Page 19 - CV April-May 2019 issue

WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE PLACE TO BUILD IS NOW SAN FRANCISCO

Construction costs in San Francisco, according to management and
consulting firm Turner & Townsend's "2019 International Construction
Market Survey,” were the highest in the world at the end of 2018 at an
average of $416 per square foot and 5% higher than 2017. San
Francisco edged out No. 2 New York City, where construction costs
rose 3.5% to an average of $368 per square foot.

Following San Francisco and New York City were London ($352 per
square foot), Zurich ($349) and Hong Kong ($348). In North America
the next most expensive cities in which to build were Seattle ($338),
Chicago ($296), Vancouver ($253), Indianapolis ($244), Phoenix
($241), Atlanta ($240), Houston ($237) and Toronto ($237).

Driving up costs in the majority of markets is the skilled labor shortage
and rising material costs, especially for steel. U.S.-imposed tariffs
have added 5%-10% to the cost of tall and supertall steel-framed core
and shell construction. In San Francisco, prices last year increased
17% for steel rebar and 30% for steel beams.

MUSK ALMOST READY TO UNVEIL NEW TUNNELING MACHINE

Elon Musk said his Boring Co. venture is about a month or so away able to dig continuously versus the 10 minutes per hour that current
from unveiling its new tunnel boring machine (TBM), the Line-Storm, machines on the market can operate. Other goals for Musk's TBMs
according to a post to Musks Twitter account. ' are to be able to add modified cutters, automated segment erection
and to triple the machines' power.
Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, added that The Boring Co.
team is currently focusing on achieving both a higher speed with the The company reportedly was able to dig its 1.14-mile test tunnel in
machine and tight follow distances in the test tunnel. Hawthorne, California, for $10 million, a fraction of what it costs to dig
one using standard machines and tunneling methods.
The company's goal with its machines, according to Inverse, is to be

17 / CONSTRUCTION VISION / May June 2019