[StBernard] rebuilding costs

[Westley Annis]

The link to the New Orleans Home Builder's Association priciing 
guidelines is
http://www.home-builders.org/pdfs/Contractorjan2006sm.pdf

You will have to determine your own quantities and then plug in these 
prices if you are going to estimate yourself.

Home Depot has excellent calculators on their website for estimating 
your sheetrock, insulation, etc. quantities.

 From my experience, as well as my friends, there is a large difference 
in what you could spend restoring a house
to pre Katrina status. There are those who had water that did not reach 
the ceiling and those
that had it touch the ceiling and even into attics and second floors. 
There are those who
are only doing the bare essentials, and those replacing anything that 
water touched. There are those that
are taking the short term approach-fix it, live there a few years and 
sell it, and those that pray that they live there for
the rest of their lives without another Katrina flood.

Here are some examples of the range of repair approaches from most 
expensive and long term to least expensive and short term
 for a house with water to the ceiling or more:

Doors and windows-replace doors and windows and frames or keep
Wiring-remove all that got wet, or cut back wire from  the outlets and 
splice
HVAC-total replacement or salvage parts
Ductwork-total replacement or disinfect
Plumbing-total replacement or salvage the tubs, sinks, toilets
Countertops (not Formica) total replacement or salvage
Flooring (vinyl and ceramic) total replacement or keep

In my opinion, the long term, total replacement approach is in the $50 
per sq ft range andhigher if using a contractor
for everything, although I'm sure there will be those paying more and 
those paying less. A lot has to do with timing.
Labor was very high when Jeff Parish and Uptown N.O. was repairing. I 
hear that as those homeowners finish up,
contractors are willing to negotiate. However, when LRA money, buyouts, 
mitigataion, etc. money starts flowing
and people are forced to make a decision, there will be a tremendous 
demand for materials and labor in
Louisiana that will cause prices to rise. Several contractors have told 
me that this is the ideal time to repair-catch
the temporary slack in business if you can make your decision-whether 
it's to rebuild anywhere in LA or repair,
otherwise you will pay much more if you wait until Sept. 2006.

Deborah Keller