2nd one should be - residential (townhouses)

new construction or remodel?

Lets do remodel; writing a business plan...

I guess my question is not so much about just the workmanship, but about the construction cost expressed in dollars per square foot.

assuming that when you say apartment you mean condo.

I don't think there is a difference between condo remodel and home in NY besides access.

Basic - $400-800/ft

Good - $800-1200/ft

Expensive - $1200 - sky is the limit

Chigurh... Why do I have a wierd feeling that these numbers are a bit high? My firm just did an entire townhouse gut renovation (good budget, not basic or expensive) for about $2.5 mil.  Just wondering... What would the equivalent be for commercial projects? 

http://www.dcd.com/guides.html

I have found to be pretty accurate.

CSI also publishes data... you should get it for free if you use MasterSpec.

if you have data run your own numbers 

CSI publishes data? Where?

Isn't RSMeans the 'gold standard' when it comes to cost data?

Aside from publishing standards which MasterSpec follows (MasterFormat, SectionFormat, etc.), CSI has nothing to do with MasterSpec. AIA publishes MasterSpec through Arcom.

"MasterSpec®, a product of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) ..." http://www.arcomnet.com/masterspec

Everyday... let me look around. I could be mistaken. The last place I worked was a large design-builder and they took someone's data - I thought it was CSI, but maybe RSMeans - and translated it into the world's most-redundant proprietary internal database.