Square feet cost of a building

There is a general mistaken notion that there is something called square feet cost for construction of a building irrespective of location, site conditions, soil conditions, difference in design and input costs.
No professional can predict cost of any building simply on square feet basis.
We have to first prepare a plan of the proposed building.
Prepare an Engineering estimate for the proposed building after considering site and soil conditions, based on structural design of the building to be prepared by a qualified structural consultant.
Only after these steps an approximate figure of costing can be arrived at.
Without even preparing a plan, only non professional contractors can talk of square feet cost.No such contractor has ever completed construction of any house within that promised cost except in cases where he has kept the figures comfortably high thereby extracting a bigger margin. Otherwise he will compromise on quality standards and input material and labour.
Only after preparing the plan we will know the exact area of the house to be built.Square feet area is not directly proportional to the cost.It is only one of the several factors contributing to cost of building
Engineering estimate is not based on square feet plinth area of a building. It is based on quantity of each item of construction like brick work, concrete, plastering etc.To make it more clear to you, 20 feet by 20 feet hall is of 400 sft in the carpet area. It will be about 500 sft in Plinth area. In the same square feet area, if you build two rooms, cost will be high as the material and work input changes. Square feet plinth area is not the deciding factor for cost. If you have larger rooms, cost per square feet decreases and if you have smaller rooms, cost per square feet increases. A person who has taken up construction of the house simply based on square feet plinth area as basis of costing will find it difficult to follow instructions of structural consultant to use steel reinforcement as designed by him for all concrete components of the building. Similarly he will find it difficult to comply with demands of the Architect for the building as per architectural detailed design to be developed by the Architect.
After the structure work is finished we will have better picture on the finishing works for the house.For items like Electrical, Plumbing, Flooring, Painting usual contractors talk of certain type of material as their standard and for anything better extra charges will be applicable .
Initially data will be available only for the structure work. That too only after finalisation of the Basic Plan.At this stage, without even preparing a Basic Plan, we will not have any data to predict cost of a building.Non professional contractors give some figures and try to adjust on quality of construction to obtain profit within the price quoted, in cases where client insists on paying only based on plinth area costing. Otherwise he will go on demanding extra charges and rate revision due to price escalation and “special and extra works”.
Major cost saving and better utility of the house is obtained from proper design of the house. A good experienced Architect can provide you the following at the design stage itself and a well designed plan can save you substantial amount of money and proper utility for every inch of your building.
1. Utilization of available space of building in the most appropriate manner without any wastage.
2. Modern architectural design.
3. Proper ventilation for each room and scientific placing of rooms and other areas to get maximum utility and better appearance.
4. Compliance to Vasthu principles.
5. Multi dimensional elevation, giving you bigger appearance from outside and attractive views from different sides.
6. Cost effective design which reduces cost without compromising on quality.
7. Complete professional structural, architectural design and interior and landscape design.
If you go for cheaper designs, such designs can be extremely costly during construction and you will have to live with inconveniences and sacrifice many advantages you could have obtained with a professional design.
While designing your building you should not simply go to a personally known architect or even a relative. You should go to a better professional even if his charges are a bit high. May be by charging you high he can save you many lakhs of rupees by proper design and remember that an improper design cannot be wished away after construction. You simply will have to suffer it for the sake of a few rupees saved towards design charges