2025 Canadian Cost Guide

If you are in the pre-planning stage and know your floor areas, you can use the guide to prepare a high-level estimate. Using the Private Sector price per square foot data, it’s relatively simple, as illustrated in this example.

That said, even for a high-level estimate, you should also be accounting for construction cost escalation between the date of this guide and your project’s construction start date. When establishing your cost escalation rate, be sure to consider factors that may influence the rate of change, such as your region and your asset type.

If you are further into the planning phase of your project and able to obtain specific measurements of building elements, beyond just floor areas, you can prepare a more detailed estimate and use the guide to benchmark that estimate.

This point is reached earlier in the project than you may realize, and even with preliminary concept drawings you are able to measure elemental quantities and estimate your construction costs with a lower margin of error than is possible with a simple cost per square foot estimate. The conceptual drawings provide you with critical information about the building characteristics which can have a significant impact on the cost, including the building’s shape, height, footprint, and characteristics of the below-grade structure.

For example, you can use this information to estimate façade costs, based on a façade quantity measured specifically for your building’s shape and height.