At Ask Me Help Desk you can ask questions in any topic and have them
answered for free by our experts. To ask questions or participate in
answering them you must register for a free account. By registering you
will be able to:
Get free answers from experts in any of our 300+
topics.
what is the definition of 'take offs' with regards to a house plan?
what is the definition of 'take offs' with regards to a house plan? In other words, if you gave me take offs for my home design that you as an architect had made, what information would they have in them, how would you go about gathering the information for them, what info would you give to me as the 'take offs' information, and approx. how long might it take you to do the takes offs on a basic 1500 sq ft home? Several answers from several architects invited, as I'm wanting to be more sure I have a general consensus not just one person's opinion. THANKS!
I am not an architect but have done engineering work.
A take off in my experience is the process of determining how much of each material is needed to build the structure described in the plans. The product of the takeoff is a summarized list of the needed materials (1,000' 1/2 inch copper pipe, 300 sheets drywall etc). I am retired but I imagine that with software it can prob be done in less than an hour (?) today.
The term "take off" usually refers to estimating of a project. Typically it would be an itemized list of materials specified on the plans for your house to be constructed. The list will contain a description of the item and quantity In some cases a dollar value can be associated with each item. The items range from amount concrete required to build your foundation to the amount of paint. As far as time, that will depend experience level and if software can be used. I personally can't see a 1500 sf house taking that long to complete however.
When my firm does take-offs we typically use a unit cost that accounts for installation not just the raw material. For example, you can buy a 2x4 for a few dollars at Home Depot, but to have a carpenter to actually install it, etc. it costs a lot more.
Also, we typically will have a summary sheet with our take-offs that take the numerous individual items and group them into more understandable chunks - this makes it easier to modify the design if things come in over budget. So for your house you may see an overall number for foundation or roof values. If you don't have a summary sheet it can often be difficult to sort through all the various line items and be difficult to track each component to the building.
Finally you should be sure to have your architect account for General Contractor mark-ups in the take-off. Depending on the market this could be around 17% or more of the value of your building. This mark-up will account for his profit, sub trades costs, etc.
If you have all of these tools at your disposal prior to bidding the work to a contractor, you will have a much easier time discerning fair bids and have more leverage when negotiating prices.
I have done an estimate/take-offs for very large projects which include numerous buildings over several acres in a day, so I would think a home of only 1500 sf would take about an hour or so...
so, if my architect gives me a list that consists solely of dollar figures across from categories such as 'carpeting' or 'windows' or 'roofing' and tells me he spent 13.3 hours on it at $80/hr should I be suspicious? (rhetorical question!) Where could I go to get an 'official' statement that would match the answers I've gotten here from you guys who are more or less 'anonymous' unverifiable sources?
without knowing any of the details surrounding your specific circumstances, it would be difficult for me to say with any certainty that your architect is being dishonest. It is possible that your architect would have spent that much time on your take-offs if there was a lot of product research involved, or something like that - i.e. research for numerous types of flooring or windows, etc. However, in my opinion 13.3 hours seems excessive.
I don't know that there is an "official" statement that would discribe what you have recieved. I can only suggest you check any contract, etc. you may have with your architect. There could be areas in the contract which describe billable hours, or describe the scope of services for various aspects of the design process. Make sure your architect is doing what they said they would be doing.
My suggestion would be to ask for proof of the 13.3 hours of work - i.e. sketches or research materials.
The response i gave you was strictly based on my professional experience and does not necessarily represent every practicing architect out there. I will say, however, that what i did describe is not uncommon and is not specific to my firm.
Like I said, without any knowledge of your situation, it would be wrong for me to say your architect is over billing you, but it does sound a bit fishy.
In my experience take-offs are done by a Contractor not an Architect. Hard to say how long it would take. Is this something you requested him to do for you?
you're right that contractors can and will perform take-offs. They will usually do this in order to create their bid propsals. However, it is very common for an architect to also perform this task prior to issuing construction documents to bidders, that way the client (in this case wallabee4) is able to compare apples to apples. it is also a tool to keep the project on budget - which is a large portion of any architect's responsibillities.
yes, I agree you and your posts. We usually compare similar projects SF cost to get an idea of what the client can expect rather than do material take-offs. Finishes are what really put most projects over-budget, the basic building materials are what they are. The only way to reduce costs there would be to reduce the size of the building and that is not possible sometimes when a client needs a specified amount of square footage.
I pondered this question for awhile, thanks for the discussion.
right that contractors can and will perform take-offs. They will usually do this in order to create their bid propsals. However, it is very common for an architect to also perform this task prior to issuing construction documents to bidders, that way the client (in this case wallabee4) is able to compare apples to apples. it is also a tool to keep the pr test
Linear Mode
