Location, location, location!
Location is very important when choosing a home, selecting where to open a coffee shop, the best spot to build a new office building and where to develop a new farm.
When it comes to determining structure replacement costs it is equally important. The location impacts the availability of builders, labor and materials. Local conditions affect how easy or difficult the rebuild can be. Is the area crowded with other structures, limited parking? Does the builder need to contend with nearby water such as the ocean, rivers, bays, etc.? Is the structure a distance from supplies and builders?
While national averages of the cost to rebuild a structure may be helpful as a rough guide, until the specifics of the structural materials and location are reviewed the replacement cost is just a rough guess. Even reviewing average costs in a 3-digit zip code may be too broad. Some 3-digit zip codes contain areas of lower and higher cost, different environments, and varying availability of builders. Costs can vary significantly even within that zip code area. While a 5-digit zip code narrows the physical area, there may be other factors adjacent to the property that need to be taken into account in the rebuilding costs.
The International Risk Management Institute, Inc (IRMI), explains how both regional, state and local differences can affect the replacement cost of a property. They compare the differences between California environments and requirements versus the Appalachian region’s rural and less populated area. High demand for construction, requirements for higher quality materials and earthquake resistance are only some of the issues affecting California construction costs. The hilly rural nature of Appalachia, the lower levels of available labor, and limited utilities can affect rebuilding costs.
Regardless of where the building is located, e2Value keeps up with changes in costs to provide fast, cost-effective and accurate replacement cost valuations. We work from the Florida Keys to the Arctic Circle, Newfoundland to Alaska. We value structures ranging from Park Model manufactured homes, regular manufactured homes, log cabins, cottages on a lake, suburban homes, the world’s most luxurious and famous homes, retail office space, barns, silos and even scales in a grain bin. Contact us for more information about our estimator tools.