91AggieLawyer said:
ABATTBQ11 said:
Cactus Jack said:
How could those "houses" cost so much money?
Contractors and politicians are getting paid under the table. Probably a lot of people.
The price is inclusive of all associated infrastructure as well. Water, sewer, electricity, probably a lot of site grading and site work, apparently some roads, etc. It's not just for the shed, but the shed and everything around and under it and the cost of engineering it all. California also costs a lot more to do anything because labor is expensive AF.
The thing is, the ultimate cost isn't that surprising when they're doing it this way. Think of a developer coming in and building a suburb. They do a lot more than simply put a house on a lot. They often regrade the land, build streets, add in storm sewer, add in sanitary sewer, water mains, electrical lines, gas lines, etc. You pay for all of that in the cost of the home even if you just buy the house as the lot.
Yeah, but there are probably close to a thousand sheds on each acre -- or at least, something near that ratio. So all those costs you speak of may be real but are spread out among a LOT of these things. Even at 150 sheds per acre, that's almost 20 million dollars for all those sheds. You can't tell me that all the costs you're speaking of come anywhere close to that, especially since there is already water, sewage, electricity, etc. next door or down the street. They aren't putting these things in an unincorporated area without utilities, even if such a place existed in non-remote LA County.
I get what you mean, but 130 is still hundreds of times what they should cost, even in California.
An acre is 43,560 sf. 1000 8x8 units is 64k sf. You could pack these in wall to wall and still get nowhere near 1000 per acre. Beyond that, there are requirements on building spacing that mean you can't just pack them in. An 8x8 structure could easily have a 13x13 or more footprint when you include building offsets. Then there's necessary easements for utilities, walkways, parking, etc, so you might want to sharpen your pencil and rethink that, "there are probably close to a thousand sheds on each acre -- or at least, something near that ratio," thing because you're off by an order of magnitude.
But then again, it's only spelled out in the article that there are 50 units in this particular project. You don't even need to pull numbers out of your ***. The cost for the entire project is listed too ($5.2 million). It also lists the other things like bathrooms and showers, a staff administrative area, and an eating area that are lumped into the project cost and divided amongst the units top arrive at $130k per.
You obviously don't know what any of this entails. Just because city utilities are near doesn't mean that the site itself does not need to be prepped. Storm runoff has to be accounted for, which means they're likely grading the site. They'll probably have to put down base and compact it since they're putting concrete pads under each of these. Then there's the cost of the slabs. They have to run sanitary, water, and electricity to the aforementioned admin area, bathrooms, showers, and eating area. They're probably wiring each of these structures and running electricity across the entire site. I also wouldn't be shocked if they were putting in site lighting. Then you still have to connect to the utilities. If they're under the street and you have to connect to tap into them, it's not like running power from the pole on the corner or connecting your house to the water meter. Then there's the engineering fees. This isn't being done for free.
But hey, WTF do I know? It's not like they've have a breakdown or anything...
OH WAIT...
Quote:
A breakdown provided by the Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering shows that the contract provides $1.5 million just to prepare the site.
It also includes $122,000 for underground utilities, $253,000 for concrete pads (one for each shelter), $312,000 for an administrative office and staff restroom, $1.1 million for mechanical, electrical and fire alarms and $280,000 for permits and fees.
Additionally, the city has budgeted $651,000 to connect to the street sewer line and $546,000 in design, project management and inspection costs.
It's almost like that site work and utilities takes up the entire budget.
