WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:04.320 So, how do we find the construction costs of common materials? 00:04.320 --> 00:09.600 RS means it's a cost publication that could be attained online or by purchasing a physical book. 00:09.600 --> 00:15.440 It's nationally recognized and it's used by more of the top ENR 400 companies around the nation 00:15.440 --> 00:21.760 that provides unit costs for just about anything you could conceive of in construction and also 00:21.760 --> 00:25.760 it's quantified to a point where there might be small quantities or large quantities that are 00:25.760 --> 00:29.760 used and the prices are adjusted accordingly. In other words, there's a lot of factors for the 00:30.560 --> 00:34.640 and basically the way they operate is they do surveys around the entire country where they 00:34.640 --> 00:40.880 identify costs directly with general contractors and subcontractors. RS means we'll take all of this 00:40.880 --> 00:45.280 into account and we'll provide accurate pricing data that is specific to different parts of the 00:45.280 --> 00:51.600 country to create the city cost index. The city cost index will define down to the city level 00:51.600 --> 00:57.520 how much projects should cost not only to the overall unit costs but also broken down into labor, 00:57.520 --> 01:03.200 material equipment and subcontractor pricing which is great because then you can have a project 01:03.200 --> 01:08.240 that you're building in Washington state and then also build the same project in Florida 01:08.240 --> 01:13.360 and see what the differences are on those costs. It could basically be affected by what materials 01:13.360 --> 01:19.680 were available in what parts of the country as well as weather conditions that sometimes affect 01:19.680 --> 01:25.280 the installation of the project or the product itself. So if you're in New York City and you're 01:25.280 --> 01:30.480 purchasing so many cubic yards of concrete for your foundations, it'll be one price in New York 01:30.480 --> 01:36.880 City. It'll be another price outside of the city. It'll be another price here in San Diego and that 01:36.880 --> 01:42.720 could be because of the labor to put it in. It could be because of natural costs to purchase it as 01:42.720 --> 01:49.280 well as the equipment to mix it and place it or all of them. So it's also a resource that is 01:49.280 --> 01:54.480 recognized by a lot of government institutions including the United States Department of Defense, 01:54.480 --> 02:00.880 the Navy, GSA, to where they recognize these costs and if you're going to provide pricing to 02:00.880 --> 02:06.320 the government on these projects, these construction projects, they recognize the published costs 02:06.320 --> 02:12.400 and therefore the price of your estimate or change order is quickly or more quickly recognized 02:12.400 --> 02:17.200 by the government agency that you're working with because everyone agrees to work off of that 02:17.200 --> 02:22.720 or as means published data. So you could say that it's somewhat of a standard in the industry, 02:22.720 --> 02:28.080 although it's not by any means the only resource to go to. Here's another one called Blue Book. 02:28.080 --> 02:34.400 So Blue Book is a subcontractor directory to find contractors in your area and the best way 02:34.400 --> 02:40.960 to find out more about Blue Book is to go online and go to the bluebook.com. It'll tell you how to get 02:40.960 --> 02:46.720 pricing at no cost from contractors. It has lists of contractors in your area. They have the best 02:46.720 --> 02:53.280 feel on the pulse of pricing in your area. So look them up. It's free data that's available and 02:53.280 --> 02:58.800 there's also publications that may be available as well. But check them out online. Holly recommended 02:58.800 --> 03:05.760 this is part of your day-to-day pricing resource. So that leads us into vendors and warehouse stores. 03:05.760 --> 03:10.720 So just like looking up a subcontract, you could also call up a vendor and find out what pricing 03:10.720 --> 03:16.000 might be on that. Warehouse stores is always a great resource. Go online, look up Home Depot or 03:16.000 --> 03:20.800 Lowe's. Home Depot probably has some of the better pricing for raw construction materials. 03:20.800 --> 03:25.360 And it's also important that when you look at these prices, make sure that you're looking at 03:25.360 --> 03:30.400 the price and the size that you need. So just thinking out a little bit, if you're looking up 03:30.400 --> 03:34.320 sheet rock, just don't get a square foot cost of sheet rock. You might look and see what's 03:34.320 --> 03:39.360 available in that area. Is it eight foot sheet rock? Do you have to buy it in 10 foot or 12 foot? 03:39.360 --> 03:45.040 So those might actually have various waste factors. We'll talk more about that as we get into some 03:45.040 --> 03:49.440 of the pricing. But those are some of the primary pricing resources that you'll come across and 03:49.440 --> 03:51.440 that you'll need to work with.