Why does it cost so much to build things in America? | Hacker News Reader

Why does it cost so much to build things in America?

vox.com

26 points1cvmask7 comments

"""But the researchers were able to identify a few reasons for what happened to the Green Line: Jockeying between two different understaffed agencies with little experience managing large projects and consultants, a laissez-faire approach to allowing stakeholders’ expensive ideas to be added to the project scope “even if impractical,” and public pressure for more as the project dragged on and the demand for transit options increased.""'

Inexperienced managers, poor planning, and feature bloat.

This is the failure of many a project.

I see these articles all the time, but none of them seem to start with a basic break down from $ per mile to:

• laborer hours per mile

• raw materials cost per mile

• admin cost per mile (laywers, permits, etc)

• cost per hour of laborers.

• land acquisition costs

It basically has to be one or more of those factors is very inflated in the US. I kind of suspect its laborer hours per mile, and the media is hesitant to pick a fight with unions to publish that.

I rather suspect that it’s just experience. It’s an oft quoted fact that to build an iPhone in the United States would cost 10,000 dollars- because the expertise isn’t here, and the infrastructure isn’t here, and we would be just building one instead of a whole bunch of them. There are network effects you get by having an ongoing industry devoted to some task rather than approaching every project as a one-off.

We suck at building railroads because we never do it.

A century ago we were the best at it, because we did it all the time. But the muscle memory you build up by having an industry devoted to doing something is lost in a generation or two, when you stop.

The article specifically calls out nuisance lawsuits, inexperienced project management, and extra costs incurred to avoid disruptions for drivers.

>nuisance lawsuits

My friend's neighbor's house burned down a little while ago, also in Massachusetts, the land of said Green Line.

Apparently they needed to alert their neighbors (my friend included) with flyers outlining their plans, followed by some sort of public meeting, before they could begin rebuilding their home.

Imagine being homeless at the mercy of every one of your neighbors and any one of them could arbitrarily slow you down with irrelevant concerns. This kind of tedious bureaucracy is not just inefficient, but very cruel.

Only happens to people who have given up their Sovereignty.

Yes but I don’t recall seeing any kind of breakdown that quantifies how much of the cost of infra is due to these lawsuits. I may have missed it though.

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