when the US is by far the biggest outlier in the space of construction costs "projects being so different and so complicated so no one knows the issue" is a non

when the US is by far the biggest outlier in the space of construction costs "projects being so different and so complicated so no one knows the issue" is a non-answer, that somewhat ironically, I can imagine a consultant giving. based off this article & similar ones I've seen In privy to the idea of too much government and yet too little. former meaning like you say, giving too many people an opinion in the process through things like needless environmental review. with the latter meaning when the govt does have to do a job they literally don't have the ability to do it due to underfunding. I don't believe the labor union excuse for a second bc compare to Europe where labor unions are notoriously stronger, their construction costs are much lower than here