How Insurance Costs Make NYC Construction So Expensive
Odd Lots
Bloomberg
4.5 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 26 February 2026
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It's hard to imagine New York City becoming significantly more affordable as long as it remains so expensive to build things. Whether we're talking about new housing or transportation, the city is a famously expensive place to do construction. There are reports of subway elevators costing $100 million per station. Public bathrooms end up costing millions as well. One driver of costs is insurance, which is a major national issue, but particularly acute in NYC, with costs as a share of a given construction project having surged over the decades. So what's the story? On this episode we speak with Elizabeth Crowley, the president and CEO of the Building Trades Employers' Association, as well as Michael Capasso, the president and CEO of CAC Industries, a civil engineering firm which works on various heavy construction projects in the city. We talk about regulations that push the cost of operation higher, along with other factors such as project delays and labor availability.
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| 1:45.5 | just like very into affordability these days and the cost of living and all that stuff. But I think, |
| 1:50.7 | you know, there's all kinds of things you can do and whatever. But it seems like one fundamental |
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