Manhattan · Brooklyn · Queens · The Bronx · Staten Island · Long Island · Westchester
Construction estimating services in New York City
Takeoffs and priced estimates for general contractors, subcontractors and suppliers in the five boroughs, Long Island and Westchester, priced to the ZIP code the job is built in.
- Five boroughs, Long Island, Westchester
- Steel, interiors, apartments, renovations
- 24 to 48 hours
In short
Estimating in New York City at a glance
MassBid Estimation prepares quantity takeoffs and cost estimates for construction projects in New York City and the surrounding area. 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 work in and around the city includes structural and miscellaneous steel for a four-story Brooklyn building, a full estimate for a Westchester apartment building, a house addition on Long Island, and drywall and firestopping takeoffs in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
- Area covered
- The five boroughs, Nassau and Suffolk counties, Westchester and the lower Hudson Valley
- Recent New York City work
- Brooklyn steel, Westchester apartments, Long Island house addition, Brooklyn drywall, Manhattan firestopping
- New York City cost drivers
- Union labor, site logistics, the city's own building code, insurance, work inside occupied buildings
- Code
- New York City Construction Codes, administered by the Department of Buildings
- 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
Brooklyn · Bid day
In New York, getting the material to the floor can cost as much as the material.
A lot with no laydown area, a hoist shared with four other trades, a delivery window that closes at seven in the morning, a sidewalk shed that stays up for a year. None of it appears in a quantity, and all of it is in the price.
On top of that sit some of the highest labor rates in the country. Four things decide whether a New York City estimate holds.
Four things a New York City estimate has to get right
01 · The labor
Union, open shop and prevailing wage
The same trade can be priced three ways in this city depending on the owner and the funding. Public work carries prevailing wage schedules with supplemental benefits.
What changes
Labor is priced as union, open shop or prevailing wage for the job, with benefits added.
02 · The logistics
Hoisting, protection and access
General requirements run far higher here than on a suburban site: hoists, sheds, street permits, protection of finished work and after-hours deliveries.
What changes
General requirements are built up item by item for the site, not as a percentage carried over from elsewhere.
03 · The steel
Steel by member and by pound
On a four-story Brooklyn building, structural and miscellaneous metals came to $269,240 in trade cost. Lintels, stairs, rails and loose angles are the items most easily missed.
What changes
Members are taken off by size and weight, and miscellaneous metals are listed item by item.
04 · The interior
Work inside existing buildings
Most Manhattan work is a fit-out or a renovation: rated partitions, firestopping at every penetration, and patching to match what is there.
What changes
Partitions are taken off by type and rating, and firestopping by penetration size and joint length.
New York City submarkets
Four parts of the New York market, priced separately
Labor, access and suppliers differ sharply across the region.
Manhattan
Office and retail fit-outs, residential renovation, hospitality and institutional work, with the highest logistics cost in the region.
Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx
New mixed-use and apartment buildings, schools, industrial conversions and infill.
Long Island
Nassau and Suffolk counties: houses and additions, retail, schools, colleges and healthcare.
Westchester and the Hudson Valley
Apartment buildings, institutional renovation and village-scale mixed use north of the city.
Real New York City figures
What recent New York City projects cost, by trade
Trade costs from estimates we delivered in and around New York City.
The Westchester apartment building is a full general contractor estimate, every trade on the drawings; the Brooklyn figure is one trade on a larger building.
Figures are trade cost before general requirements and markups, from the delivered estimates. Per-square-foot figures are per square foot of building. 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.
| New York City project and trade | Cost | Per sq ft |
|---|---|---|
| Apartment building, Westchester County, 8,010 sq ft: all trades | $770,095 | $96.17 |
| Four-story building, Brooklyn, 38,600 sq ft: structural and misc. metals | $269,240 | $6.98 |
Published market ranges
What building in New York City costs per square foot
For whole buildings in the city itself, these are the published ranges for New York, with a wide spread between low and high.
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 | $425 | $985 |
| Office, secondary | $245 | $610 |
| Retail, strip center | $385 | $775 |
| Hotel, three-star | $385 | $530 |
| Hospital | $655 | $1,000 |
| Warehouse | $150 | $245 |
| Multifamily residential | $255 | $500 |
| Single-family residential | $365 | $730 |
| Elementary school | $565 | $710 |
| High school | $610 | $785 |
Full sample
Read a full sample, page by page
Residential estimate, from a finished job: a house addition and renovation in New York. Open it full screen, scroll through all 4 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
Services with New York work to show
Structural steel
The Brooklyn building, member by member.
Structural steel estimatingFirestopping
A Manhattan tenant space, by penetration and joint.
Firestopping estimatingDrywall
Partitions by type, with framing, in Brooklyn.
Drywall estimatingHouses and additions
A Long Island addition and renovation, every trade.
Residential estimating
Places around New York City we price
- Manhattan
- Brooklyn
- Queens
- The Bronx
- Staten Island
- Yonkers
- White Plains
- New Rochelle
- Mount Vernon
- Ossining
- Hempstead
- Garden City
- Huntington
- Northport
- Deer Park
- Mineola
Pricing data
How a New York City 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 New York City.
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 New York City 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 New York City 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.
New York City contractors who do not keep a full-time estimator use us for outsourced estimating: send the drawings when a bid comes up and pay per project.
Every job is quoted individually from the drawings, and the quote is free. See all pricing
After delivery
An editable Excel estimate workbook and unlimited 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
Unlimited free revisions
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
New York City construction estimating FAQ
Yes. We price projects in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island, and on Long Island and in Westchester, each to its own ZIP code.
Rider Levett Bucknall's second quarter 2026 report puts New York at $255 to $500 per square foot for multifamily, $425 to $985 for prime offices and $385 to $530 for a three-star hotel. Those are published ranges for whole buildings; a bid needs quantities from the drawings.
On an 8,010 square foot apartment building in Westchester County that we estimated, trade cost for all trades was $770,095, or $96.17 per square foot before general requirements, overhead, profit, contingency and tax.
On a four-story, 38,600 square foot building in Brooklyn, structural and miscellaneous metals came to $269,240 in trade cost, or $6.98 per square foot of building.
Yes. Labor is priced as union, open shop or prevailing wage with supplemental benefits, whichever the project requires. Federal projects are priced at Davis-Bacon rates with fringes.
General requirements are built up for the site: hoisting, sidewalk protection, permits, deliveries and protection of finished work. Tell us the site conditions with the drawings and they are priced as their own lines.
Both. General contractors get every trade on the drawings; subcontractors get their own trade isolated and returned in the general contractor's format. Suppliers get quantities only.
Yes. This page shows a full sample from a finished job (residential estimate, for a house addition and renovation in New York), 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 New York City, 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, depending on the size, scope and complexity of the job. The quote is free, usually comes back in about 20 minutes, and states the exact delivery time.
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, and revisions are free.
Other cities and services
Bidding a New York City project? Send the drawings.
Free quote in about 20 minutes. Takeoffs and estimates typically in 24 to 48 hours, priced to the project's New York City ZIP code and built to your format, with free revisions with no limit.