Tricks Of The Trade: Per Square Foot Costs For Renovations

By B. Kevin Folsom, CEP
Published in the April 2014 issue of Today’s Facility Manager

QI am looking for a formula to use as a general guideline for the renovation of an existing office (general Class A space). I have been tasked with putting together a budget for our locations in the U.S. and Latin America.

Is there a formula that can be used to determine the per square foot cost—and hopefully one broken down by category (e.g., carpet, paint, furniture, lighting, HVAC). I realize this is a very broad subject but am looking for a starting point.

David Hulick
Americas Facility Manager
Global Business Operations
Comverse

Folsom
All questions to Folsom have been submitted via the “Ask The Expert” link.

A Ultimately, due to this task covering many geographical areas, domestic and international, you would have to refer to something like RS Means or Whitestone.

Another possible resource would be IFMA; you can find out if they have general industry metrics that you can use. Also, ask a general contractor for a schedule of values on a recent construction project. These have the breakdowns you are looking for.