a lot.

[edited: unfortunately, using JDS' categories and if they are including labor for the drywall, tile, flooring and paint you very well could be looking at $100K for those alone]

Good luck!

@Oaktown, not sure how they came up with that number, but am sure it was meant to cover materials only - not labor. Will try to get a breakdown, indeed.

It would be impossible for them to estimate the cost of materials or to separate it from labor since they don't know what you want. These numbers are obviously just ball park guesses based on what other people have selected.

If you want a more reliable estimate you need to eliminate guessing as much as possible on their part and on your part as well.

"Ballpark budgets" are worth exactly what you paid for them. Good luck with your project.

100K for ''finishes'' is eaten up in 5 minutes in a 2M build.. Just Flooring, millwork, and cabinets will be double that number and you haven't even talked paint or tile for the baths. Much less shell items that greatly impact pricing such as siding, windows and roofing. Again, easily above 100K for those as well.

If you're thinking of a 100K finishes budget, then you probably won't be building in that location at all. Building is much more expensive than buying existing there.

@Virgil Not sure if "good luck" was meant to be sarcastic... FWIW I am not relying on a ballpark budget to guide the entire project but rather to establish some sort of range financially. Of course I would much rather prefer a detailed, specific estimate, but in my very modest experience good (= busy) GCs are not inclined to produce detailed estimates early in the process - before architectural plans are produced or the project is a definite go. On the other hand, as a prospective albeit inexperienced customer, I need some way of determining whether building is feasible at all. Hence "ballpark". Can you suggest a better approach?

Dukehoops, not being sarcastic at all. I practiced architecture in Palo Alto and San Francisco for over 17 years, before moving on in my career, so I understand your situation and location. The fact of the matter, however, is no one will know what it costs to build until they have a final set of construction drawings and specifications to be used for bidding and a construction contract. If you need to know a realistic cost range before this, look at existing houses which fit your needs and wants in your area and add at least 30%-40% to those costs, assuming your site is similar and you can live with the level of quality of those existing houses. Good luck on your project.

There are enough teardown/new build custom spec houses around that you also should be able to ballpark the cost of a new home the size you are considering, on the type of property (hills? flat?) you are considering. Good to get builder guesstimates, even better if they're coming in the same range. What a couple of builders were willing to share with/show me was a 1 page summary excel spreadsheet with general cost categories like the ones JDS listed, used on actual projects, with the numbers filled out.

What you are hearing here is that its not really feasible to break down a ball park estimate to make it more useful to you. It is simply a guide of limited use. The next step involves making more decisions about your project and documenting them in writing or sketches. If you are not experienced with doing that, it would be wise to find someone to help you.

An alternative to the guessing approach is to hire a contractor as a consultant to continually price your design as it evolves (in a spreadsheet using trade categories) and to offer advice. When the documents are completed the consultant contractor would have been paid for his time and would be included in the bidders list. Often the consultant contractor's fee would be credited to his compensation if he is chosen as the contractor for the project.

If the OP is just trying to confirm that the project is financially feasible before starting to incur design fees, I think this approach works (admittedly this is what we did too). For example, if I were the OP and consistently hearing a range of, say $1M-$1.3M, I would want to plan for the top of the range, +15% for soft costs, +a cushion.

Folks, thanks very much for your replies thus far. Although question of overall project costs is indeed on my mind, the purpose of this thread is really to define which materials constitute 'finishes'. Everything else I mentioned is merely for context, since I was guessing that there may not be a single definition and thought providing that context would focus responses.

In our build "finishes" included cabinetry as well, YMMV.

Floors, tiles, countertops, stone, cabinets, light fixtures (not electrical), plumbing fixtures (not plumbing lines), exterior / interior masonry, interior millwork beyond standard door casings all were finishes...

Oh ok. When I spoke with builders about "finishes" at the very preliminary stages, it was more about them trying to assess the desired overall quality/"fanciness" level of the house. Builder-grade vs. mid-level vs. high-end. E.g., Carpet or wood? Lots of built-ins? Fancy cabinets or standard? Expensive tile or complicated setting that would need extra labor? What type of interior doors/trim? Fancy faucets? Pro-style appliances? You can easily add upwards of $100K just by changing a few things.

So, I would hear something like "we just did a spec house for about $x, but add another $y because you will want nicer finishes."

Here's the common outline specification format for standard categories for finishes, specialties, and equipment (it does not include finish carpentry, architectural woodwork, windows, doors and frames, furnishings, window treatment, plumbing, electrical, signal or HVAC). The numbers simply represent the common numbering system for these items in the Masterformat architectural specifications:

090000 Finishes

090600 Schedules for
Finishes

092000 Plaster and
Gypsum Board

093000 Tiling

095000 Ceilings

096000 Flooring

09700 Wall Finishes

099000 Painting and
Coating

100000 Specialties

100600 Schedules for
Specialties

102800 Toilet, Bath
and Laundry Accessories

10300 Fireplaces and
Stoves

110000 Equipment

110600 Schedules for
Equipment

113000 Residential
Equipment

113113 Residential
Kitchen Appliances

113123
Residential Laundry Applicances

In the US there is a well established construction industry that uses standards published by organizations dedicated to standardizing the definitions of construction work and the organization of construction information by trade. Without this service sub contractors would not be able to be sure of their responsibilities on a project and you as the owner would not know what you are paying for making a construction difficult or impossible to enforce.

Architect's and engineers are taught to use the CSI (Construction Specifications Institute) standard work categories (or some abbreviated variation of them) to organize design and construction information of all kinds like filing systems, estimates, budgets, bidding/construction documents, etc. It not only allows easy retrieval of specific information in the design phase, it allows sub contractors to easily find what their work entails during the bidding and construction phases and allows effective resolution of construction disputes.

Unfortunately, builders who design single-family houses for their customers rarely use such standards, preferring instead to use their own individual definitions and categories. Usually these categories are based on a list of "features" like you might find in a sales brochure. This allows the builder and owner to agree on features of the purchase but it would bear little resemblance to what should be used for estimating or for bid documents.

So, when you ask about a contractor's definition of "Finishes", you must tell us if you are talking about construction information or sales information. The latter has no standards and virtually anything that is visible in the finished work might be considered a "Finish". The term "Finishes" could then be though of as contractor jargon for "Finished Work".

But if you are talking about a work breakdown for an estimate, to be effective and accurate it would need to limit "Finishes" to trade categories like the ones established by CSI in Division 9 and posted above by design professionals.

Therefore, it would be impossible to know, and pointless to guess, whether or not a builder might have included light fixtures or cabinetry in a list of "Finishes". To find out you must ask the builder to clarify his statement.