Construction Cost per Sqft in Dhaka 2026

How to calculate construction cost for each stage

Stage 1a: Piling Cost Calculation

Piling is the first item priced in most BOQs, since nothing else can be built until the foundation reaches ground strong enough to hold the structure. To calculate it, you need three inputs from the structural drawing: how many piles, what diameter, and what depth.

The volume of one pile is found with the standard cylinder formula: volume in cubic feet equals pi multiplied by radius squared multiplied by depth. Rebar weight inside that pile equals the number of bars multiplied by their length multiplied by the unit weight for that bar size.

Rebar unit weight follows a formula that works on any project, with any diameter. Weight in kilograms per meter equals the diameter in millimeters, squared, divided by 162. A 16mm bar, for example, works out to 16 squared divided by 162, which is 1.58 kg per meter, or about 0.48 kg per foot.

Concrete pricing is where most people get confused, since a rate like 325 or 330 taka per cubic foot never comes from nowhere. It is built from three raw materials. As an illustration, producing 100 cubic feet of finished concrete needs roughly 21 bags of cement at 500 taka per bag, which is 10,500 taka. It needs about 41 cubic feet of sand at 65 taka per cubic foot, which is 2,665 taka. And it needs about 82 cubic feet of stone chips at 235 taka per cubic foot, which is 19,270 taka. Adding those together gives 32,435 taka in material cost, and dividing by 100 cubic feet gives roughly 324 taka per cubic foot.

Those same per cubic foot ratios apply to any project: about 0.21 bags of cement, 0.41 cubic feet of sand, and 0.82 cubic feet of stone chips, for every cubic foot of finished concrete. Normalized against each other, that works out to the well known 1:2:4 mix ratio, a standard nominal concrete mix used across the industry. Cement is the smallest portion but the priciest per unit since it does the chemical binding. Stone chips are the largest portion since they are just structural bulk. Once material cost is set, a labor rate for pouring and compacting, typically 10 to 25 taka per cubic foot, is added on top to reach an all in rate, commonly landing somewhere around 330 to 355 taka per cubic foot.

Here is a worked example. Take one pile, 2 feet in diameter and 60 feet deep. Volume comes to about 188 cubic feet. Material cost at 330 taka per cubic foot comes to about 62,040 taka. Adding labor at roughly 25 taka per cubic foot adds another 4,700 taka, giving an all in cost of about 66,740 taka for that single pile. Multiply that by however many piles the drawing calls for to get the total piling concrete cost.

Stage 1b: Pile Cap and Mat Foundation Cost Calculation

A pile cap sits on top of a cluster of piles and ties them together so the load from one column spreads evenly across all of them. A mat foundation does a similar job as one continuous slab, often used under a basement.

What you measure here is the length, width, and depth of the cap, since it is essentially a box shape. Concrete volume equals length multiplied by width multiplied by depth. Rebar weight equals the number of bars in each direction multiplied by their length multiplied by the unit weight for that diameter. Shuttering area, the surface the temporary mold has to cover, equals the perimeter of the cap multiplied by its depth.

Brick shuttering, commonly used underground since it does not need to be reusable, is priced in four steps that get added together. First, the number of bricks needed equals the shuttering area divided by 0.18, since that is roughly the surface one brick face covers. Second, brick material cost equals that brick count multiplied by about 14 taka per brick. Third, a small separate cost covers the mortar that binds the temporary brick wall together. Fourth, labor to build and later remove the shutter equals the area multiplied by about 15 taka per square foot. Steel shuttering, used later for columns, beams, and slabs, works differently. Because the same steel panels get reused hundreds of times across a building, it is priced as one flat all in rate per square foot, commonly 80 to 100 taka, rather than broken into separate materials.

A few general values are worth remembering here. Rebar wastage allowance adds about 10 percent to the theoretical weight before pricing, to cover cutting loss and laps. Steel itself is not built up from ingredients the way concrete is, since it is a manufactured commodity bought at a market price, commonly 100 to 108 taka per kilogram. A separate labor charge of about 8 taka per kilogram covers cutting, bending, and tying it into place, giving an all in rebar rate of roughly 108 to 116 taka per kilogram.

For a worked example, take one pile cap measuring 6 feet by 6 feet by 2 feet deep. Concrete volume equals 6 times 6 times 2, which is 72 cubic feet, costing about 24,480 taka at 340 taka per cubic foot. For rebar, say 10 bars of 16mm at 6 feet each: that is 10 times 6 times 0.48, which is 28.8 kilograms, and adding 10 percent wastage brings it to 31.7 kilograms, costing about 3,677 taka at 116 taka per kilogram. Shuttering area equals the perimeter of 24 feet multiplied by the depth of 2 feet, which is 48 square feet, costing about 1,440 taka at 30 taka per square foot. Adding all three brings the total for this one pile cap to roughly 29,600 taka.

Stage 2a: Column Cost Calculation

Columns carry every load above them down to the foundation, and they are the first thing built on each floor. What you measure is the cross section, such as 15 inches by 25 inches, the floor to floor height, and the rebar spec.

Concrete volume equals the width multiplied by the depth in inches, divided by 144 to convert into square feet, multiplied by the height in feet. Rebar weight follows the same bars times length times unit weight formula used everywhere else. Shuttering area equals the perimeter of the column’s cross section multiplied by its height.

Once that shuttering area is known, it gets reused twice more later in the project. Plaster cost equals that same surface area multiplied by about 35 taka per square foot, a rate that already bundles the cement sand mortar coat and the mason’s labor. Paint cost equals the same area multiplied by about 20 taka per square foot, bundling primer, two coats, and painter’s labor. The reason the same area shows up three times is simple: once concrete is cast and the shuttering removed, that exact surface is what later gets plastered, then painted.

A couple of general values matter here. Each main bar typically gets an extra 0.3 to 0.5 feet added for lap and anchorage, since bars are never cut to the exact theoretical length. And since every floor usually repeats the same column design, you only need to calculate one floor’s cost and multiply it by the number of identical floors.

As a worked example, take one column measuring 12 inches by 18 inches, 10 feet tall, with 8 main bars of 16mm. Volume equals 12 times 18 divided by 144, times 10, which is 15 cubic feet, costing about 5,100 taka. Rebar equals 8 times 10 times 0.48, which is 38.4 kilograms, costing about 4,454 taka. Shuttering equals a perimeter of 5 feet times the 10 foot height, which is 50 square feet, costing about 4,000 taka at 80 taka per square foot for steel shuttering. Together, this one column costs roughly 13,554 taka.

Stage 2b: Beam Cost Calculation

Beams span between columns and carry the slab’s load sideways into them, and the calculation method mirrors columns closely, just horizontal instead of vertical. Concrete volume equals the width multiplied by the depth in inches, divided by 144, multiplied by the span length in feet. Shuttering area equals the beam’s exposed surfaces, meaning the bottom plus the two sides, multiplied by its length.

Rebar is more involved in beams than in columns, since a beam needs top bars, bottom bars, and small closed loops called stirrups spaced every few inches along its length, each calculated separately. This is exactly why beam quantity sheets in a real BOQ tend to be the longest and most detailed of all the structural sheets.

Pricing follows the same build up as columns: concrete at around 340 taka per cubic foot, rebar at around 116 taka per kilogram all in, and steel shuttering at around 80 taka per square foot.

Stage 2c: Slab Cost Calculation

A slab becomes a floor or a roof, and it has the simplest volume calculation in the whole BOQ: area in square feet multiplied by thickness in feet.

Slab rebar is different from columns and beams, since it runs as a grid of bars in two directions rather than as individual bars. The number of bars across any span is found with a formula worth memorizing: span length in inches divided by bar spacing in inches, plus one. The plus one matters because spacing bars every 5 inches across a 20 inch span puts bars at 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 inches, which is 5 gaps but 5 bars, since there is one at each end too.

Pricing uses the same three ingredients as before: concrete at around 340 taka per cubic foot and rebar at around 116 taka per kilogram, but slab shuttering usually carries a slightly higher rate, around 100 taka per square foot, since the soffit needs more temporary propping underneath than a column form does.

For a worked example, take a slab area of 500 square feet, 5 inches thick, which is about 0.42 feet, with bars spaced every 5 inches across a 20 foot span. Concrete volume equals 500 times 0.42, which is 210 cubic feet, costing about 71,400 taka. The number of bars across the span equals 20 times 12 divided by 5, plus 1, which comes to 49 bars. Shuttering cost equals 500 square feet times 100 taka, which is 50,000 taka.

Stage 3a: Brickwork Cost Calculation

Once the RCC frame is finished, brickwork fills in the walls that divide the building into rooms. Wall volume equals length multiplied by height multiplied by thickness, and brick count equals that volume divided by the space one brick plus its mortar joint occupies.

The wall rate is built from three parts added together. Brick material cost equals the number of bricks needed multiplied by about 10 taka per brick. Mortar cost, covering the cement and sand that binds the bricks, typically runs around 15 percent of the brick material cost. Mason labor equals the wall area multiplied by a labor rate commonly between 8 and 15 taka per square foot. As a general value, one brick with its mortar joint included usually works out to somewhere between 0.10 and 0.13 cubic feet of wall volume, though this varies by local brick size.

Stage 4a: Plaster Cost Calculation

Plaster area equals the wall or ceiling surface being covered, counting both faces if plastering happens on both sides. Pricing reuses the same rate mentioned under columns: about 35 taka per square foot all in, bundling the cement sand mortar coat with the labor to apply it, just now applied to brick walls instead of column surfaces.

Stage 4b: Doors, Windows, and Glazing Cost Calculation

This is the simplest calculation in the entire BOQ. Area equals width multiplied by height multiplied by count.

Pricing works differently here than for concrete or steel. Rather than building the rate up from raw ingredients, glazing and window rates are usually quoted directly by the aluminum or glass subcontractor as one bundled price per square foot, covering the frame, the glass, the hardware, and installation together. Commonly this lands somewhere between 480 and 510 taka per square foot depending on the glass and frame type, and you simply multiply that by the area.

Stage 4c: Tiles Cost Calculation

Tile area, whether for floors, walls, or toilets, equals the surface being covered as measured from the drawing, floor by floor. Pricing is shown as a material rate plus a labor rate added together. Floor tile commonly works out to about 175 taka material plus 38 taka labor, giving 213 taka per square foot all in. Toilet or wall tile commonly runs about 130 taka material plus 38 taka labor, giving 168 taka per square foot. A wastage allowance of 5 to 10 percent is standard, to cover cutting loss around edges and corners.

Stage 4d: Paint Cost Calculation

Paint area almost always reuses the same measurement taken for plaster, since it is the same wall or ceiling surface being finished. Pricing is quoted as one bundled rate, about 20 taka per square foot, covering primer, two coats of paint, and labor.

Stage 5: Electrical and Plumbing Cost Calculation

Electrical and plumbing work differently from every stage before them. Instead of measuring length, width, and depth, you are counting circuits, fixtures, and pipe runs.

For electrical, cable is bought by the coil, a standard commercial spool length, rather than priced from raw copper. The number of coils needed equals the circuits per unit multiplied by the number of identical units, plus a small spare allowance, all doubled to account for the return run. Cable cost then equals that coil count multiplied by the price per coil, commonly somewhere between 2,875 and 5,340 taka depending on the wire gauge. Big single items like the lift, generator, sub station, or solar setup are typically quoted directly by a vendor as a lump sum that bundles both supply and installation.

For plumbing, pipe cost equals the pipe length in running feet multiplied by a combined material and labor rate, for example around 45 taka material plus 20 taka labor per foot. When a pipe run crosses diagonally instead of running in a straight line, its true length is found using the Pythagorean theorem, the square root of one side squared plus the other side squared. Fixtures such as toilets and kitchen sets are priced as vendor quoted sets that already bundle in the installation labor.

Stage 6: Mobilization and Overhead Cost Calculation

This last stage is not calculated from drawings at all. Mobilization, site overhead, and admin costs are typically budgeted as lump sums or simple multipliers, such as staff salary multiplied by the number of months on site, or a flat percentage of the total construction cost. These are management costs running alongside the whole project timeline, not physical quantities you can measure from a drawing.

Full worked example: construction cost of a G+2 house

⚠️ This example uses simplified, rounded, illustrative numbers to show you the complete arithmetic flow from a bare plot to a final cost, it is a teaching example, not a real structural design. A real project needs an actual structural engineer’s drawing before any of these quantities can be trusted.

The example building

• Type: G+2 residential (Ground + 2 upper floors = 3 floors total)

• Footprint: 30 ft × 40 ft = 1,200 sft per floor

• Total constructed area: 1,200 × 3 = 3,600 sft

• Saleable area: 3,200 sft

• Foundation: 20 piles (1.5 ft dia, 30 ft deep) + 10 pile caps (4×4×1.5 ft)