What construction actually gets declared at.
Value distributions per project category, computed from GROUND's own permit corpus — medians and quartiles, never averages, so one outlier can't move a benchmark.
| Category | Projects | P25 | Median | P75 | Declared $/SF · median | IQR | w/ area |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residential addition & renovation | 5,305 | $20K | $50K | $150K | $137 | $65–$254 | 2,532 |
| Office fit-out | 1,135 | $85K | $200K | $800K | $120 | $58–$241 | 897 |
| Single detached & new houses | 1,102 | $500K | $900K | $1,200K | $192 | $121–$268 | 1,057 |
| Underpinning & basement lowering | 1,094 | $50K | $100K | $300K | $155 | $81–$283 | 667 |
| Laneway & garden suites | 1,029 | $100K | $250K | $479K | $227 | $128–$374 | 963 |
| Restaurant fit-out | 857 | $30K | $80K | $230K | $100 | $55–$192 | 656 |
| Multiplex (new) | 816 | $80K | $450K | $1,000K | $155 | $75–$248 | 679 |
| Secondary suites | 640 | $25K | $47K | $80K | $63 | $40–$117 | 402 |
| Retail fit-out | 617 | $50K | $100K | $400K | $94 | $53–$201 | 469 |
| Institutional alteration | 454 | $80K | $350K | $1,200K | $333 | $131–$733 | 201 |
| Industrial & warehouse alteration | 273 | $50K | $190K | $1,000K | $136 | $52–$311 | 137 |
| Medical & dental fit-out | 250 | $80K | $150K | $450K | $111 | $58–$226 | 215 |
| Commercial interior (other) | 45 | $50K | $200K | $500K | $116 | $52–$157 | 30 |
| New industrial building | 37 | $500K | $3,020K | $23,366K | $162 | $119–$216 | 31 |
| Demolition | 27 | $30K | $50K | $600K | $40 | $27–$96 | 18 |
Size changes the number
A 2,500 SF fit-out and a 50,000 SF fit-out don't share a benchmark. Where a category has enough sized comparables, GROUND splits its declared $/SF distribution by floor-area band.
| Category | Size band | Projects | Declared $/SF · P25 | Median | P75 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residential addition & renovation | < 5K SF | 2,445 | $64 | $136 | $254 |
| 5–10K SF | 65 | $86 | $145 | $235 | |
| 10–25K SF | 13 | $70 | $158 | $255 | |
| Single detached & new houses | < 5K SF | 635 | $121 | $204 | $286 |
| 5–10K SF | 376 | $128 | $170 | $232 | |
| 10–25K SF | 44 | $91 | $184 | $289 | |
| Laneway & garden suites | < 5K SF | 941 | $130 | $230 | $378 |
| 5–10K SF | 22 | $84 | $171 | $198 | |
| Office fit-out | < 5K SF | 597 | $54 | $111 | $235 |
| 5–10K SF | 125 | $69 | $113 | $201 | |
| 10–25K SF | 106 | $77 | $154 | $252 | |
| 25–50K SF | 38 | $46 | $177 | $277 | |
| 50–100K SF | 20 | $184 | $262 | $326 | |
| 100K+ SF | 11 | $53 | $174 | $324 | |
| Multiplex (new) | < 5K SF | 504 | $67 | $145 | $256 |
| 5–10K SF | 172 | $99 | $166 | $238 | |
| Underpinning & basement lowering | < 5K SF | 645 | $82 | $158 | $287 |
| 5–10K SF | 21 | $79 | $98 | $223 | |
| Restaurant fit-out | < 5K SF | 598 | $54 | $96 | $179 |
| 5–10K SF | 32 | $76 | $148 | $238 | |
| 10–25K SF | 19 | $91 | $157 | $443 | |
| Retail fit-out | < 5K SF | 384 | $51 | $94 | $202 |
| 5–10K SF | 45 | $71 | $100 | $179 | |
| 10–25K SF | 27 | $60 | $81 | $117 | |
| 25–50K SF | 10 | $37 | $110 | $245 | |
| Secondary suites | < 5K SF | 384 | $40 | $60 | $114 |
| 5–10K SF | 16 | $92 | $132 | $158 | |
| Medical & dental fit-out | < 5K SF | 183 | $58 | $103 | $223 |
| 5–10K SF | 19 | $37 | $95 | $232 | |
| 10–25K SF | 11 | $66 | $189 | $414 | |
| Institutional alteration | < 5K SF | 140 | $126 | $309 | $767 |
| 5–10K SF | 23 | $124 | $267 | $392 | |
| 10–25K SF | 13 | $101 | $323 | $550 | |
| 25–50K SF | 9 | $235 | $505 | $685 | |
| 50–100K SF | 8 | $458 | $622 | $1,056 | |
| 100K+ SF | 8 | $341 | $427 | $733 | |
| Industrial & warehouse alteration | < 5K SF | 75 | $59 | $166 | $386 |
| 5–10K SF | 24 | $34 | $70 | $140 | |
| 10–25K SF | 23 | $81 | $136 | $205 | |
| 25–50K SF | 9 | $107 | $171 | $534 | |
| New industrial building | < 5K SF | 12 | $146 | $185 | $216 |
| 100K+ SF | 9 | $95 | $119 | $138 |
What the work actually sold for
Prices a public body agreed to pay, not an applicant's estimate — City of Toronto awarded contracts, $3.0B across 327 construction awards. Civil work is priced as contract value because $/SF is the wrong shape for a watermain.
| Work class | Awards | P25 | Median award | P75 | Largest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watermain & sewer | 105 | $2,951K | $6.24M | $11.2M | $494.8M |
| Roads & resurfacing | 90 | $1,321K | $2.05M | $4.8M | $51.8M |
| Buildings & facilities | 46 | $945K | $1.72M | $6.1M | $96.2M |
| Bridges & structures | 43 | $737K | $2.52M | $6.0M | $75.3M |
| Parks & recreation | 30 | $974K | $1.35M | $4.9M | $125.8M |
| Water & wastewater plants | 13 | $1,556K | $3.26M | $13.4M | $79.8M |
Work class is inferred from the solicitation text — an interpretation, not a source field.
Public construction spend, by awarding division
1,381 awards worth $6.8B. The division that awarded the contract is recorded on the award itself — unlike work class, which has to be read out of the solicitation text and is missing on most rows. Bar width is share of awarded value.
| Division | Awards | Awarded value | Median award | Largest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Engineering & Construction Services
42.7% of awarded value
|
243 | $2,897.6M | $4,660,915 | $494.8M |
|
Toronto Water
13.3% of awarded value
|
164 | $905.7M | $3,158,775 | $79.8M |
|
Parks, Forestry & Recreation
10.4% of awarded value
|
201 | $704.3M | $858,252 | $90.6M |
|
Corporate Real Estate Management
8.5% of awarded value
|
93 | $574.3M | $3,100,000 | $96.2M |
|
Solid Waste Management Services
7.3% of awarded value
|
58 | $495.3M | $1,317,170 | $197.1M |
|
Transportation Services
5.3% of awarded value
|
193 | $358.2M | $1,197,000 | $18.9M |
|
Fleet Services
1.6% of awarded value
|
77 | $111.3M | $350,384 | $19.9M |
|
Fire Services
1.4% of awarded value
|
31 | $93.4M | $459,510 | $33.6M |
|
Technology Services
1.3% of awarded value
|
27 | $87.5M | $730,882 | $20.0M |
|
Seniors Services and Long-Term Care
0.9% of awarded value
|
32 | $58.1M | $530,414 | $18.1M |
Top 10 of 44 divisions, carrying 93% of awarded value. Sub-division suffixes are folded into the parent division. 19 awards worth $174.3M were awarded jointly by more than one division and are counted in the total but credited to none of them.
Municipal construction, by awarded value
| Contractor | Awards | Awarded value |
|---|---|---|
| GIO-CRETE CONSTRUCTION LTD | 3 | $515.4M |
| POMERLEAU INC. | 2 | $222.0M |
| BENNETT MECHANICAL INSTALLATIONS | 3 | $131.9M |
| GIP PAVING INC | 2 | $106.9M |
| DAMEN SHIPBUILDING 5 B.V. | 1 | $90.6M |
| 2489960 ONTARIO INC | 11 | $71.6M |
| DRAINSTAR CONTRACTING LTD | 2 | $69.8M |
| D CRUPI & SONS LIMITED | 12 | $67.9M |
What the market bid — every price, not just the winner
13,484 submitted bids across 1,917 public tenders from 84 Ontario municipal buyers, as read at bid opening. The median low bid ran 8.2% under the runner-up — the observed gap between two estimators pricing identical documents.
| Work class | Tenders | Bids | Low bid · P25 | Median | P75 | Bidders / tender | Low vs 2nd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roads & resurfacing | 469 | 3020 | $268K | $886K | $3,022K | 5 | −6.9% |
| Watermain & sewer | 407 | 2700 | $333K | $916K | $3,170K | 6 | −9.9% |
| Buildings & facilities | 399 | 3228 | $138K | $314K | $1,033K | 7 | −8.0% |
| Parks & recreation | 283 | 2340 | $127K | $380K | $1,162K | 7 | −8.1% |
| Bridges & structures | 195 | 1331 | $294K | $829K | $2,290K | 6 | −8.4% |
| Water & wastewater plants | 130 | 577 | $252K | $1,339K | $5,663K | 4 | −8.25% |
| Demolition & remediation | 34 | 288 | $58K | $140K | $486K | 7 | −18.4% |
Unofficial totals as published by each portal at bid opening — before award, contract execution or any post-tender negotiation. Work class is inferred from the tender title. Both are interpretations, not source fields.
Every number carries its evidence tier
| A+ | Actual subcontract award / bid tab | planned |
| A | Prime contract award | live |
| B | Engineer estimate / tender result | live |
| C | Declared permit value | live |
| D | Modeled from comparable projects | live |
Each live tier answers a different question: an award (A) is what one buyer paid for one job; a bid tab (B) is every price the market offered for it; a declared value (C) is what thousands of applicants told the city their work was worth; a model (D) prices a project from its comparables. Tier A+ (subcontract awards) is next — that is what splits a contract into trade packages.
Each asset class gets the unit that makes engineering sense
$/SF is only the right shape for buildings. GROUND's cost ontology assigns every asset class its native units — populated as trade-level award data accumulates, so a project eventually decomposes into system-level price ranges.
Total: $/SF
Excavation & shoring $/m³ · Concrete $/m³ · Reinforcing steel $/t · Structural steel $/t · Envelope & roofing $/m² · Interiors $/SF · Mechanical $/SF · Electrical $/SF
Total: $/m
Watermain & sewer $/m · Roads & paving $/m² · Earthworks $/m³
Total: $ per m³/day capacity
Structural concrete $/m³ · Formwork $/m² · Reinforcing steel $/t · Process piping $/m · Pumps & process equipment $/each · Electrical / I&C % of plant
What these numbers are — and aren't
Every figure is a declared construction value from a Toronto building permit (tier C), classified by GROUND's cost taxonomy over the trailing 24 months, minimum 8 comparables per category. $/SF uses the permit's declared gross floor area (all use classes summed), with implausible rates outside $20–$3,000/SF discarded. Declared values can understate actual hard cost — that is what the tier system is for. Coming next, in order of evidence quality: awarded public contract values (tiers A/A+) from municipal and CanadaBuys award records; index normalization to current-quarter pricing (StatCan BCPI); and unit rates ($/m, $/m³) for civil work, where $/SF is the wrong shape entirely. External industry guides are used as calibration references only — never republished as GROUND data.