"What does a shelter cost per square metre?" has no single answer. Quotes for nominally identical steel shelters run from about RMB 300 to 1,500 per sqm, and the spread hides in four choices: whether foundations are included, which roof, what span, and what fire tier. So this tool refuses to hand you one lonely total - it flattens the cost into six components and lets you see which can be trimmed and which must not.
Step 1 - pick a grade
Step 2 - project parameters
Area auto-fills from bays and shelter type; override it if your plan differs. Rebar foundations, the old-community norm, run about 15% under excavated ones.
Unit prices per sqm (editable)
Roof materials: PC sheets roughly 80–150 RMB/sqm, membrane 200–300, laminated glass up to 400–600. Steel price moves with the market.
Step 3 - cost breakdown
| Total estimate (reference range) | — |
|---|---|
| Cost per sqm | — |
| Cost per bay | — |
| Floor area | — |
| Component | Basis | Amount | Share |
|---|
Total range is ±15%, reflecting normal spread across vendors and material price movement. Typical delivery: 15–20 days including foundations.
What each component contains - and where corners get cut
| Component | Includes | Where quotes save |
|---|---|---|
| Main steel structure | Posts, main and secondary beams, bracing, connectors, blasting and anti-corrosion coating | Coat count and wall thickness - thin-wall tube saves 20% and rusts early |
| Roof material | PC sheets, membrane, colour steel or laminated glass with trims and seals | Sheet thickness and UV layer - the panels that cloud in two years |
| Foundation and ground | Excavation, concrete, embeds, backfill - or ballast blocks / rebar fixings | Depth below the frost line - heave and tilt arrive next spring |
| Fire provisions | Extinguishers, sand box, smoke alarms, signage, separation, emergency lighting | Extinguishers only, no separation - the classic acceptance rework |
| Electrical and lighting | Distribution box, trays, conduit, earthing and lightning, LED lighting | Earthing tests and spare conduits - cheap now, walls opened later |
| Charging equipment | Stations or chargers plus their dedicated wiring | Counting it into the shelter price without itemising the model |
Run your numbers in the estimator above, then check them against the acceptance checklist on the shelter page - designing to acceptance from day one is the cheapest schedule insurance there is.
About these results: the tools compute ideal-condition, static estimates from public industry parameters and the values you enter, for early communication, option comparison and feasibility screening only. They are not investment advice, not a promise of return, not a quotation. Actual investment, revenue and payback depend on site conditions, grid capacity, equipment selection, real utilisation, tariff and service-fee policy, O&M quality and sharing terms, and may differ substantially. Entrepreneurship involves risk; decisions should rest on survey data, formal contracts and real operations. The company accepts no investment risk for decisions made on these figures.