Cross-city cost comparisons usually end in an index or a percentage — numbers somebody computed by blending sources. We don't blend. Below is what each publisher prints for a wood-frame, single-family house at mid finish in each city, range beside range. Where two guides cover the same city, both are printed and the disagreement is shown, not averaged away.
| Building type | Printed range | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Halifax — Altus Group | $150–$225 CAD per sq ft | Altus Group 2026 p. 5 |
| Toronto — Altus Group | $150–$275 CAD per sq ft | Altus Group 2026 p. 5 |
| Toronto — RLB | $335–$665 CAD per sq ft | RLB (Rider Levett Bucknall) Q2 2026 p. 11 |
| Vancouver — Altus Group | $200–$315 CAD per sq ft | Altus Group 2026 p. 5 |
| Calgary — Altus Group | $180–$275 CAD per sq ft | Altus Group 2026 p. 5 |
| Calgary — RLB | $330–$480 CAD per sq ft | RLB (Rider Levett Bucknall) Q2 2026 p. 11 |
| Montreal — Altus Group | $155–$215 CAD per sq ft | Altus Group 2026 p. 5 |
All ranges are hard construction costs only.
Altus Group 2026 Canadian Cost Guide p. 5; RLB Q2 2026 p. 11. Two publishers, seven rows, no averages.
Hard construction costs only. Excludes land, legal, marketing, off-property site services, purchaser upgrades, tenant incentives, property taxes, municipal fees, soil and environmental tests, contingencies, management costs, levies, professional fees, equipment and furnishings, insurance and bond costs. Excludes GST/HST/QST; includes PST where applicable.
RLB "Residential - Single-Family". RLB states neither structural system nor basement treatment; wood_frame is carried over from the Altus cell for comparability. Cross-check vs Altus 2026 "Single Family Residential with Unfinished Basement" (150-275): midpoints differ +135.3%, bands do not overlap - MAJOR DISAGREEMENT, reported as a finding. The two publishers are probably not measuring the same house.
RLB "Residential - Single-Family". RLB states neither structural system nor basement treatment; wood_frame is carried over from the Altus cell for comparability. Cross-check vs Altus 2026 "Single Family Residential with Unfinished Basement" (180-275): midpoints differ +78.0%, bands do not overlap - MAJOR DISAGREEMENT, reported as a finding. The two publishers are probably not measuring the same house. Calgary SFH remains on the paid-estimate refusal list.
Where the publishers disagree
Toronto and Calgary each carry two printed bands, and they don't overlap much. RLB's mid band for Toronto starts above Altus's top end. That is not an error to fix — it is two reputable publishers measuring differently scoped things, printing different ranges. Our rule in this situation is fixed: show both, name the disagreement, never compute a midpoint. If we printed an average we'd be publishing a figure no publisher ever printed, and you couldn't check it against either source.
Why there is no "X% cheaper than Y" line
A derived percentage would inherit the widest parts of both bands and present the result with a precision the sources don't claim. Vancouver's printed top end exceeds Toronto's; their bottom ends overlap. Any single comparison statistic hides that. The honest comparison is the table itself: five cities, the printed ranges, and your own reading of where your specification lands.
One more disclosure, because the corpus carries it on the row: Altus prints identical values for Calgary and Edmonton across most building types, which suggests shared measurement rather than independent ones. We reproduce the Calgary row as printed — and we'd rather you know that than not.
Every figure is hard costs only
All seven rows exclude land, soft costs, municipal charges and sales tax. City-to-city differences in land price and development charges are larger than the construction band differences — a complete project budget needs those lines priced locally. This table answers one question well: what the structure costs to build, per the guides that publish it.