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Comment by jeffbush | Hacker News Reader

"I mean, have you ever heard of a building project going 3x over budget and then not actually delivering a building at all?"

Construction projects go over budget and are late all the time. Remember the big dig? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Dig

The Sydney Opera house was 10 years late and 1475% over budget: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Opera_House#Completion_...

Anyone who's had renovations done to their house can also probably sympathize.

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Government construction projects, at least in the US, "go over budget and are late all the time".

Private construction? Not so much, certainly nothing like 3x the estimated cost.

Who performs the work on government projects? Private companies.

Yes, construction projects can frequently be late and over budget, but they always end up with an actual building when they're done.

I'm trying to be charitable in my interpretation, but "always" is a strong word:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaza_Rakyat

http://gizmodo.com/the-sad-fate-of-the-worlds-six-tallest-un...

But rather than split hairs: I interpreted the underlying assertion being that construction is more predictable and reliable than software. I've heard this in other contexts as well. And that didn't pass the gut check for me, because I can think anecdotally of many construction projects (and home renovations) that were way over budget and took longer than expected.

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