It seems a significant addition to the cost overruns is labor. Maybe this is a good example of the cost reality of bringing manufacturing back to the US. Given a difficult timeline, the US workers would need to be putting in a lot of overtime. Many of the laborers who took part in building the Burj Khalifa were being paid less than what the US workers would spend on a meal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Khalifa

Edit: Here is the NASA report.

https://oig.nasa.gov/office-of-inspector-general-oig/audit-r...

> It seems a significant addition to the cost overruns is labor

Only because they're billing for a ridiculous amount of time. Estimated completion time of 2027!? Wat?

SpaceX has already built three and is planning more. By the time Bechtel completes their single tower, SpaceX will have half a dozen and a Moon colony.

The contract should be torn up and the people that signed it barred from holding executive positions for life.

The article seems to be using the cost of Burj Khalifa without accounting for inflation. $1.5 billion in 2009 would be about $2.2 billion in 2024.

NASA's project is still expensive, but not quite twice as expensive as Burj Khalifa (unless the budget overruns again).

The OIG report is projecting it could be as much as $2.7 Billion all said and done.