I'm in the schematic design stage on a two story, very simple addition to a public high school. We're looking at CMU back up walls painted on the interior with a brick veneer and XPS cavity insulation - very standard.  I'd like to make a push for ICFs with a brick veneer and interior drywall finish. Any contractractors out there who can give me some real budget information? Or suppliers who can give me some accurate material costs? I don't need a hard quote, as this project will be publicly bid, but I do need some realistic costs on material and preferrably a good idea as to manhours to erect and pour. I see this as a job where a GC would high an ICF specialty contractor to as a sub to do the ICF work (at prevailing wage, of course). To my knowledge, there are no ICF public schools in MA so the Mass School Building Authority is watching this project as a bit of a test case.

Please, I don't need to be sold on ICF's so no long dissertations about the virtues of ICF's are needed.  What I DO need is some REAL pricing info I can take to the Owner and the MSBA and make the statement "CMU back up will cost you X and ICF's will cost you Y". At that point I can begin to make all the other cases for one system over the other.

Project is two stories. First floor will be SoG, second and roof will be concrete plank. Overall the addition is about 15,330 SF with approximately 6,300 SF of exterior back up wall (net area excluding openingsn not gross). The plan is a "box" - actually a three sided boix as it is an extension of a typicla high school wing (double loaded corridor) - no extra corners or curves etc.

I'd be happy to meet with someone knowledgable in the greater Boston area. Project is on the North Shore.

Thanks!!

For budget purpose I would calculate with $14 per SF of wall surface for a 6" concrete core ICF block. Do NOT subtract for window/door openings. Take outside wall dimensions, not inside.

I agree with Marc. Please feel free to message me offline for additional information. We have a project beginning shortly in Western MA.

I think your going to find that number too low based on the prevailing wage factor. You have 6 different categories on prevailing wage, Block Layer/stacker, rebar, concrete finisher, forklift operator, scaffold erector, and unloading the trucks (laborer).

If you want to be lazy and have everyone under the top wage (Which I think is rebar) you may hit $ 22.00 per sq.ft. depending on your local rates. Based on that, if the estimator is good at his job, you could get it down to $ 17.00 per sq.ft.

When used for US Federal Government projects with Davis/Bacon wage rules, Polycrete projects generally come it at $12 - $15 per sqft of wall.
http://www.pr.com/press-release/373104

There are several schools here in Kentucky and in Tennessee that are being built with ICFs.
In fact, I think KY Dept. of Education now requires all new construction to be ICF.
You might check with them. Also, I know that several different brands have been used. You might check with local distributors about costs.

Article on ICF vs. CMU that might be of value to you.  http://www.icfmag.com/articles/feat...r_cmu.html

also there's another thread here called "Help me understand ICF vs. CMU".   Regards.

MA appears to be $ 53.00 +/- per hour for prevailing wage

Assuming concrete costs are $ 125.00/yd, rebar $ 700.00/ton, block $4.00/sq.ft. Pump $185.00/hr, You will be over $ 17.00 per sq.ft. all in....or more depending on other factors such as wall height and type of scaffolding, connection details, etc. The scope of work needs to be clear and concise.

Some manufacturer is going to chase you with block for a lower price...so you can get the price down somewhat, but many many factors need to be reviewed prior to getting a final number.

A commercial project of that size you can figure 6" block at $14.75 plus delivery from a molder in Mass 8" would be $15.05 plus shipping which given the location should not be too bad