Commercial Construction Costs Rise

A press release from New York-based Turner Construction shows a nearly 2 percent increase in the cost of commercial construction from Q2 of this year and over 6 percent since Q3 last year! From the Tampa Bay Business Journal:

Third quarter commercial building costs rose 1.77 percent over the second quarter and nearly 6.5 percent over the third quarter of last year, according to Turner Construction's Building Cost Index.

The index, which projects domestic commercial building construction costs, found that construction costs are rising faster than the Consumer Price Index.

The increase is due in large part to price hikes for steel, non-ferrous metals, petroleum-based products and energy.

Wage and benefit adjustments also are generally higher than a year ago, “reflecting the continuing strong demand on the skilled labor workforce,” said Karl F. Almstead, the Turner vice president responsible for Turner’s Building Cost Index.

However, increasing trade contractor competition in many market areas is offsetting some of the material and labor increases, the report found.

Turner has prepared the construction cost forecast for more than 80 years.

See the article...