Looking at build costs on a pound per square foot can be misleading

Every project is unique and although there are market trends on build costs, there are site-specific factors that need to be considered when looking at Build Costs which can impact on the pound per square foot when benchmarked against other similar projects.

We came across this recently…one of our clients tendered for a 9-house site but it was a bit unusual as the site was quite vast and lent itself to an increase in infrastructure / external works costs which also included removal of contaminated materials.

So, on a pound per square foot, looking at the build costs on the gross internal area, they appeared disproportionally high compared with other projects similar in nature, magnitude and complexity.

Its important to look at all the site-specific factors, abnormalities, access, market conditions etc. very early on in your development appraisal – there is no one size fits all when looking at build costs!

Key take away: Build costs on a pound per square foot can be misleading, consider the building specifics when assessing construction costs in the early stages