What is different in non-residential work
Four differences act together, and the first weighs more than any regional or time adjustment. A building type allocated wrongly cannot be repaired by any later correction.
| Difference | Effect on the benchmark |
|---|---|
| The type of use dominates | orders of magnitude separate a simple warehouse from a laboratory building |
| Share of cost group 400 | 33 % of construction works cost and more in technically demanding building types |
| Fit-out often outside the project | two benchmarks for the same building type describe different states of completion |
| The reference unit is less uniform | besides m² gross floor area, per room, per pupil place, per care place and per parking space are used |
Building use dominates everything else. In housing, benchmarks move within a relatively narrow corridor because the accommodation is similar. In non-residential work, orders of magnitude separate a simple storage building from a laboratory. Allocating a project to the right building type is therefore the single most important step, more important than any regional or time adjustment.
The share of building services is considerably higher. Ventilation, cooling, security systems, conveying installations and use-specific plant weigh heavily in non-residential work and can reach a third of building cost or more in technically demanding building types. A benchmark without a stated cost group 400 share is effectively not transferable here.
Fit-out is frequently not part of the scheme. Office and commercial buildings are routinely constructed only to a defined shell or base-build condition, with tenant-specific fit-out following later and separately. Two benchmarks for the same building type may therefore describe different degrees of completion.
The reference quantity is less uniform. Alongside gross floor area, other measures are common depending on use, such as cost per hotel room, per school place, per nursery place or per parking space. In many cases these benchmarks are superior to a floor area figure, because they capture the building's actual output measure.
Space efficiency becomes a cost quantity
The appropriate reference unit follows the use, and in many cases it is superior to a floor area figure because it captures the building's actual output measure. A figure per room or per pupil place stays comparable even where two designs differ in space efficiency.
| Building type | Common reference unit |
|---|---|
| Office, commercial, industrial | per m² gross floor area, with a floor area balance alongside |
| Hotel | per room |
| School | per pupil place |
| Daycare | per care place |
| Parking structures | per parking space |
In non-residential work the ratio of usage area to gross floor area governs viability more strongly than in housing. Circulation, plant areas and structure claim a substantial share depending on building type.
Two designs with an identical benchmark per square metre of gross floor area can therefore differ greatly in viability: the one with the higher usage area share delivers more lettable or operationally usable floor space for the same investment. For an investor the governing quantity is not the building cost benchmark but cost per square metre of genuinely usable area.
Anyone comparing options in non-residential work should therefore carry the area schedule alongside the cost benchmark. The system of area categories is set out in the article on reference areas.
The three deeper articles in this branch
The office building is the best documented non-residential type and the one where completion stage and space efficiency act most strongly. The article on office building construction costs covers benchmarks by standard and the question of what an office benchmark actually includes.
For a hotel, the area benchmark alone says little, because category, room size and the share of public areas determine cost more than floor area does. The article on hotel construction costs covers benchmarks per room and how to use them.
Schools and nurseries form the largest segment of German municipal building and work to their own benchmark logic, frequently based on public sector cost guide values. The article on school and nursery construction costs covers the benchmarks and the typical drivers of the range.
Where the figures come from
The source landscape in non-residential work differs fundamentally from housing. Instead of a multitude of guides of unclear provenance, a small number of structured datasets are available, formed from completed and invoiced projects and carrying their qualifiers in full.
That has two consequences. First, the figures are more robust, because reference area, cost scope, price date and tax basis are documented. Second, they are largely paid products, which keeps the freely available picture thin.
Three kinds of source are freely accessible, and they differ in content and in caveat. None of them replaces the paid datasets, but together they carry a first estimate.
| Kind of source | What it provides | Caveat |
|---|---|---|
| Public sector cost guide values | benchmarks for municipal and state building work | tied to the applicable funding and budget rules |
| Federal Statistical Office price indices | the updating over time | no level, only the change |
| Standard production costs | benchmarks per m² gross floor area from property valuation | already include ancillary costs at a fixed percentage |
The third source is therefore not directly comparable with pure building cost benchmarks, and that caveat is the one most often overlooked when a figure is lifted from a valuation report into a cost estimate. The caveat has to travel with the figure.
Checking a benchmark stays the same
Despite the differences, the four qualifiers apply unchanged. Two further checks are added in non-residential work, and both weigh more than the regional factor.
| # | Check | Applies |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reference area | everywhere |
| 2 | Cost scope | everywhere |
| 3 | Price date | everywhere |
| 4 | Tax basis | everywhere |
| 5 | Share of cost group 400 | additionally in non-residential work |
| 6 | Allocation to the building type | additionally in non-residential work |
The cost group 400 share needs separate attention, because it constrains a benchmark's transferability more than any other figure.
The building type allocation must be recorded. Datasets distinguish dozens of building types, and neighbouring categories can sit far apart. A misallocation acts more strongly than a wrong regional factor.
The system of qualifiers is set out in the article on reading construction cost benchmarks. It also sets out the four checks a benchmark must pass.
Related articles
The orders of magnitude given are indicative values for Germany. They do not replace a project-specific cost estimate and vary considerably by building type, plant standard, region and market conditions.