Local Politics:Issues:Construction Costs

The question we are posing here is why government building construction costs, at the town and state level (for schools, police and fire stations, community centers, city halls, state college buildings etc), are much higher than those incurred by private real estate developers (for office buildings, manufacturing facilities, shopping malls, private schools, private college buildings etc).

Estabrook Construction
The Estabrook school construction has a 56,252 sq ft gross floor area, and the construction cost was $41M. This comes comes to $728 per sq ft.

Lexington High School Modulars
The High School Modulars are 24,525 sq ft gross floor area at an estimated construction cost of $6.7M-$7.7M, including an unspecified amount of technology equipment. This comes to $273-$313 per sq ft.

Hobbs Brook Construction in Waltham
Hobbs Brook announced in the fall of 2013 that it is planning to construct an office space building in Waltham, at 275 Wyman St, for 315,000 sq ft at $100M construction costs. This comes to $317 per sq ft. Vistaprint will move its headquarters from Lexington into the new building once it is completed.

Estabrook

 * [[Media:Estabrook Educational Program.pdf|Estabrook Educational Program]]
 * [[Media:Estabrook Project Meetings.pdf|Estabrook Project Meetings]]
 * [[Media:Estabrook Space Summary 11-10-19.pdf|Estabrook Space Summary 11-10-19]]
 * [[Media:Estabrook Work Plan Schedule 11-09-16.pdf|Estabrook Work Plan Schedule 11-09-16]]
 * [[Media:11-10-13 SPL-Option 1 - 3 Story School.pdf|11-10-13 SPL-Option 1 - 3 Story School]]
 * [[Media:11-10-13 SPL-Option 2 - 3 Story School.pdf|11-10-13 SPL-Option 2 - 3 Story School]]
 * [[Media:11-10-13 SPL-Option 3 - 2 Story School.pdf|11-10-13 SPL-Option 3 - 2 Story School]]
 * [[Media:11-10-13 SPL-Phased Construction.pdf|11-10-13 SPL-Phased Construction]]

LHS Modulars

 * Lexington Minuteman: Town Meeting approves Lexington High School modular classrooms, by Marc Filippino (Nov 7, 2013)
 * [[Media:LHSFac0verview10Sep13.pdf|LHS Overcrowding]], School Committee update, (Sept 10, 2013)

Massachusetts Documents and Data

 * [[Media:BHIMASSPLAUpdate061204FINAL.pdf|Project Labor Agreements and Financing Public School Construction in Massachusetts]], by David G. Tuerck and Paul Bachman. Beacon Hill Institute, Dec 2006.
 * Project Labor Agreements’ Effect on School Construction Costs in Massachusetts, by Dale Belman, Russell Ormiston, Richard Kelso, William Schriver and Kenneth A. Frank
 * Wikipidia's Project Labor Agreement page.