We are getting prices for building a house in a small community. The house is a 2000 foot rancher with a four foot crawl. One kitchen, 2.5 baths, one great room and three bedrooms with attached garage
I am wondering if there is a rule of thumb for making rough estimates for electrical, plumbing, and heating based on square footage.

For example: I was told that electical is between 7 - 10 dollars a square foot approx.

Is anyone aware of any such guidelines to help consumers?

So much depends on the specifications for the various subcontracts. For example, if electric heat is specified, the costs of a boiler and a chimney are not necessary, and those might be $5,000 to $6,000, amounting to $2.50 to $3.00 per square foot on a 2,000-square-foot house. A house is made up of lots of small items. If any single item is specified as even the next thing above minimum, the impact on cost per square foot can be large. Suppose you wanted hardwood floors in 1500 of the 2000 square feet...that adds $15,000, or $7.50 a square foot on a 2,000-square-foot house. It doesn't take too many such decisions to blow a budget all out of proportion. The same is true for plumbing, heating and electrical. You could spend $1,000 just on gold-plated faucets, for example. That's fifty cents a square foot just for faucets. A $1,000 chandeliere in the dining room? Fifty cents a square foot right there.

Can you see why rules-of-thumb can be almost useless?

At this time the cost estimates we have asked for are only for installing the pipes for plumbing (no fixtures), ducts for heating and wires run for electricity. None of the hardware (faucets, lights fixtures) will be installed. The house plan is not "fancy" - it is simple and clean. I have never needed to price out building costs before - so I was shocked to learn that a "ball park" figure was $10,000.00 electrical for 2000 square foot home - completed in a week!!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Melissa,

$10,000 is probably the number I would give you too, as a ballpark of course. You obviously seemed shocked at that number. Keep in mind that this includes all materials too. You have some pretty spendy items with electrical work, such as panels, subpanels, possibly trenching, all wiring, boxes, switches, etc etc. You said that all this for work completed in a week, Well 4 guys working all week at your place will probably eat about $6400 in labor alone, $10,000 is not a bad ballpark number for your house.