I'm in the rough stages of getting everything together and I hit a number I feel may be a bit shy of actual. 

Total cost per yard for ICF construction.  Foundation, walls, labor and material.  I was wondering if anyone had ballpark numbers, as the designer I'm working with figured $300/yard in total cost for any and all ICF.  Is that high/low? 

We have an estimated 71 yards of concrete going into our subgrade, footing and 1st floor.  We are going with ARXX and my foundation is about as easy as it gets.  4 main corners and an entry that carries 4 corners.  8, 90 degree corners and nothing more except 3 doors (1 french) 3 windows with about 30 sq ft in the office and a pretty big wall of windows at the front of the house, that will need to be engineered.

Any thoughts or ideas would be great. 

EDIT:  YES, this is unconventional, but I was given 2 quick figures and am using them for this discussion.

Cost per yard of what? Concrete?

ICF wall costs are generally figured based on square feet of wall area. The cost is highly dependent on your local labor rates and to a lesser extent on concrete costs in your area. Where are you located?

It cost me ~$6/sq ft for my ICF walls, but I did all of the labor myself except for additional help on the day of the pour. Generally, what I have seen posted on here in the past is somewhere around $15/sq ft of wall area for a turn key ICF wall installation.

Another thing to consider.

If you are trying to calculate costs based on the volume of concrete, then you neglect the extra labor and material costs for the window and door bucks. It takes quit a bit more labor to install a window or door buck than to just run ICF through that location. The small savings in concrete in that area likely won't make up for the additional labor and material costs to install that window or door buck.

uw91,

$300 per yard does not really make sense.   He might have meant $300 per square yard but that still over $30 per square foot and that doesn't work either.   Neglecting your footer (which will use some of your yardage) and openings (which will return some of your yardage) if you are using 71 yards and have 8" concrete core you'll have about 2,800 square feet of ICF.  You really need to look at as cost per square foot.     Your magic numbers for yardage for 4", 6", 8", 10", 12" are 81, 54, 40.5, 32.5 and 27.    If you forget these numbers you can always get back to 3x3x3 = 27.   Regards.

 

I would consider not working with a designer that measures cost in $ per yard.

@jonr, he just provided the number because it was an easy figure to toss out. If I had a home built and was aware of how much the icf portion was, including foundation and everything.... and knew the amount of concrete that went into it, it should be a simple unorthodox calculation.

No worries, just hoped that someone may know the total cost of just their icf and how much concrete they put in.

I just poured 1st floor. I spend 50$/yr2. I have 1 more slab and two level of walls. I guess shell will be completed at 80$/yr2. If things does not go south, My budget is 130$/yr2. I am installing forms and slab pans myself. I just hire someone to pour concrete.

Forms are most expensive part, then slab pans, concrete is third, and the cheapest part is rebar.

he just provided the number because it was an easy figure to toss out.

Having done ICF calculations before, I am still uncertain as to why quoting in "yards" was an easy figure to toss out.

jonr is correct there is no making sense of this number. What is the core size of the ICF? I did provide the basic magic numbers above. For example with a 6 inch core concrete you take your total wall square footage less openings and divide by 54 and that's how many yards you'll need.

Regular wall and floor pours are quote by yards of concrete

Price per square foot would make more sense. That can vary depending on the thickness of the concrete being poured. You also have to take into account all the window penetrations.

Smartwall, You might want to check the original post. Labor and materials for ICF construction quoted by $/yard of concrete. Sorry, but after being involved in hundreds of pours this is a first for me.

@TexasICF, it was a 'shoot from the hip' number as he hadn't busted out all calculations... just yards of crete required and an expected cost, so this is my question. I understand it is an unconventional number, but if someone has an actual idea and possibly has more input than a snarky 'don't use that designer', I'd like to hear it.

As for me, I'd expect to know how much I spend total on all that is ICF on my home. I will also know how many yards of concrete I used when completed. And when someone asks a random off the wall question, I should be able to answer that equation even if it is crazy. I'm sure my designer can put together all the numbers for me, but I wanted to post a question here to get some ideas. However, it seems I should have passed.

Posted By jonr on 29 Jul 2012 10:15 AM
I would consider not working with a designer that measures cost in $ per yard.

Top notch.

Uw91, okay what is your square feet of ICF walls? Forget windows and doors for now just linear feet of walls height.
And what wall thickness are you using ( concrete core size - 4,6,8,10, or 12 inches?

Texas, they may do things different down there but up here in upstate NY the form guys price jobs by the yard of concrete poured. I agree with you that it doesn't work well for icf's. Pricing by sq.ft is the only way to do icf's

Posted By smartwall on 31 Jul 2012 09:55 AM
Texas, they may do things different down there but up here in upstate NY the form guys price jobs by the yard of concrete poured. I agree with you that it doesn't work well for icf's. Pricing by sq.ft is the only way to do icf's

Pricing by yards of concrete seems to complicate things more than needs to be with ICF. I guess New York and the Southwest are different in more ways than originally thought.

I haven't built yet, but my bids have come in at ~$13/ft2 of wall area for a slab on grade single story using 6 in. core block (price does not include slab or integrated thickened edge footings). This includes a 7.5% tax and it's a slightly irregular shape, with quite a few windows/doors, and some higher than average walls in some portions (13'6").

My estimate was 47 yd3 of concrete, so by that approach, the total cost would be $580 per yd3 of concrete.

Posted By snoslidr74 on 01 Aug 2012 09:43 AM
I haven't built yet, but my bids have come in at ~$13/ft2 of wall area for a slab on grade single story using 6 in. core block (price does not include slab or integrated thickened edge footings). This includes a 7.5% tax and it's a slightly irregular shape, with quite a few windows/doors, and some higher than average walls in some portions (13'6").

My estimate was 47 yd3 of concrete, so by that approach, the total cost would be $580 per yd3 of concrete.

THANK YOU!!!!!  I really appreciate you converting the numbers over.

TexasICF, I'll try and pull that info off my plans. I know my home is a perfect square 40'x40' with an entry recessed by 5'.  9' ceilings and doing sub-grade ICF to the footing, slab on grade.  8 90s, with no other corners.  ARXX blocks.  Take out 200 sq/ft of windows/doors.    6" core.  We are doing the 1st floor ICF and 2nd floor 2x8 stick.

I believe these calculations are correct.  Again, I'm new to this.

Okay I don't know how far down your footer is so I will ignore the ICF below grade. You have 170 linear feet with a 9 feet tall plate. So you have 1530 gross square feet. After taking out openings you have 1330 net sqft. Using the 6" core magic number of 54 you will need 1330/54 or 25 yards of concrete.

Here in Texas this job would run about $15-18 K.