Estimating Building Time and Cost

From the basic stats, we can do rough estimates of building time and cost. These values are somewhat subjective, especially the building time. The time and cost estimates depend a lot on individual tastes, working style, and experience. The best way for you to get a good idea of estimates that work for you is to do some pilot projects. Join a modular club and build a module. Build a test diorama. While you are building, track your costs and time durations closely.

BENCHWORK: We can multiply the layout area stat by a cost or time per square foot of benchwork to get the approximate cost or time to build the plan's benchwork.

TRACKWORK: We can multiply the total track stat by the cost or time per foot of track to determine the basic trackwork cost/time. Add in the cost or time factor per turnout to get the approximate trackwork cost/time.

ELECTRICAL: The electrical part of a layout can be estimated from the total track stat, since powering the track and operating the turnouts is what the wiring is all about. If you are using DCC, just add in the cost of your basic system, and factor in throttle bus wiring based on the mainline track stat, since the bus can follow the mainline (more or less). Cab control wiring can be estimated from the number of electrical blocks needed, with the average length of wire from a central control panel to the block being 1/2 the length of the mainline. Local panels will need to have the wire length estimated on a case-by-case basis.

SCENERY: Using the layout area stat, we can multiply this area by the cost/time of basic scenery (minus structures or details) per square foot to get a basic scenery cost/time.

STRUCTURES AND DETAILS: Structure and detail cost/time are harder to judge since they are not strictly by the square foot. However, we can work with a larger area, say every 10 square feet -- and it is possible, with a little thought, to come up with a rating system to categorize various regions of the layout in one of four categories: wild (foliage only, few extra details), rural (foliage with some small structures and details), town (mostly small structures, roads, and details), city (mostly large structures, roads, and details). Then you rate every 10 square feet as to its category, using the appropriate time/cost factors for that section.

ROLLING STOCK: The number of cars stat can be used to estimate the total cost of rolling stock to populate the layout.

LOCOMOTIVES: The number of cars moved stat can be used to estimate the number of trains in a typical operating cycle. From this and the typical power lashups used to power a train, you can estimate the number of locomotives used in a operating session (this assumes minimal reuse of power, which may not be the case). Once you know the number of locomotives you'll need, you can estimate their total cost.

CONCLUSION
As you can see, with these extra few stats, we can truly PLAN a layout, whether big or small. And we can finally compare layouts quickly in a meaningful way -- and appreciate more than just their good looks.

article index
page 1 : Find out if your layout will work before you build it
page 2 : The basic stats
page 3 : Operation potential stats
page 4 : Some examples
page 5 : Summary form
page 6 - current : Estimating building time and cost
page 7 : Some additional insights
page 8 : Comments and rating

Estimating Building Time and Cost

Search Joe Fugate's Siskiyou Line

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September 2010

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