Floor to Ceiling ratios

from some forum...
"there is no set rule . 10ft. is common but it is subject to minimum ceiling heights with very depending on your codes in the area you live . Basements and such use to be 7'10" if I remember right but a few years back it was dropped to 7'1'' .
The typical is a 9 ' interval if the ceilings are 8 ft. Leaving a 1 ft. interval for floor systems , but that is not truly accurate. If you want to get technical the typical ceiling is 8' 1 and a quarter inches . Then 2x10s are 9 and a half inches then you add 3/4 sub-floor before you start the next wall of 8'1 and a quarter inches. A big percentage of profesionals just call it 8ft plus 10 inches and call it good . The only way you get a dispute about it is when you have a height restriction and every quarter inch makes a difference in the over all height as to not pierce the building height envelope.
It gets a lot more continuous when there is a perceived view shed of a neighbor.

10 ft. is a standard depending on the type of building , ceiling heights, chase area size for ducts and stuff . It is a rule of thumb and don't reflect real live measurements of an as-built.
you take commercial space and the ceilings could easily be 12ft or even 15 foot then have a drop ceiling down to a desired height for a particular store design and if there is a second story it may only be the thickness of the floor system it self which could be just a 1/8th inches corrugated metal with 3 and one half inches of reinforced concrete then start the next floor .
I think standard single story big malls have a ceiling height of 23 ft.
I may be wrong about that . I think that is right though . It has been a while since i have done a tenant improvement in a mall . 23 ft comes to mind .
So my typical is 10 ft. when estimating initial heights. Very preliminary when trying to visualize a highest and best use for a land parcel.
That is because of peoples desire for 9 ft tall walls , which we say a lot of in the hay day before the crash . Everybody wanted 9 ft walls"