Los Angeles · Orange County · Inland Empire
Construction estimating services in Los Angeles
Takeoffs and priced estimates for Los Angeles general contractors, subcontractors and suppliers, with seismic reinforcing counted bar by bar and wage requirements carried where they apply.
- LA, Orange County, Inland Empire
- Concrete and rebar a specialty
- 24 to 48 hours
In short
Estimating in Los Angeles at a glance
MassBid Estimation prepares quantity takeoffs and cost estimates for construction projects across Greater Los Angeles, Orange County and the Inland Empire. Every trade on the drawings is measured, priced to the project's ZIP code and checked twice, and the package is typically delivered in 24 to 48 hours. Recent Los Angeles work includes two multi-story concrete buildings, a 116,000 square foot mixed-use building estimated at $34.5 million, a school accessibility upgrade and a church renovation.
- Area covered
- Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties
- Recent LA-area work
- Two multi-story concrete buildings, a mixed-use building, a school, a church, a residence
- Los Angeles cost drivers
- Seismic reinforcing, tight urban sites and shoring, prevailing wage, the energy code
- Strongest trade here
- Concrete, rebar and masonry, with five finished jobs to show
- Turnaround
- 24 to 48 hours on most projects
- Checked by
- A separate QA team, twice on every job
- Team
- 20+ in-house estimators, typically 7 to 10 years in the trade
- Quote
- Free, usually back in about 20 minutes
Los Angeles · Bid due 2:00 PM
Two concrete buildings in Los Angeles. One was $46 a square foot. The other was $103.
Both were multi-story buildings a few miles apart. The difference was the structure: one had a mat foundation, tall walls and a small footprint that carried a lot of concrete for its floor area.
That is Los Angeles. Seismic design decides how much steel and concrete a building takes, and no square-foot figure knows that in advance. Four things decide whether an LA estimate holds.
Four things a Los Angeles estimate has to get right
01 · The steel
Seismic reinforcing by the ton
Mat foundations with top and bottom mats, boundary elements in walls, closely spaced ties in columns. Rebar in a Los Angeles building is far heavier than a rule of thumb allows.
What changes
Reinforcing is taken off bar by bar from the structural drawings, with laps and hooks.
02 · The site
No room to work
Infill lots mean shoring at the property line, pumped concrete, street closures and material lifted, not driven, into place.
What changes
Shoring, pumping and logistics are carried as their own visible lines.
03 · The wage
Prevailing wage and labor agreements
Public work in Los Angeles pays prevailing wage, and much of it runs under project labor agreements. Open-shop rates on that work are wrong.
What changes
Tell us the wage requirement and labor is priced at the determination for the craft.
04 · The grade
Site concrete nobody carried
On one LA building we estimated, sidewalks, curbs, ramps and site walls were $298,371, a fifth of the concrete package. It is the scope most often left between trades.
What changes
Site concrete is measured from the civil and landscape drawings and listed separately.
Los Angeles submarkets
Greater Los Angeles, priced submarket by submarket
Five counties, with labor and logistics that change every twenty miles.
Central Los Angeles and the Westside
Hollywood, Koreatown, Downtown, Santa Monica and Venice: infill apartments, mixed-use, schools and renovation on tight lots.
The South Bay, Long Beach and Southeast LA
Inglewood, Torrance, Lakewood, Commerce and Long Beach: public buildings, retail, churches and port-related industrial work.
The valleys and foothills
The San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys, Pasadena, Altadena and Santa Clarita: residential, studio, medical and rebuilding after wildfire.
Orange County and the Inland Empire
Anaheim, Irvine, Ontario, Riverside and San Bernardino: mixed-use, distribution centers and housing at lower labor rates than the basin.
Real Los Angeles work
Sample takeoffs from a Los Angeles concrete building
Pages from a finished job: the concrete and reinforcing for a multi-story building in central Los Angeles. The client name, address and title block are removed; the quantities are as delivered. Click any page to enlarge.
Foundation
Foundation takeoff for a multi-story Los Angeles building
Protects you fromA mat foundation priced like a slab.
Elevated slab
Rebar takeoff for an elevated slab in Los Angeles
Protects you fromRebar priced by pounds per square foot.
Every estimate is built to the client's own specification, so yours may be laid out differently. To see a past project in your own trade, ask for an example. Examples are finished work for other projects, not an estimate of yours; for pricing on your own job, send your Los Angeles drawings for a free quote.
Real Los Angeles figures
What recent Los Angeles-area projects cost
Trade costs from estimates we delivered on six projects in Los Angeles County and the Inland Empire.
Concrete on the two multi-story buildings ran $46.06 and $102.52 per square foot of building. The mixed-use building, with every trade, came to $297.56.
Figures are trade cost before overhead, profit and contingency, from the delivered estimates. Per-square-foot figures are per square foot of building or of work area. They are specific to those projects and are not a price guide.
Real jobs, not a price list. Each figure comes from one project, priced for its own ZIP code and that client's wages, overhead and profit. Prices change by region and over time. Yours will be priced for your location.
| Los Angeles-area project and trade | Cost | Per sq ft |
|---|---|---|
| Mixed-use building, Inland Empire, 116,100 sq ft: all trades | $34,549,661 | $297.56 |
| Multi-story building, central LA, 20,500 sq ft: concrete | $942,761 | $46.06 |
| Multi-story building, central LA, 8,300 sq ft: concrete | $846,899 | $102.52 |
| Retail building, southeast LA, 3,450 sq ft: concrete | $81,367 | $23.57 |
| Elementary school accessibility upgrade, Westside: concrete and site | $148,613 | |
| Church renovation, southeast LA: concrete and site | $98,012 | |
| Residence, foothills, 2,030 sq ft: electrical and HVAC | $44,093 | $21.76 |
Published market ranges
What building in Los Angeles costs per square foot
For building types we have not yet priced in Los Angeles, these are the published ranges.
These are a cost consultant's published ranges for whole buildings, not our estimates. They are useful for checking a budget; a bid still needs quantities measured from the drawings.
Hard construction cost per square foot of gross floor area, second quarter of 2026. Ranges vary with site conditions, specification and market conditions.
Source: Rider Levett Bucknall, North America Quarterly Construction Cost Report, Q2 2026
| Building type | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Office, prime | $275 | $415 |
| Office, secondary | $215 | $305 |
| Retail, strip center | $160 | $235 |
| Hotel, three-star | $315 | $420 |
| Hospital | $705 | $1,070 |
| Warehouse | $145 | $225 |
| Multifamily residential | $270 | $440 |
| Single-family residential | $240 | $420 |
| Elementary school | $420 | $550 |
| High school | $360 | $635 |
Full sample
Read a full sample, page by page
Concrete and rebar, from a finished job: a multi-story building in California. Open it full screen, scroll through all 8 pages and zoom in on any line.
This is one real job, shown as an example. It was built to that client's own specification: their wage rates, labor style, type of pricing, and overhead and profit. Prices also change by region and over time, so yours will be priced for your location.
Want a current sample in your own trade or specialty, or have a question? Use the contact form, email [email protected] or call (832) 356-4237.
Trades and places
What Los Angeles contractors send us most
Concrete and rebar
Foundations, walls, slabs and reinforcing, bar by bar.
Concrete estimatingMasonry
Block walls with grout and reinforcing calculated.
Masonry estimatingWhole-building estimates
Every division, as on the mixed-use building.
GC estimatingSite concrete and paving
Sidewalks, curbs, ramps and site walls.
Exterior improvements
Los Angeles-area places we price
- Los Angeles
- Long Beach
- Pasadena
- Santa Monica
- Glendale
- Burbank
- Inglewood
- Torrance
- Anaheim
- Irvine
- Ontario
- Riverside
- San Bernardino
- Lakewood
- Santa Clarita
- Culver City
Pricing data
How a Los Angeles project is priced
Quantities are priced from our own pricing database, built with local vendors across the United States. The estimator enters the project's ZIP code and gets current material prices for that part of Los Angeles.
Material prices change from region to region and from month to month, so a price book or a national average is out of date before the bid goes in.
Priced by ZIP code
Current local material prices for the place the job is built, not a national average.
Updated by vendors
Local vendors update their prices in the database as they change.
Labor as you bid it
Union, open shop, or Davis-Bacon and prevailing wage rates with fringes.
How it works
From Los Angeles drawings to a finished estimate
Send the drawings
Plans, specifications and addenda, with the project address or ZIP code, the bid date and any bid form or template you have to fill in.
Free quote
We review the set and reply with a quote and a delivery date, usually within about 20 minutes.
Takeoff, pricing and two QA reviews
Quantities are measured on the drawings and priced to the project's ZIP code. A separate QA team checks the quantities against the plans, then the priced estimate.
Delivery and revisions
The package typically arrives within 24 to 48 hours. Addenda and revisions are free, with no limit and no time limit, and are handled on priority.
The work is done in-house by more than 20 estimators, typically with 7 to 10 years of industry experience.
What it costs
Estimating prices for Los Angeles projects
- Single project
- From $199. Simple scopes typically run $100 to $250.
- Larger buildings
- Typically $200 to $500. Large or multi-building projects are quoted individually.
- Monthly plan
- From $1,499 for 10 to 15 projects, for contractors who bid every week.
Every job is quoted individually from the drawings, and the quote is free. See all pricing
After delivery
An editable Excel workbook and free revisions
- Formulas built in
An Excel workbook you can change yourself
The estimate arrives as an editable Excel workbook with the formulas built in. Change a quantity, a rate or a markup and every total follows. Move overhead and profit from 25% to 30% and the whole bid recalculates on the spot.
- No waiting
Adjust your bid at the last minute
If something changes just before the deadline, you do not have to send the estimate back and wait. Open the workbook, change the number and submit. The control stays with you.
- Priority turnaround
Free revisions, with no limit
Addenda, scope changes and pricing updates are all free, however many times you come back, and there is no time limit. Revisions are handled on priority and typically come back within an hour to a few hours.
Questions
Los Angeles construction estimating FAQ
Yes. We price projects in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, each to its own ZIP code.
On two multi-story buildings we estimated in central Los Angeles, concrete was $46.06 per square foot of building on one and $102.52 on the other, trade cost before markups. The difference was a mat foundation, taller walls and a smaller footprint on the second.
A 116,100 square foot mixed-use building we estimated in the Inland Empire came to $297.56 per square foot in trade cost for every division. Rider Levett Bucknall's second quarter 2026 report puts Los Angeles multifamily at $270 to $440 and prime offices at $275 to $415.
Yes. Reinforcing is measured from the structural drawings by bar size, with laps, hooks, ties and added bars at openings, and converted to weight.
Yes. Tell us the project is public works and labor is priced at the prevailing wage determination for the county and craft.
Yes. Recent work includes an accessibility upgrade at an elementary school on the Westside, where concrete and site work came to $148,613.
Yes. Sidewalks, curbs, ramps, driveways and site walls are measured from the civil drawings and listed separately. On one LA building they were $298,371.
Yes. This page shows a full sample from a finished job (concrete and rebar, for a multi-story building in California), which you can open full screen and read page by page. It was built to that client's own specification, so the wage rates, pricing and overhead and profit are theirs. Ask us for a current sample in your own trade.
From our own pricing database, built with local vendors across the United States. An estimator enters the project's ZIP code and gets current material prices for that part of Los Angeles, and vendors update their prices as they change. Labor is priced as union or open shop, or at Davis-Bacon rates with fringes on government work.
Yes. The estimate is delivered as an editable Excel workbook with the formulas built in. Change any quantity, rate or markup and the whole estimate recalculates. If overhead and profit was set at 25% and you want 30%, change that one cell and every total updates, so you can adjust your number minutes before the bid is due without sending it back to us.
As many as you need. Every revision is free, including addenda, scope changes and pricing updates, however many times you come back, and there is no time limit. Revisions are handled on priority and are typically returned within an hour to a few hours, depending on the size of the change.
Most packages are delivered in 24 to 48 hours. The quote is free and usually comes back in about 20 minutes.
A single project starts at $199, and simple scopes typically run $100 to $250. Larger buildings typically run $200 to $500. Every estimate is built to the client's own specification.
Bidding a Los Angeles project? Send the drawings.
Free quote in about 20 minutes. Takeoffs and estimates typically in 24 to 48 hours, priced to the project's Los Angeles ZIP code and built to your format, with free revisions with no limit.