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54 Estimating Soft Costs for Major Public Transportation Fixed Guideway Projects
45%
40%
Mid-Range Estimated Soft Cost
35%
(% of Construction)
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
1* 2* 3 6 7 4 8 9 5 10
Questionnaire Respondents
Other Insurance + Legal Project Mgmt. and Construction Admin. FD PE
* Respondents estimate PE + FD as combined amount; PE displayed here using average split
Figure 34. Midpoint soft cost estimates for all components reported by surveyed
cost estimators.
5.3. As-Built Cost Analysis
Analyzing the database of actual as-built soft cost expenditures provided the following insights
into soft costs:
· Soft costs have historically averaged 31% of construction costs, a value that is consistent with
how the industry currently estimates soft costs both in total and at the component level.
· However, the range of variability in past projects has been wider than the range estimators
report. While estimators report an uncertainty range of ±10%, actual soft costs have been as
low as 11% of hard costs and as high as 54% of hard costs, or an uncertainty range of around
±20%.
· Soft costs have averaged around $2,600 per linear foot for light rail, and around $5,700 per
linear foot for heavy rail, with a range between $300 and $10,000 per linear foot of guideway
for both modes (2008$, outliers removed).
The as-built analysis also revealed relationships between project characteristics and soft costs:
· Soft costs have been increasing over the past four decades, particularly for heavy rail projects.
· Project complexity, mode, delivery method, magnitude, and context all appear to drive soft
costs. Univariate analysis reveals some relationships between these considerations and soft
costs, but a more complete and consistent picture emerges through a multivariate regression
analysis. A multivariate analysis of 10 variables captured the cumulative effect of a number of
variables on soft cost percentages and was able to explain approximately 60% of variability in
soft costs.
· Projects where alignments stretch longer distances tend to incur somewhat higher soft costs
as a percentage of construction cost.
· More expensive construction projects tend to display somewhat smaller soft cost percentages,
other things being equal.
· Heavy rail projects tend to incur somewhat higher soft costs than light rail, perhaps due to
their relative complexity and higher engineering standards.
· A project to construct a new stand-alone transit line will usually require less design costs than
a project to extend, expand, or interface with existing transit services.
