Why American Construction Costs Are So High

News that the Transbay Terminal is something like $300 million over budget should not come as a shock to anyone. We always knew the initial estimate was way under the real cost. Just like we never had a real cost for the Central Subway or the Bay Bridge or any other massive construction project. So get off it. In the world of civic projects, the first budget is really just a down payment. If people knew the real cost from…

I don't see this discussed at all, but if you're going to use New York City as your exemplar and you're going back to 1910 for data, I don't see how you can avoid the fact that both labor unions and the construction companies were under the control of the mafia. They put people on the payroll to do literally nothing, sold materials at way above market value, and the buyer had no choice but to pay because anyone underbidding…

It seems US construction costs are double or triple the norm in other developed countries in part because of using much more expensive and construction methods, in part because of procurement methods that are more lawsuit than project based (and in California the result of repeated incompetence, and also because of an unwillingness to look at best practices outside the US.