Building Permit Costs Accurate Reflection of Job Cost?

[Travis Smith]

As part of its Open Data Portal, the City of Austin has made available a searchable database of building permits in the city. Does anyone know if the "Total Job Valuation" on the permit is an accurate gauge of job costs?

Here's the link...

https://data.austintexas.gov/Permitting/Issued-Con...

Thanks.

[Mike Garrett]

Generally, as architects, we have a few options to estimate project costs. One is "our best guess" in which we can remove some finish items and cost only items that are necessary for what the city needs to inspect; the ICC Building Valuation form is the second way (this is online, see link below) in which you multiply the building square footage by the valuation on the form based on type of construction (described in the IBC most houses are V-B); and lastly a estimate from a contractor, my preferred method for renovation projects. So in short- No these are not actual construction costs.

https://www.iccsafe.org/codes-tech-support/codes/c...