Does anyone know of any research on the relative cost of building through the ages? I'm guessing it's relatively cheap to build today compared to,say, 150 years ago (unless Zaha is involved, of course) but would love to be able to find some data on this...
The Empire State Building (2.77m / sq.ft.) cost $25m n 1931.
The 'Freedom' Tower (2.6m / sq.ft.) is budgeted at $2b but already projected at $3b.
Adjusted for inflation, The Empire State Building would cost $128 / sq.ft. today vs. $1153 / sq.ft. for the new WTC tower. So either the inflation calculators are wrong (I checked several) or construction costs have increased by an order of magnitude in 40 years.
The Panama Canal cost $375m in the 1914 ($8b today). For comparison, the Panama Canal expansion project is bid at $5.25b. It’s a significant project but not on the scale of the original, which was monumental.
I don't see how you could possibly make a comparison to the cost of building any classical, medieval or even renaissance structure, especially when you start talking about slave labor, indentured servants, etc.
i can't cite any documentation, but michael benedikt says in one/some of his essays that the percentage of their value and annual income that companies invest in their buildings has decreased significantly over the past century. the building used to be a big part of the company's identity and its anchor, but now it's just real estate and disposable, so the financial commitment is greatly reduced.
thanks for your comments. Would have been useful to explain to my clients that despite their projects seeming to be rather expensive it has, in fact, 'never been cheaper to build' but guess need to do bit more research first...
The Palace of Versailles including all accessory buildings rangers somewhere between 750,000 to 1.1 million square feet and cost around approximately $2,000,000,000 today to build including all of the original solid silver furniture that was in it.
That gives us a cost per square foot of somewhere between $1800 to $2500 per square foot, fully decorated and furnished.
Remember the time value of money in comparing things over time. In 1931, a dollar was worth roughly ten times more than a dollar is today, in chained terms. Thus, all other factors being equal, the $25 million in 1931 for the Empire State Bdg is closer to $280 million in today's dollars.
The other thing to consider, is that a building in 1931 is not the same building as one would build today. Today, you're buying all manner of high performance building systems you wouldn't have bought in 1931. Those systems add value and cost money but also reduce annual OMR costs as percentage of the capital, energy prices being equal in constant chained dollars terms.
The Empire State Building was slightly over $40,000,000. Based on the CPI index, that would be about $607,900,000. That would be closer to $210 a square foot which is still significantly cheaper than the Freedom Tower.
Reed Construction Data puts a 16-story steel frame building with double-glazing at around $130 a square foot and a hotel with steel and double-glazing at around $150 a square foot.
The real sadness with the Freedom Tower is someone thought putting ~60,000 square feet of retail below grade was a stellar idea. Idiots.
I actually read a book on the construction of the Empire State Building and by not customizing any of the floors and by providing minimal public spaces, they reduced the overall cost of the construction from an original ~$47 million to ~$25 million.
Sep 13, 11 2:26 pm ·
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building costs as a factor of time
Does anyone know of any research on the relative cost of building through the ages? I'm guessing it's relatively cheap to build today compared to,say, 150 years ago (unless Zaha is involved, of course) but would love to be able to find some data on this...
The Empire State Building (2.77m / sq.ft.) cost $25m n 1931.
The 'Freedom' Tower (2.6m / sq.ft.) is budgeted at $2b but already projected at $3b.
Adjusted for inflation, The Empire State Building would cost $128 / sq.ft. today vs. $1153 / sq.ft. for the new WTC tower. So either the inflation calculators are wrong (I checked several) or construction costs have increased by an order of magnitude in 40 years.
The Panama Canal cost $375m in the 1914 ($8b today). For comparison, the Panama Canal expansion project is bid at $5.25b. It’s a significant project but not on the scale of the original, which was monumental.
I don't see how you could possibly make a comparison to the cost of building any classical, medieval or even renaissance structure, especially when you start talking about slave labor, indentured servants, etc.
i can't cite any documentation, but michael benedikt says in one/some of his essays that the percentage of their value and annual income that companies invest in their buildings has decreased significantly over the past century. the building used to be a big part of the company's identity and its anchor, but now it's just real estate and disposable, so the financial commitment is greatly reduced.
thanks for your comments. Would have been useful to explain to my clients that despite their projects seeming to be rather expensive it has, in fact, 'never been cheaper to build' but guess need to do bit more research first...
The Palace of Versailles including all accessory buildings rangers somewhere between 750,000 to 1.1 million square feet and cost around approximately $2,000,000,000 today to build including all of the original solid silver furniture that was in it.
That gives us a cost per square foot of somewhere between $1800 to $2500 per square foot, fully decorated and furnished.
Remember the time value of money in comparing things over time. In 1931, a dollar was worth roughly ten times more than a dollar is today, in chained terms. Thus, all other factors being equal, the $25 million in 1931 for the Empire State Bdg is closer to $280 million in today's dollars.
The other thing to consider, is that a building in 1931 is not the same building as one would build today. Today, you're buying all manner of high performance building systems you wouldn't have bought in 1931. Those systems add value and cost money but also reduce annual OMR costs as percentage of the capital, energy prices being equal in constant chained dollars terms.
The Empire State Building was slightly over $40,000,000. Based on the CPI index, that would be about $607,900,000. That would be closer to $210 a square foot which is still significantly cheaper than the Freedom Tower.
Reed Construction Data puts a 16-story steel frame building with double-glazing at around $130 a square foot and a hotel with steel and double-glazing at around $150 a square foot.
The real sadness with the Freedom Tower is someone thought putting ~60,000 square feet of retail below grade was a stellar idea. Idiots.
J. James, $40m includes the cost of the land under the Empire State Building. The construction cost was just under $25m.
Miles is correct. You do not count the land residual in assessing construction costs.
I stand corrected.
I actually read a book on the construction of the Empire State Building and by not customizing any of the floors and by providing minimal public spaces, they reduced the overall cost of the construction from an original ~$47 million to ~$25 million.
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