John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hi John


I was looking at one of your studio plans on the SAE site.


The garage studio 2 plan.


I am gonna ask one of those questions that will make you roll your eyes...

Has anyone ever worked out a way, to approximate the cost, per square foot, or similar.

Assuming a garage of 5.5 X 3.3Mtrs, in Australia, approx what would it cost to convert that area, to the plan listed there.

10K 20K 30K ?????

I know things like internal finish could vary the price considerably, but assume boring and cheap...

I am really just enquiring for a roughie estimate, i want to just get an idea how much this stuff costs....


thanks

Peter

It's dependednt on you extras like how much soundproofing you need, air-conditioning etc. but anywhere between $700 - $1,000 per square meter which is around $12K - $18K for that area. That includes labour so if you can build it yourself you could do it for around $6k - $8k.

cheers
john

John


thanks mate.


I appreciate it.


Its good to have a rough idea.


Peter

John do you know what it would be in the USA ?

Thanks.

For that same size (about 10' x 20') probably about $4-8k for DIY, and probably 4 TIMES that with labor.

The lower materials cost is partly due to exchange rate and local pricing - the increased labor cost is because you don't want some knuckle-dragging $12 an hour framer building something as precise as a studio space for you. Total waste of money. Soundproofing is NOT for the faint of heart, the least little (un-knowing) mistake makes the whole thing pointless. And, unless you get help that's actually BUILT studio construction before, you have to know all they DON'T know and watch them EVERY SECOND.

Probably the most effective way is to hire one or two helpers, and work with them making sure that YOU understand all the reasons/ways for doing things, and that THEY will LISTEN to you... Steve

I think Steve can probably answer this better than I can, I reckon it would be around $40 - $60/sq ft. But I'll wait till Steve has his say

cheers
JOhn

Is there an echo in here - here- here-..?

:=)

Well, I am looking at something resembling Blue Bear Sound studios or Left Bank studios: about 4 rooms: Control room, two Vocal booth (small and medium) and a live room, a Synth room ... all in a house walk-out basement (SC, USA) about 25x40 feet (rough).

Blue Bear and Left Bank are different constructions in that Left Bank has three separate air conditioning systems and some very expensive wood work like Tasmanian Oak flooring and rosewood slot finish etc. It would have cost around $1200/sq m

Blue Bear is more of a basement studio and would work out at around $500/sq yd.

hope this helps.

cheers
john

This is almost exactly the kind of room I am after: simple style, sober colors. Cloth walls and wood floors ...




Here are links to bigger versions of the two pix: Big Live room and Big Control Room ... it should stay close to Blue Bear's cost?

Yeah.
That's a real nice place.
As with most construction, the "finish out" can really drive up the costs.

I'm currently building a 1200 sq. ft. studio from the ground up. It has a large live room, 2 iso's, and a big control room. It also has a separate Kitchen and bathroom.

I had budgeted about $55,000 for the project. I ran a cost estimate, and including a 15% contingency, come up with about $45,000 for the project.
I'm acting as the general contractor, and sub-ing out everything I can't do myself, i.e. Concrete, electrical, plumbing, roofing and HVAC. My cost estimate was based on hard bids from the subs, and actual material costs.

To date, I'm still on budget! The "big ticket" items left are electrical and HVAC and doors. Yes doors! I had a budget of $6000 for doors, and I just re-checked price and availability of 6 of the door I'm going to use. When I checked prices in December, they were $350 each. Today, they're $550 each.

Well, that's why I had such a high contingency. Of course I'm saving a LOT by acting as the general and doing everything I can by my self.

So that's about $46 per sq.ft on the high end, and around $38 per sq. ft on the low end. I doubt you could do it for less than that. I'm using the high end number because I want the finish out to be real nice.

Those look like custom built monitors....hmmmmm .......I'm going to have to Barefoot about this :)

cheers
john