How to Determine the Cost of a Sunroom
Your handy dandy computer can help
Any contractor can determine the cost of a sunroom for you, but before you go ahead and thumb through the Yellow Pages, it's a good idea to try and work it out for yourself as much as possible. The more you arm yourself with information, the better equipped you are to negotiate on estimates and to know if you're onto a good deal or not. Determining the cost of a sunroom can be a basic or a complex exercise, depending on the level to which you want to take your costings. If you just want a reasonable idea of the total price for budgeting purposes, then the major items such as the main materials plus several days of labor will have to be considered. But if you're keen to get down to the nitty gritty, be prepared for a more intense project.
Spreadsheets can be your best friend when determining the cost of a sunroom. With all their clever formulae and wonderful functionality, you can come up with figures for different categories such as cost and freight of materials, labor expenses, planning fees, architectural fees and more, and then add them up to a sum total, all without a handy dandy calculator. Otherwise, grab a ruler, a pencil, a measuring tape and lots of brochures and price lists and start toiling.
Now, as for what you need to take into account, well that depends on many things.
What kind of sunroom will you be building?
There are seasonal sunrooms that use single pane glass windows and screens and which are constructed to full height or knee-height. Or you might like the 'bringing the outdoors in' appeal of a solarium or conservatory. With full length glass walls and ceiling, you get to feel like you're outdoors but enjoy the protection of the glass barrier from the elements. Screened patios are another option. Each type of sunroom will have its own set of costs dependant on the kinds of materials used and the amount of work that goes into erecting them.
Size
This is where your tape measure will come in very handy. When determining the cost of a sunroom, one of the fundamental pieces of information you need is the size. Doubling the size often means doubling the costs of wood, glass, screening and so on. A particularly high sunroom will cost more than one that is standard ceiling height.
Structure types
Your sunroom will likely be built out of either wood, aluminum, vinyl/PVC or clad. Naturally you'll want the new addition to blend seamlessly with your existing house so that might help you decide on the kind of structure you build. Then you can price around various retailers to find out the different brands, any new products that are available and who offers the most competitive prices.
Even the glass used in your sunroom can make or break your budget. From single or double glazed to textured, tinted or triple-paned, it all needs to be figured in when you're determining the cost of a sunroom. You can save yourself a lot of money by building your own using a kit form. Costing as low as $2,000 and skyrocketing beyond $20,000, you can choose a kit to fit your budget. Kits come with instructional DVD's, instructions and everything you need to build the sunroom and can be just the thing for avoiding budget blowouts.
with sunroom kits. Building a sunroom out of kit is base on preference and the willingness to do-it-oneself.