“The budget we set out to achieve at the end of the design phase was obliterated by the factors above, rising by 2/3 over the course of construction.”
The architect took a fixed 15 percent of build cost. The contractor worked cost plus, with 10 percent profit on top. So when concrete prices exploded and the budget grew by two thirds, both of them made more money. The only party with no upside was the one writing the checks.