Altus Cost Guide 2018
Altus Cost Guide 2018
Jun 22, 2018 - The agreement to accept the 2018 Altus Canadian Construction Cost Guide as a financial baseline was a key highlight of the Advisory Select.
What it costs to build a house There is an updated version of this article, to read on. A high quality 2,000-square-foot detached house would cost up to $460,000 in hard construction costs to build in Vancouver, $420,000 in Toronto, but around $300,000 in Montreal, Calgary or Halifax, based on the Altus Group Canadian Construction Cost Guide 2018. The annual report also shows that prices for quality custom-built houses are much higher in either Toronto or Vancouver than anywhere else in Canada. For example, a high-end custom-built house in Toronto has per-square-foot construction costs of $900 and reaches $1,000 in Vancouver. This compares with Montreal, at a maximum of $700 per square foot and Halifax at $600.
The price spread is also pronounced in the condominium sector. In Vancouver, for example, Altus Group says construction costs for a higher quality four-storey wood-frame condo building would peak at $225 per square foot. This compares with $195 per square foot in Toronto and $175 or less in nearly every other city in the country. While the Altus Guide provides a price range of construction costs to account for different levels of quality, Home BUILDER is reporting only the higher range of prices for the sake of consistent comparison across markets. The Altus Guide cost estimates are for hard construction costs only, and do not include land values or any of the soft costs associated with completing a residential unit such as landscaping, legal fees, financing costs, marketing or commissions. Altus did not provide an explanation why construction costs would vary so much from one jurisdiction to another.
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 A ltus 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.
Altus Group Cost Guide 2018
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 to view the full PDF version (1mb) of Altus Construction Cost Guide 2018.