Mrs Tolstoy and her husband Serve are planning their dream h

Mrs. Tolstoy and her husband, Serve, are planning their dream house. The lot for the house sits high on a hill with a beautiful view of the Appalachian Mountains. The plans show the size of the house to be 2,900 square feet. The average price for a lot and house similar to this one has been $120 per square foot. Fortunately, Serge is a retired plumber and feels he can save money by installing the plumbing himself. Mrs. Tolstoy feels she can take care of the interior decorating.

The following average cost information is available from a local bank that makes loans to local contractors and dispenses progress payments to cntractors when specific tasks are verified as complete.

24% Excavation and framing complete

8% Roof and fireplace complete

3% Wiring roughed in

6% plumbing roughed in

5% siding on

17% Windows, insulation, walks, plaster, and garage complete

9% Furnace installed

4% Plumbing fixtures installed

10% Exterior paint, light fixtures installed, finish hardware installed

6% Carpet and trim installed

4% interior decorating

4% Floors laid and finished

a. What is the estimated cost for the Tolstoys house if they use contractors to complete all of the house?

b. Estimate what the cost of the house would be if the Tolstoys use their talents to do some of the work themselves.

Please help with the problem as its giving me problems. Show how you got the answer so it wont become an issues for me in the future. Thank you for the help!

Solution

SIze of house = 2900 sq feet

Average cost per sq feet = 120

Total cost if the tolstoys do not do anything themselves = 2900*120 = $348,000

a) estimated cost for the Tolstoys house if they use contractors to complete all of the house = $348000

b)

Serge is a retired plumber so all the plumbing needs acan be taken care by them:

Mrs tolstoy can work with interior decorating so she can save 4% of the cost

Total % they can save together = 6+4+4 = 14%

Total savings = 14%*348000 = 48720

total cost of house for tolstoys when they use their talents = 348000 - 48720 = $299280