I hope you don't mind a few comments from an exhibit fabricator... and I
hope these don't seem too random. Sorry if this is long winded and it's
not meant to be a plug for our company. I'm speaking in general terms that
probably apply to all fabrication houses.

Gene is right, speaking in terms of costs per square foot is an industry
standard. This helps designers understand how much you can afford so they
don't try to add lots of technology (pricy) to a low budget project or use
real wood veneer if all you can afford is paint. For example, you're
pretty safe if you budget $200-250 sq foot for exhibits low on
interactives and technology but higher on graphic and text panels. For
lots of a/v and technological interactives (or testing time for
mechanincal interactives) it's probably safer to budget in the $400 to
$500 sq ft range. We have built a lot of projects and base these figures
on experience and don't feel they're out of whack with those of other
fabricators.

We're often asked to provide budgets for building exhibits at the concept
stage. At this point, the number we give you has to be a little mushy...we
can provide better numbers as the project moves farther along. In fact,
for large projects I recommend re-estimating them at several points. Lots
of discussion between the museum, designer, and fabricator can help
pinpoint costs at earlier stages.

Anyway, L. Dewey is right that material costs in Hawaii are higher than
Seattle. However, material costs in Seattle probably won't be
significantly higher than in Chicago. Any good fabricator can help you
achieve your overall budget target. It helps if you're flexible in your
material choices. One of our (fabricators in general) strengths is in
understanding materials...from the tensile properties of Sintra to the
current market price of aluminium. Our task is to assist you and your
design firm in making appropriate choices so you achieve the look you
desire, appropriate functionality and longevitiy from your materials, AND
keep costs within budget. Sometimes this means we'll offer suggestions
your design team might not have considered. For example, the designer
specs a wooden rod to suspend an object at an angle. We believe the rod
will sag over time and suggest a metal substitute, painted to resemble the
wood rod. We also present you with costs for making this change. Now you
have to make some desicions--risk sagging or pay slightly more and be
pretty certain no sagging will occur. These are the just some of the
factors that affect budget costs.

That said, you wanted to know how to develop that target. As Gene
mentioned, I don't know of any method beyond "ballparking" that will give
you an exact figure if the project is in an early stage. Once an exhibit
is at the Design Documents stage (pre-engineering) we can give you a fixed
price for a build.

One more comment on "regionally distinctive subordinate costs"--these
costs probably don't come into play as much as you think. We source
material all over the country, allowing us to get the best prices and
freeing us from regional constraints. And we're not the only fabricator to
do so.

Regards,

Diane Gutenkauf
Chief Business Developer
Museum Division
Exhibit Works, Inc.
[log in to unmask]
www.exhibitworks.com

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