Home › Reference › Construction cost per square foot
Construction cost per square foot, Malaysia
What a building costs per square foot of built-up area in the Klang Valley, from tenders we have priced, and the elemental breakdown behind each figure.
Everyone asks for the cost per square foot first, and it is the least reliable number in construction: it is a ratio of a cost that depends on the specification, the site and the year, to an area that depends on what was counted. The figures below are real tender totals divided by real built-up areas, with what is inside each one spelt out, so that they can be used the way they should be: as a first check on a budget, before the bill of quantities is measured.
| Building | Built-up area | RM / ft² | Tender year | What is in the figure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single-storey bungalow, basic finishes | 1,685 ft² built-up | 334 | 2022 | Building works 63%, external works 19%, M&E provisional sum 9%, preliminaries 9%. Piling, RC frame, clay brick walls, plaster and emulsion, ceramic tiles, plaster ceilings, aluminium windows, mid-range sanitary ware; fencing, gate, drains, septic tank and turfing. |
| Warehouse with three-storey office, steel portal frame on RC structure | 94,486 ft² (8,778 m²) built-up | 167 | 2024 | Preliminaries 7%, piling 10%, RC structure 19%, architectural 16%, infrastructure and external works 26%, structural steel 13%, metal roof decking 7%, plumbing 1%. Mechanical, electrical and fire protection excluded (by others). |
Both totals are at the tender price before contingencies, with the profit and attendance on the subcontract trades included and SST excluded. Converting: RM 334 per ft² is RM 3,595 per m²; RM 167 per ft² is RM 1,797 per m².
What moves the figure
In roughly the order of how much they matter on a Klang Valley job:
- Finishes and fittings. Basic ceramic tiles, plaster and emulsion, aluminium windows and mid-range sanitary ware are what the bungalow figure buys. Marble, timber flooring, feature ceilings, designer sanitary ware and full-height glazing can add RM 100 to 200 per square foot on their own.
- The ground. Precast piles are in both figures. Soft ground means longer piles, more joints and sometimes a different system; rock means pre-boring. Piling was 10% of the warehouse tender.
- External works. A fifth of the house and a quarter of the warehouse. A house on an existing lot with the drain at the boundary is at the low end; a warehouse that needs its own access road, detention tank and substation is at the high end.
- Mechanical and electrical. A provisional sum in the house figure and excluded from the warehouse. Air-conditioning, a lift, fire protection and a generator are the items most often left out of a per-square-foot quote and added later.
- Size and shape. The fixed costs (preliminaries, the roof, the foundations) are spread over more floor area in a bigger or taller building, which is why a double-storey house prices lower per square foot than a single-storey one of the same specification.
- The year. Material and labour prices move; steel and cement especially. A tender from three years ago is a starting point, not a price.
Elemental breakdown, warehouse with office
The same tender split by element, as a share of the construction cost. Useful for checking whether a budget has forgotten something: if the external works are 5% of an industrial budget, ask why.
| Element | Share |
|---|---|
| Infrastructure and external works | 26% |
| RC structure (pile caps to roof slab) | 19% |
| Architectural works | 16% |
| Structural steel frame and trusses | 13% |
| Piling | 10% |
| Preliminaries | 7% |
| Metal roof decking and insulation | 7% |
| Plumbing and sanitary | 1% |
Questions we get asked
- How much does it cost to build a bungalow in Malaysia per square foot?
- A single-storey bungalow of 1,685 ft² with basic finishes priced at about RM 334 per square foot of built-up area on a 2022 Klang Valley tender, including the external works, a provisional sum for M&E and the preliminaries. A double-storey house on the same specification prices lower per square foot because the roof and the foundations are shared by two floors; better finishes, a swimming pool, a basement or a difficult site push it well above RM 400.
- How much does a warehouse cost per square foot in Malaysia?
- A single-storey warehouse of 94,486 ft² with a three-storey office, steel portal frame and metal deck roof on RC structure priced at RM 167 per square foot on a 2024 Klang Valley tender, including piling, the internal roads, drains, detention tank, sewer and water reticulation, fencing and guard house, but excluding the mechanical, electrical and fire-protection installations.
- What is built-up area?
- The floor area measured to the outside face of the external walls, on every floor, including covered car porches and balconies in a house. It is not the land area, and it is not the lettable or usable area. Two estimates per square foot are only comparable when they measure the area the same way and include the same things.
- Why can two per-square-foot figures for the same building be so different?
- Because the figure is a ratio of two things that both move. The cost side depends on the finishes, the site (soft ground means longer piles), how much external work the site needs, whether M&E is inside the figure, and the year of the prices. The area side depends on what was counted. A per-square-foot number is a first check on a budget; the BQ is what the price is built on.
Need these rates applied to your drawings?
WE Quantity Surveyor measures and prices bills of quantities for contractors, developers and consultants across Malaysia and Singapore. Fixed fee, quoted within 24 hours.
Get a fixed-fee quoteMeasuring the quantities yourself?
Take-Off by WEQS is our on-screen measurement software for Windows: open the PDF or CAD drawing, trace what you need, export to Excel. Free for 30 days, every feature on.
Try Take-Off by WEQSFigures compiled by WE Quantity Surveyor from its own tender pricing and published as general guidance; no liability is accepted for their use on any particular project. Reproduction with a link to this page is welcome.