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"Why can't we build a fire station for less than $500,000?"
A mayor in a large Midwestern city recently asked this question of his fire chief. The mayor recognized the need for a new fire station, but the cost estimates were more than double what was expected. How could they possibly remodel their other fire stations with those prices? The mayor couldn't understand why the chief couldn't just build a house and add a breezeway to a garage for the fire engine.
Why has it become so expensive and complicated to build a fire station? Perhaps the simplest answers are increasing construction costs and the fact that fire departments do a lot more than just fight fires these days.
Building a new station for a career department is also more expensive, but 68percent of U.S. fire departments are volunteer departments and many in rural areas are without any revenue base. To keep costs down, smaller fire departments frequently opt for manufactured structures or pole barns and often rely on their own skilled volunteers to help build-out their new stations.
Architects respond
When told about the $500,000 question, several architects responded it was difficult to discuss the cost of fire stations without knowing a fire department's space needs, the location and condition of the site, as well as needed improvements. Total project costs could include land acquisition, financing, professional service fees—architecture, engineering, legal, etc. Labor costs and construction methods can increase the construction costs by as much as 35 percent, especially where project financing includes state or federal funds that require prevailing wages be applied.
When asked about building moderately priced fire stations, Paul Andrew Sgroi, principal, Bernardon Architecture , West Chester, PA, responded, "One can certainly build a new station for either $500,000 or $1,000,000 or anything in between, below or above, but the accommodations in the station will be driven by all of the soft costs, site costs, and the value of construction per square foot for that region."
Sgroi explained if the cost per...