Building For Profit | by Reginald Pelham Bolton
Principles governing the economic improvement of real estate
Title | Building For Profit |
Author | Reginald Pelham Bolton |
Publisher | Reginald Pelham Bolton |
Year | 1922 |
Copyright | 1922, Reginald Pelham Bolton |
Amazon | Building for Profit |
By Reginald Pelham Bolton Author Of "Power For Profit," "Elevator Service" Member Of The American Institute Of Consulting Engineers


"The process of accumulating floor area on one site"
Introduction To The Third Edition- The absorption of two editions of this work, and many expressions of a desire for its re-issue in a third edition, indicate that it has rendered practical service to those interested in real estate. I...
I. Relation Of Site And Building- A building is a mechanical composite construction of various materials, serving the purpose of shelter for its contents and occupants. The interior is its utilizable portion. The primary object of ...
I. Relation Of Site And Building. Continued- The economic addition of height in a building on a given site is that which will, upon a certain obtainable rental, return a market interest upon the value of the land and upon the cost of the structu...
II. Appreciation Of Value Of Land- If the earning capability of a building should, for any cause, fall below the point where the return upon the invested value is less than market rate, then the only means of rehabilitation of the impa...
II. Appreciation Of Value Of Land. Part 2- But unless a regularly invested and proportionate sinking-fund be maintained, an inevitable dependence must be placed upon the speculative increase in land value to offset the eventual loss of the bui...
II. Appreciation Of Value Of Land. Part 3- These observations reinforce the point that the rate of appreciation of land value is speculative, whereas the rate of structural and of earning depreciation of buildings is reasonably determinable. ...
II. Appreciation Of Value Of Land. Part 4- s = rate of rental............ $1.34 n = ratio of net rentable area to gross building area 60% r = ...
II. Appreciation Of Value Of Land. Part 5- The following illustration, based on a scale of 100 parts, brings out this consideration. Example Lot B'l'd-ing Cost Occupied area ...
III. Values Established By Buildings- The foregoing considerations have shown that the efficient existence of a building must be measured and may be limited by its capability to make a reasonable return upon the original investment, and h...
III. Values Established By Buildings. Part 2- Out of the income there is set aside a fund for depreciation, and the expenditures are economically maintained at 40% of the net income, partly by reason of the simple character of the equipment and t...
III. Values Established By Buildings. Part 3- The relation of rentals to invested values is generally over 9%, and the operating expenditures, if taxation does not exceed 12% of the rentals, are about 36%, making returns of about 6%. The convenie...
III. Values Established By Buildings. Part 4- Or, reading from any assumed invested value to its intersection with the desired rate of interest, a vertical line from that point will show the percentage of gross income within which all expenditure...
IV. Depreciation Of The Value Of Buildings. I. Physical Deterioration- Depreciation of the value of modern buildings is a subject on which opinions very divergent in character are frequently expressed, and appear to be based upon no definite method or system. Such unc...
Physical Deterioration. Part 2- In such condition the constitution of the building cannot be expected to withstand, any more than can that of a man or a garment, the stress of existence in the same manner as when it commenced its ca...
Physical Deterioration. Part 3- Such a comparison will define very clearly the endurance of the parts which go to make the structure a whole, and will make clear the extent or number of occurrences of repair or renewal which can be ...
Physical Deterioration. Part 4- In response to such an assertion, instances may be afforded, no doubt, of the long existence of ancient materials; of old buildings still affording serviceable shelter; of exposed metal which with car...
II. The Economic Life Of Buildings- We now proceed to examine the second part of this subject, financial or economic depreciation, the term of which must naturally fall within that of physical deterioration. Some uncertainty due to t...
II. The Economic Life Of Buildings. Part 2- Even its construction as one of a large number of similar buildings may contribute to bring about such a result, since sections of cities built up with great uniformity usually drift into a lower clas...
II. The Economic Life Of Buildings. Part 3- If this practice be followed, as is no doubt done by conservative investors, the scale of estimated capital values of improved property would be related to the returns reduced by the depreciation fund...
II. The Economic Life Of Buildings. Part 4- An almost confusing variety of structures ...
V. Depreciation Of Mechanical Equipments And Power Plants. I. Physical Deterioration- The depreciation of engineering equipment and appliances appears to follow equally well the same general principles as apply to other elements in building construction, but in a markedly increased rat...
Depreciation Of Mechanical Equipments And Power Plants. I. Physical Deterioration. Continued- Of the total cost, the fixed equipment was 60% and the motive apparatus was 40% of the cost of the whole equipment. The combined equipment has a relative life compared with that of its most durable...
II. Economic Deterioration Of Equipment In Buildings- The economic as well as the physical depreciation of buildings involves the deterioration of their equipments or mechanical appliances, which to-day form no small part of their first cost, and constit...
II. Economic Deterioration Of Equipment In Buildings. Continued- For the successful operation of high buildings the elevator forms an integral part of the building. The physical deterioration of this part of the equipment is compound, consisting of that due to the ...
VI. Cost Of Operating Buildings- The details entering into the operation of a building and composing its cost are not always accessible, on account of the natural hesitancy of owners to afford information as to their expenditures. ...
VI. Cost Of Operating Buildings. Part 2- It will be seen from an examination of these statistics that the owners of these Manhattan properties are in partnership with the community to a very substantial extent, for upon the net returns the a...
VI. Cost Of Operating Buildings. Part 3- Advantages of light, air, and space, of interior division and plan, of decoration and artistic construction, are very desirable if they are the direct means of securing earnings. But constructional an...
VI. Cost Of Operating Buildings. Part 4- The owner of a large office building, where the service is supplied free from his own generating plant, voiced the general sentiment on the subject at the convention at Detroit in 1909, by describing ...
VII. Manufacturing Or Power Machinery- The urgency of competition with other buildings, which has led many owners to enter into those obligations to their tenants which have been previously referred to, has further involved certain of them...
VII. Manufacturing Or Power Machinery. Part 2- In the case of mechanical services, the economic effect of power manufactured for their operation is confined to that portion of the operating expenses which is concerned with the conveniences of the ...
VII. Manufacturing Or Power Machinery. Part 3- The effect is shown in the accompanying diagram, Fig. 15, illustrating the same building of fifteen floors, at the prevailing rental of $1.80 per square foot. In this building the addition of a man...
VIII. Apartment-Houses, Fair Values, And Fair Rents- In residential apartment and tenement buildings the shortage of housing - which is not, of course, a permanent condition - enabled many owners of such properties to fill all vacancies and thus increas...
VIII. Apartment-Houses, Fair Values, And Fair Rents. Continued- The rate of interest on the value thus ascertained should be commensurate with prevailing circumstances in the money market, and the net return should be graduated according to the character of the bu...