How The Bay Area's Biggest Construction Companies Cope With Costs

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By Dean Boerner, Bisnow San Francisco Reporter

The San Francisco Bay Area has officially passed New York as the world's most expensive place to build. But the region's construction costs have been high for most of this ongoing building cycle, and contractors of all shapes and sizes are looking for ways to adjust.

By the end of 2018, construction costs in the Bay Area averaged $416 per SF, according to consulting firm Turner & Townsend's international 2019 market survey.  "It is certainly challenging," said Clark Construction Project Development Executive Ryan Haworth, who led the construction of both Salesforce Tower and Facebook-leased Park Tower, among other projects.  "Nobody has a crystal ball, and [cost escalation] makes it very hard to make decisions about a client's program aspirations or architectural elements," he said."

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