What it REALLY costs to build a house
Altus Group concedes some original estimates “incorrect”
February 9, 2018
Following Home BUILDER magazine’s article published earlier about the annual Altus Construction Cost Guide 2018, Altus Group reported that due to “formatting issues” some of the construction cost estimate numbers in the Guide were incorrectly transposed, and therefore wrong.
Altus has now provided Home BUILDER with a corrected version of the 2018 report. In the chart with this article, the revised Altus construction cost estimates for 2018 are reported. Astute readers will notice that the revised cost estimates from Altus are not that much different from the original version.
A number of our loyal readers had already questioned the Altus data. One Toronto builder commented, “Where the f*** did you get these ridiculous
building costs from?”
Well, now you know.
Other readers questioned why some costs were not included.
Altus cost estimates are for hard construction costs only. This excludes a myriad of soft costs including the cost of land, financing, legal fees, municipal zoning and other fees, marketing, commissions, or any profit to the builder. All of these would add to the total cost of completing a new home.
Also, Altus makes no deductions for openings of stairs, elevators or vertical ducts, excludes balconies and all external walkways, and measures sloped or stepped floors as flat.
The square foot construction costs are based on measuring each floor to the outer face of the external walls.
The Guide is founded upon Altus Group’s proprietary database, which includes project data from more than 1,400 Canadian cost and project management engagements.
“While using our Cost Guide helps develop a rough preliminary project financial plan, we strongly recommend you seek professional expert advice to provide a more precise, project specific estimate and pro forma,” Altus stated.
Click HERE to view the full PDF version (1mb) of Altus Construction Cost Guide 2018.