“The ‘spaceship’ of Silicon Valley has landed in Cupertino, but the question remains: How much did it cost to build? Construction data and analytics startup BuildZoom estimated in October that the new Apple campus cost more than $1.1 billion, based on the building permits,” Seung Lee reports for The Mercury News. “But longtime Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone estimates that costs for the iPhone maker’s shiny new campus far exceeded BuildZoom’s estimate, and may be closer to $5 billion — or just about the cost of 5 million iPhone X’s.”
“Apple could not be reached for comment on the cost. Stone said the nearly $4 billion discrepancy between his new estimate and BuildZoom’s earlier figure for Apple Park’s construction cost highlights a common misunderstanding of how building permits work and what their purpose is,” Lee reports. “Building permits are just a preliminary road map to how much a construction project may cost before the first shovel is turned. They don’t include the costs for labor, overtime, additional materials and redesign, all of which add significantly to the final tab.”
“Apple Park’s exact construction costs will be factored into the final assessed property value, which has not yet been completed,” Lee reports. “The last time the Assessor’s Office released estimated Apple Park construction costs was September 2016, when it put the figure at $1.6 billion for costs up to January 1 of that year. But Stone now estimates the construction cost will likely be $5 billion. The Assessor’s Office said Apple Park’s final assessed value — the basis for the tax bill for the new campus — may be less than its final construction costs. That’s because certain materials and constructed goods may be valuable only to Apple and can’t factor into the assessed value, which also considers the fair market value of the property.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Factor in the costs of Apple’s Tim Cook, Jony Ive, etc. being colossally distracted by the project for years, as well.
AirPods: Late.
HomePod: Way late.
Mac Pro: Pfft.
We could go on and on with this list, unfortunately.
Apple employees and product users should rejoice that The Colossal Distraction is finally wrapping up!
SEE ALSO:
Apple started working on HomePod in 2012, so why are they so late to the smart speaker market? – November 21, 2017
Why Apple’s HomePod is three years behind Amazon’s Echo – November 21, 2017
Under ‘operations genius’ Tim Cook, product delays and other problems are no longer unusual for Apple – November 20, 2017
Apple delays HomePod release to early 2018 – November 17, 2017
Apple CEO Tim Cook: The ‘operations genius’ who never has enough products to sell at launch – October 23, 2017
Apple’s Mac Pro debacle: Failure and future – May 8, 2017
Why is Apple’s next-gen Mac Pro taking so long? – April 18, 2017
Apple’s desperate Mac Pro damage control message hints at a confused, divided company – April 6, 2017
Who has taken over at Apple? – April 5, 2017
Apple’s embarrassing Mac Pro mea culpa – April 4, 2017
Who’s going to buy a Mac Pro now? – April 4, 2017
Mac Pro: Why did it take Apple so long to wake up? – April 4, 2017
Apple sorry for what happened with the Mac Pro over the last 3+ years – namely, nothing – April 4, 2017
AirPods: MIA for the holidays; delayed product damages Apple’s credibility, stokes customer frustration – December 9, 2016
Lazy Apple. It’s not hard to imagine Steve Jobs asking, ‘What have you been doing for the last four years?’ – December 9, 2016