Impact of Building Height on Construction Costs

The relationship between building height and construction costs reveals that costs do not increase linearly with height. For instance, moving from three stories to four often incurs a significant cost jump due to differing building code requirements, which can raise costs by as much as 50%. Similarly, transitioning from seven to eight stories can lead to a dramatic cost increase, while a ten-story structure might actually have lower per-square-foot costs than an eight-story one. This insight challenges assumptions about the linearity of construction costs, emphasizing that height limitations in urban planning can inadvertently affect housing affordability.