Beyond Bricks and Mortar

Beyond Bricks and Mortar

Envisioning the possibilities of a new community center or sports facility is exciting, but when the costs of a project add up, the last thing anyone wants to see is a surprise.

8 min read

Understanding all components of a project budget

Envisioning the possibilities of a new community center or sports facility is exciting, but when the costs of a project add up, the last thing anyone wants to see is a surprise. To bypass aggressive finger-pointing, the best advice is to avoid any comparison with similar facilities and to invest in information-gathering that will help determine the true cost of a project. In other words, let the architect be the educator, the hyper-focused guide who keeps everyone’s eyes on the community’s prize.

Same Project, Same Budget?

Here are two good takeaways:

  1. Similar project types do not mean similar budgets
  2. Building-construction costs and total-project costs are not the same thing.

These are valuable and costly lessons far too many city officials have learned the hard way.