Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why Are Canadian Construction Costs So High? (2018)

pedestrianobservations.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 146 posts

Re: Why Are Canadian Construction Costs So High? (2018)

#131

Post by rb808 »

timerol wrote: post #90
rb808 wrote: post #75

I think the main issue is why American costs are so low. It still amazes me how you can buy a big beautiful house in the sun belt for a few hundred thousand. If Canada is more expensive its probably sensible. I realize I'm being downvoted but you have to realize that most of the developed world has a great standard of living but a new build 4 bedroom house on a 1/4 acre of land is completely unaffordable for most peo…

This article is about public transit construction costs, so your comment is fairly off topic. In the realm of public transit, American costs are absurdly expensive

Yeah I hate people that never read the Posted Article. I didn't this time.

Re: Why Are Canadian Construction Costs So High? (2018)

#132

Post by yellowapple »

tptacek wrote: post #110
mrep wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or visit then if you like some snow :) I'm currently in Seattle and I cannot wait to move back. Fortunately, my girlfriend gradates in 7 months and we are literally counting down the months until then so we can move back.

It's a great city. But there's lots not to like about living in a big city. I find NYC almost incredibly oppressive and confining and crazymaking, but I don't wonder why people love it; I also get why people move out to farms in Minnesota, even though I'd never do that myself. But you're not allowed to say that "the wind" is why you don't like Chicago. (Fair warning, I have our city's flag inked on my arm, so I may b…

> (Fair warning, I have our city's flag inked on my arm, so I may be a booster).

It is a kickass flag, to be fair.

Re: Why Are Canadian Construction Costs So High? (2018)

#133

Post by LegitShady »

blaser-waffle wrote: post #123
LegitShady wrote: post #21

Design, land, environmental permitting and remediation, noise and dust remediation, aboriginal/metis consultation, utility components on LRT/subway projects can span years and costs millions of dollars per utility and a given kilometer may have 100. and then you have to actually build whatever it is. Just doesn't seem like an analysis with enough detail.

Yeah, surprised no one mentioned environmental permits and aboriginal consults -- those were the two items that were/are holding up the big pipeline projects in Canada.

I do t think the person who wrote the article or the average hm user know much about environmental permitting or indigenous consultation. Or building much either.

Re: Why Are Canadian Construction Costs So High? (2018)

#134

Post by magduf »

smabie wrote: post #130
magduf wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>And in terms of density, NYC isn’t even in the top 50. I don't believe that. If you look at Manhattan alone, you'll see something very different. Unlike many other cities (particularly in the US, but also other places), NYC is basically a collection of cities. Manhattan is dense, but Staten Island is definitely not, so that drags down the average density. It's not fair to compare that with many other places.

So do you not believe that or is it not fair?

Any "top 50" list of cities by density is inherently biased: How do you demarcate where the city's borders lie? Do you count surrounding municipalities? The whole thing is going to be comparing apples and oranges, because different cities are organized differently. It just isn't something you can easily distill down into a list like that.

Re: Why Are Canadian Construction Costs So High? (2018)

#135

Post by s1artibartfast »

sunstone wrote: post #55
chopin wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taking lowest cost bid isn't always optimal. In Germany it is required to take the lowest cost bid which leads to all kinds of failed projects as the winning bid can't hold its bid. As well, life-time of things built this way have become awfully short.

Imagine if you were forced to buy all your stuff from the dollar store. Pretty obviously the results would be hit and miss, mostly miss.

Not if you set the correct requirements.

Re: Why Are Canadian Construction Costs So High? (2018)

#136

Post by thisguyuknow »

unreal37 wrote: post #4

Disappointingly, the answer from the article is "I don't know." This article could be condensed to a table.

The reason is that Canadians are spoiled, entitled, house-horny, financially illiterate morons who willingly enslave themselves to the banks that run the country. You're just not allowed to say that in print.

Re: Why Are Canadian Construction Costs So High? (2018)

#137

Post by frandroid »

moltar wrote: post #17

As I can see from living in Canada and travelling the world there can be several reasons: - corruption, especially in QC - over-the-top safety requirements, regardless of project size. E.g. in Toronto every road work sight has a police officer present who’s just standing there bored out of their mind. In Montreal it’d be two persons on each side holding a flag - a job in Europe replaced by a temporary semaphore. - la…

> lack of experience and expertise. Canada is a relatively young country with very few major infra projects under its belt.

Nonsense. Canada is a major engineering power, building large projects the world over. One of the world's top 5 engineering firms, SNC-Lavalin, is located there.

Re: Why Are Canadian Construction Costs So High? (2018)

#138

Post by frandroid »

bluGill wrote: post #70
sunstone wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine if you were forced to buy all your stuff from the dollar store. Pretty obviously the results would be hit and miss, mostly miss.

Imagine a twist on this: you have to buy from the dollar store, but they dollar store has agreed on a level of quality. They may have a separate back room with only the things you are allowed to buy because that is where items that meet your quality standard are. (They may or may not allow others into that room) The reality is for big projects quality should always be part of the contract. Use substandard quality mat…

> the dollar store has agreed on a level of quality

The problem is that "agree on a level" and "lowest cost" are fundamentally opposite goals which require constant outside monitoring.

Re: Why Are Canadian Construction Costs So High? (2018)

#139

Post by frandroid »

wyck wrote: post #102
marcpaq wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - corruption, especially in QC Quebec removed a blindfold with the Charbonneau Commission. A sincere question: have other provinces done the same recently? What did they discover? > - over-the-top safety requirements, regardless of project size. E.g. in Toronto every road work sight has a police officer present who’s just standing there bored out of their mind. How much does that add to a project that costs 9-10 di…

>Quebec removed a blindfold with the Charbonneau Commission. Sorry to digaree but he Charbonneau Commission did very little, corruption is still a huge problem in QC, it's part of the culture ..like Italy.

They said it removed a blindfold, they didn't say it solved the problem.

Re: Why Are Canadian Construction Costs So High? (2018)

#140

Post by ahaferburg »

chopin wrote: post #77
KptMarchewa wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not "lowest cost bid" but "lowest cost bid that meets all the requirements". The point is that requirements have to be well specified.

The problem is that Germany lacks knowledgeable people in public service.

The underlying assumption is that Waterfall works, which is probably more problematic.
Post reply on HN