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Comment by hn_throwaway_99 | Hacker News Reader

I realize this is somewhat tangential to the topic, but related questions:

1. The whole project is expected to cost $1.5 billion. Does that strike anyone else as insane? That's like 330k per room, and these rooms are really tiny with no windows. I get the point is to have tons of more inviting common spaces, but 1.5 billion just seems nuts to me. Especially since Munger decreed much of the building will be assembled off site in "pods".

2. All the beds are at the back of the room, essentially "walled in" on 3 sides. I'm too tall for a normal twin or full size mattress, which is what these images look like. Normally that's not much of an issue because I let my feet hang off the bed. I would feel super squished in this bed.

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UCSB is very close to the Pacific Ocean and much of the ground is sandy cliffs that frequently fall into the Pacific Ocean. The university is trying to build for the long term and is very concerned about the possible impacts of climate change that might accelerate erosion. Those factors contribute to increase building costs.

The building location is one of the most northern spots on campus, i.e. it is basically further from the ocean than nearly every other spot in the university. While Santa Barbara construction prices certainly influence the cost, protecting against "sandy cliffs" do not.

Building location: https://goo.gl/maps/f2SxAxgajfFotQ8K8

> 2. All the beds are at the back of the room, essentially "walled in" on 3 sides.

The rooms are 10x7 so these beds would need to be twin longs like (all?) US dorms.

It is around $1k square foot, which seems about double what houses would cost, but universities have a lot of requirements. I.e. stricter fire safety adds costs all around.

The room is $70k, the shared space in the module per room is about $70k. The other $90k is convertible classrooms, a Costco, etc which would normally be entirely separate building projects.

> Does that strike anyone else as insane? That's like 330k per room

As someone who lives in California, not really, no.

as someone who lives in a high cost area 10 minutes from sunnyvale and 15 mins from mountain view yes, they are overpriced

I think this building has more than just these pods, eg. open space, the shop he is talking about etc. So much more real estate than just rooms get covered with this money.

> Does that strike anyone else as insane? That's like 330k per room

It is expensive but Room & Board is 16.5k for 9 months at UCSB, so it will break even in 30 years or so depending how you model it.

https://www.finaid.ucsb.edu/cost-of-attendance

I would expect a huge portion of that Room & Board is actually the "Board" component, i.e. food, utilities, maintenance, etc. The portion that just goes to the capital costs of the building itself (and the $1.5 billion is just the total estimated capital cost of the project), is much smaller.

>I would expect a huge portion of that Room & Board is actually the "Board" component, i.e. food, utilities, maintenance, etc.

"Huge Portion"... not really its about 2k each semester for food.

https://www.dining.ucsb.edu/off-campus-meal-plans

College construction and the related contractors and unions in the US are really effective at extracting money from even "small" projects. The goal is certainly not to be efficient.

I posted a comparison to UC Berkeley's new proposed dorm. TLDR; this is cheaper per sq ft by $360.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29132614

Yeah, 330k is a lot per room seeing as you can buy an entire house for that money in many parts of the US.

As somebody who went to UCSB, has lived in LA, TX, NYC, NOVA, etc. you cannot compare the price of the average house in flyover country to housing next to UCSB

A room in a condo in LA doesn't cost 330k.

The dorms I’ve been in have twin XL, but you make a good point if these are not.

Given the high construction cost everywhere, this is not surprising. I had a friend with a backyard slopping down a hill. He got some quotes to put in a deck and redo his yard. No one quoted anything less than 200k.

Oh come on. Yes construction costs increased and then started to go back down, but if no one quoted less 200K for a deck and a yard either his yard is the size of a plantation or the quotes were simply from people who had better things to do and were short staffed.

You know, a problem that doesn't apply to billion dollar construction.

Supply and demand do dictate prices, yes.

What you're seeing isn't supply and demand, it's prices given to you by people who want you to decline.

I understand that you're saying these contractors have better jobs to do than someone's yard. The guys who came out to give bids specialized in residential landscaping work. The fact that they came out to give quotes means that some of these 200k jobs are actually happening.

In my experience, contractors who do not want your job will not come out to give bids.

No one is paying 200k for a deck and some yard work. Either your friend had some insane demands that would fetch a high price, or they were just giving a high price.

It has been my experience that charging 5x the usual amount for a job you don't want to do is something many contractoes do.

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