10 Story Condo Foundation Cost?

[jasonmm]

I have recieved the estimate for a foundation design of a 10-story concrete condo. The soil conditions are sand and it is an auger-cast pile foundation. My question really has to do with a general price per sq. ft. of building for the foundation. The cost estimate we have is running at $7.2/sq. ft. (total building) and $72/sq. ft. (building footprint). Is this high?

 

[JStephen]

It might help to indicate where the building is at. Construction costs vary across the country or around the world.

 

[jasonmm]

The condo will be located in Florida.

 

[Lutfi]

Man let me tell you, my firm does not do any condo work. Sorry. Doing condo work is high risk, cost and schedule driven by the developer who will ask the engineers to accommodate them in all ways while they take minimum risk.

There are SE out there who will design condos for cents per square foot. Trust me, I would not do the CAD work for the cheap of a price.

My already high professional liability insurance would be a whole lot more if we do condo because the continuous litigations. Besides developers, you have residence/owner association that have too much at their time and they will report, litigate and complain about any problem no matter how insignificant it is. I also regret that there are engineers and lawyers who make a living by going after engineers who have insurance.

Several tips/advices to you:

1.Do not do it unless you have to.
2.See if the developer will let you do the work without professional liability. This way they will not come after you.
3.If you must do it, do it right and get the proper fee.

As you can see, my comments reflect my sentiment about the sad affair of structural design of condos.