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Published area referenceTransparent allowances

Construction Cost Estimator: Hotel, School and Office Rates per ft²

Select a hotel, school or low-rise office reference and apply its rate to matching floor area. Different models and years are not a like-for-like price ranking.

Who it's for: architects, owners, and estimators who need to apply a published reference or their own dated construction rate using transparent arithmetic — not a market forecast — for a specific quantity and allowance set, at feasibility or schematic design.

Published building-cost references per m² or ft²

Choose a published reference, enter matching floor area, and calculate. Source facts travel with the result; you do not need to retype them.

Compare published rates and source details

Calculate from a published area rate

Choose a published reference; no rate or location is selected automatically.

Choose a reference to review its period and cost scope before calculating.

Use the selected source definition of floor area. Do not enter room, bed or seat counts.

Reference arithmetic, not a project budget. No current-price adjustment, currency conversion or extra allowance is applied. A rate's cost inclusions remain those of its source.

Have a project-specific rate or additional allowances? Use the separate manual calculation.

Calculate with your chosen rate

1. Quantity, unit and rate
2. Benchmark source and scope

Use the precision stated by the source: a year (2025), calendar quarter (2025-Q3), month (2025-08) or day (2025-08-15). Do not invent a month or copy the publication edition into this field.

State whether fees, contingency, land, external works, taxes and other costs are included. Unknown is not the same as excluded. Enter only additional, non-overlapping allowances.

3. Additional allowances
Scenario, not a forecast
Total = quantity × entered rate × (1 + entered allowances). Align currency, base date, scope, measurement basis, location, taxes, escalation and exclusions before comparing scenarios.

Published area rates and sources

Selected references in USD — converted area units, not new market observations
Reference and periodPublished / ft²Converted / m²
15-story hotel — U.S. national average (2025)2025 source columnUSD 261.76≈ USD 2,817.56
Elementary school — U.S. national model (2024)2024 source tableUSD 239.21≈ USD 2,574.84
2–4-story office — published model endpoints2026 guide; underlying cost period not independently establishedSource size context: the selected source row covers 4,250–92,000 ft². This is source context, not a validated calculation limit.USD 247.00 to USD 498.00≈ USD 2,658.69 to USD 5,360.43
Method, source scope and period

1 ft² = 0.09290304 m². Divide a USD/ft² rate by this factor for USD/m². Divide m² area by the same factor before multiplying by the original rate. Only displayed values are rounded.

NIST area conversion definition. Unit conversion does not reconcile gross, net, finished or rentable area definitions.

15-story hotel — U.S. national average (2025)

15-story hotel construction model. Complete cost inclusions are not itemized; this is not a total-development budget. Use floor area measured on the source model basis. Gross, net and rentable areas are not interchangeable. No other hotel height, service tier or location is inferred. Room-based HVS development costs are a separate task.

Gordian / BD+C: Hotel construction costs for 2025 · publication date: 2025-04-17 · period: 2025 source column.

Elementary school — U.S. national model (2024)

U.S. national school-model averages with green-building considerations; detailed cost inclusions are not itemized. Use floor area measured on the source model basis. Gross, net and rentable areas are not interchangeable. These are historical models, not 2026 quotes. Universities, seat counts and local premiums are not inferred.

Gordian / BD+C: K-12 school construction costs for 2024 · publication date: 2024-02-22 · period: 2024 source table. Re-read 2026-10-12.

2–4-story office — published model endpoints

Published construction-model reference; a complete breakdown of cost inclusions is not provided in this article. Use floor area measured on the source model basis. Gross, net and rentable areas are not interchangeable. The page also retains a 2025 heading. This 2–4-story model is not an office fit-out rate, local quote or complete development budget.Source size context: the selected source row covers 4,250–92,000 ft². This is source context, not a validated calculation limit.

Gordian RSMeans: Cost to build an office · publication date: 2026-05-29 · period: 2026 guide; underlying cost period not independently established.

Selected figures read 2026-09-11. That check date is not a cost observation date. Missing inclusions remain unknown, not excluded; do not automatically add land, fees, FF&E, taxes or contingency.

Two source endpoints are separate scenarios, not a statistical interval. No bed, seat or room count is converted to area.

Published benchmarks

Hard construction cost per square foot by building type from one published matrix (RLB, Chicago), and average construction cost per square metre for the ten most expensive cities worldwide (Turner & Townsend). Pick a row to use it as the entered rate, or enter your own market’s figure.

BenchmarkValueUnitEditionScopeSource
Warehouse (industrial)155–245$/sfQ1 2026Chicago, ILRLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
Office, prime355–580$/sfQ1 2026Chicago, ILRLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
Office, secondary215–350$/sfQ1 2026Chicago, ILRLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
Retail, shopping center220–465$/sfQ1 2026Chicago, ILRLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
Retail, strip170–280$/sfQ1 2026Chicago, ILRLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
Multi-family residential220–490$/sfQ1 2026Chicago, ILRLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
Single-family residential285–570$/sfQ1 2026Chicago, ILRLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
Elementary school320–480$/sfQ1 2026Chicago, ILRLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
High school375–515$/sfQ1 2026Chicago, ILRLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
University450–910$/sfQ1 2026Chicago, ILRLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
Hotel, 3-star385–515$/sfQ1 2026Chicago, ILRLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
Hotel, 5-star530–810$/sfQ1 2026Chicago, ILRLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
Hospital, general455–925$/sfQ1 2026Chicago, ILRLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
Average construction cost, New York City5,744$/m²International Construction Market Survey, latestNew York, NYTurner & Townsend, US cities most expensive places to build globallyReference only — enter a verified rate separately
Average construction cost, San Francisco5,504$/m²International Construction Market Survey, latestSan Francisco, CATurner & Townsend, US cities most expensive places to build globallyReference only — enter a verified rate separately
Average construction cost, Zurich5,386$/m²International Construction Market Survey, latestZurich, CHTurner & Townsend, US cities most expensive places to build globallyReference only — enter a verified rate separately
Average construction cost, Geneva5,386$/m²International Construction Market Survey, latestGeneva, CHTurner & Townsend, US cities most expensive places to build globallyReference only — enter a verified rate separately
Average construction cost, London5,385$/m²International Construction Market Survey, latestLondon, UKTurner & Townsend, US cities most expensive places to build globallyReference only — enter a verified rate separately
Average construction cost, Los Angeles4,786$/m²International Construction Market Survey, latestLos Angeles, CATurner & Townsend, US cities most expensive places to build globallyReference only — enter a verified rate separately
Average construction cost, Chicago4,695$/m²International Construction Market Survey, latestChicago, ILTurner & Townsend, US cities most expensive places to build globallyReference only — enter a verified rate separately
Average construction cost, Tokyo4,647$/m²International Construction Market Survey, latestTokyo, JPTurner & Townsend, US cities most expensive places to build globallyReference only — enter a verified rate separately
Average construction cost, Philadelphia4,604$/m²International Construction Market Survey, latestPhiladelphia, PATurner & Townsend, US cities most expensive places to build globallyReference only — enter a verified rate separately
Average construction cost, Sapporo4,577$/m²International Construction Market Survey, latestSapporo, JPTurner & Townsend, US cities most expensive places to build globallyReference only — enter a verified rate separately

Each button selects the stated displayed value, not a typical rate, statistical confidence interval, or recommendation. Inequality bounds are reference-only. Figures are as published on the linked page; check edition, unit, scope and what the rate includes before using one. When a base-date field is present, enter its verified date yourself; a publication year is not a benchmark base month.

How to use this calculator

1
Pick your building type from the Chicago matrix
RLB prices thirteen building types — warehouse, office (prime/secondary), retail (shopping/strip), residential (multi/single-family), school (elementary/high), university, hotel (3-star/5-star), hospital — all for the same city, Chicago, so types are directly comparable.
2
Or use a city-level average for international comparison
Turner & Townsend gives one blended average construction cost per square metre for each of ten expensive cities worldwide (New York, San Francisco, Zurich, Geneva, London, Los Angeles, Chicago, Tokyo, Philadelphia, Sapporo), not split by building type.
3
Enter allowances and reconcile
Add fees, contingency, and other allowances not already inside the benchmark rate, then compare the total against a project-specific quote rather than treating it as a forecast.

The formula

Base amount = entered quantity × entered rate. Total = base amount × (1 + fees% + contingency% + other allowance%).

Worked example

Example
Illustrative arithmetic only: 1,000 square feet at a user-supplied rate of 200 per unit gives a base amount of 200,000. If the verified base rate excludes the entered 10% additional allowance, the scenario total is 220,000 in that same currency. This is not a published market benchmark.

When this estimate will be off

  • The thirteen RLB rows are all Chicago-only — comparing building types here does not compare cities; comparing cities requires switching to the Turner & Townsend rows instead.
  • Turner & Townsend rows are one blended average per city, not split by building type, and are priced per square metre, not per square foot.
  • Benchmark rows on this page are sourced reference points, not market data for your project; no currency conversion is supplied.
  • No cost-plan, procurement, escalation, tax, finance, schedule, risk, or professional adequacy determination is made.

Frequently asked questions

Yes. Choose one of the published area references above and enter floor area in m² or ft². Its source, period and scope stay attached to the result. No unlisted model, local premium, current-price adjustment or complete project budget is inferred.

No. Room, bed and seat counts are not areas. Only the published area-reference form converts m² and ft², preserving the same area. The separate manual form needs a quantity and rate already expressed in matching units; no currency conversion is performed.

No. It applies transparent arithmetic to a user-supplied benchmark and allowances — it does not predict bids, escalation, or final cost.

Use a dated source for the same market, currency, measurement basis, scope, and project type as the construction project you're estimating. The benchmark table above lists sourced reference points, not market data for your project.

So nothing already included in the base rate is counted twice. Enter only allowances not already reflected in the benchmark rate itself.

Only to the extent those costs are already included in your verified base rate or explicit additional allowances. This worksheet does not separately derive or validate escalation, taxes, finance, procurement risk, or professional adequacy.

Sources

  • User-identified cost source — must provide the rate, market, date, currency, measurement basis, scope, inclusions and exclusions

This free Construction Cost Estimator is built and maintained by DataDrivenAEC, using the relevant codes and standards. It does not substitute for professional judgment.