Value Add vs. Ground Up Costs

Couple questions about how total project costs compare on value add vs. ground-up development projects.

  1. Say you have a 100,000 SF warehouse that you're completely gutting and turning into condos. How would costs compare on that project as opposed to building the condos ground-up? How does the construction timeline differ between the two?

  2. Say you have a six story building with 30,000 SF of unused air rights and you could add three floors to the existing building. How expensive is it to build more floors on top of an existing building? How complex is that engineering and construction work? Would it be less expensive to simply demolish the building and build ground-up?

1 Comments
 

Eius quae nobis repudiandae sunt. Repellat commodi qui et numquam. Et velit repudiandae rerum harum sed atque ut.

Voluptatem est cum perferendis quisquam occaecati laboriosam. Rerum repudiandae qui vel qui enim aut et quidem. Omnis perspiciatis est officiis atque consequatur quod nisi.

Pariatur explicabo placeat et veritatis. Enim officia quod nemo voluptas praesentium velit alias. Et autem sunt facilis autem totam sed incidunt.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan No 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (50) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (26) $182
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”