Published area referenceTransparent allowances

Office Construction Cost Calculator: Build and Fit-Out Cost per ft²

Published reference: USD 247.00–498.00 per ft² (USD 2,658.69–5,360.43 per m²), Gordian RSMeans: Cost to build an office, 2026 guide; underlying cost period not independently established.

Office building construction cost runs $247–$498 per square foot for a 2–4 story building (RSMeans, 2026 guide) — apply that published model to your floor area below, separately from the fit-out references in the broader benchmark table.

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

Office construction cost 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

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

Quantity unit (e.g. ft², m², key)

Verified currency code (e.g. USD, CAD)

Entered quantity

Dated construction rate per unit

2. Benchmark source and scope

Benchmark location / market

Benchmark observation/base period

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.

Benchmark source / document

Source URL (optional for a named document)

Published edition (separate from observation/base period)

Selected source metric

Published value and unit

Rate selection

Verified cost scope, inclusions and exclusions

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

Entered fees (%)

Entered contingency (%)

Entered external works / other allowance (%)

I verified the benchmark source, observation/base period, market, currency, quantity basis, scope, exclusions, and entered 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 period	Published / ft²	Converted / m²
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.

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

Office hard construction cost per square foot by city (RLB) and fit-out costs (Cushman & Wakefield, JLL). Pick a row to use it as the entered rate, or enter your own.

Benchmark	Value	Unit	Edition	Scope	Source
Office, prime class, hard construction cost	255–425	$/sf	Q1 2026	Austin, TX	RLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
Office, prime class, hard construction cost	460–725	$/sf	Q1 2026	Boston, MA	RLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
Office, prime class, hard construction cost	355–580	$/sf	Q1 2026	Chicago, IL	RLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
Office, prime class, hard construction cost	275–415	$/sf	Q1 2026	Los Angeles, CA	RLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
Office, prime class, hard construction cost	425–985	$/sf	Q1 2026	New York, NY	RLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
Office, prime class, hard construction cost	350–580	$/sf	Q1 2026	Washington, DC	RLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
Office, secondary class, hard construction cost	165–230	$/sf	Q1 2026	Austin, TX	RLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
Office, secondary class, hard construction cost	285–425	$/sf	Q1 2026	Boston, MA	RLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
Office, secondary class, hard construction cost	215–350	$/sf	Q1 2026	Chicago, IL	RLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
Office, secondary class, hard construction cost	215–305	$/sf	Q1 2026	Los Angeles, CA	RLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
Office, secondary class, hard construction cost	245–610	$/sf	Q1 2026	New York, NY	RLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
Office, secondary class, hard construction cost	240–380	$/sf	Q1 2026	Washington, DC	RLB Quarterly Construction Cost Report, North America, Q1 2026
Office fit-out hard cost, most expensive market	219.32	$/sf	2026	San Jose, CA	Cushman & Wakefield Office Fit Out Cost Guide (Americas)
Office fit-out hard cost	219.26	$/sf	2026	San Francisco, CA	Cushman & Wakefield Office Fit Out Cost Guide (Americas)
Office fit-out hard cost	212.59	$/sf	2026	New York, NY	Cushman & Wakefield Office Fit Out Cost Guide (Americas)
Office fit-out hard cost	113.97	$/sf	2026	Indianapolis, IN	Cushman & Wakefield Office Fit Out Cost Guide (Americas)
Office fit-out hard cost, lowest US market	108.26	$/sf	2026	Kansas City, MO	Cushman & Wakefield Office Fit Out Cost Guide (Americas)
Office fit-out, open and flexible layout	1,900–2,300	$/m²	2026	Global average	JLL Global Office Fit-Out Costs Guide 2026	Reference only — enter a verified rate separately
Office fit-out, high spatial variety layout	2,000–2,500	$/m²	2026	Global average	JLL Global Office Fit-Out Costs Guide 2026	Reference only — enter a verified rate separately
Office fit-out, structured layout	2,100–2,600	$/m²	2026	Global average	JLL Global Office Fit-Out Costs Guide 2026	Reference only — enter a verified rate separately
Office fit-out, regional average	3,200	$/m²	2026	North America	JLL Global Office Fit-Out Costs Guide 2026	Reference 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

Enter square footage and pick prime or secondary class

RLB splits hard construction cost by prime and secondary office class across six cities. Enter gross square footage against the class matching your project.

Or use a fit-out rate for an existing shell

Cushman & Wakefield and JLL give fit-out-only rates by market (San Jose, San Francisco, New York, Indianapolis, Kansas City) and by layout type (open, high-variety, structured).

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

RLB prime/secondary rows are new hard construction cost; Cushman & Wakefield and JLL fit-out rows price an existing shell only — do not mix these cost scopes even when both use square feet.
JLL's global fit-out rows are priced per square metre, not per square foot; enter the quantity in matching square metres, or document an independently verified conversion.
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

Can I calculate without bringing my own rate?

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.

Can I apply a rate per room, bed or seat to a floor area?

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.

Does this forecast office construction cost?

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

What benchmark rate should I enter?

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

Why do I have to enter fees and contingency separately?

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

Does the total include escalation, taxes, or finance costs?

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

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