How much would it cost to build a Great Pyramid?

Question

Let's suppose I realize I'm getting older, I have way more money than I know how to spend, and I want to secure my legacy. Being an Aegyptophile, I decide I was my own Great Pyramid as my tomb. I want to use similar materials and the same size, but I have no objection to the most modern building technology, machines, etc. Whatever will get the job done the quickest. The site can be anywhere, but I have to buy the land, hire the architects, pay for materials and labor. What's your best guess for a price tag? Assuming I have the money, could it get done?

Answer 1

If you don't care where your tomb is (unlikely) then build it on the used up quarry area next to a cement making plant along side a railroad to bring in the gravel or alongside a quarry next to a railroad line to bring in the cement, not far from a lake to supply water.  Buy the land and the lake.

The volume of Cheops is 2'592'968.43m³ [http://www.cheops-pyramide.ch/khufu-pyra... a number that varies all over the place.

  The cost of concrete delivered normally varies also, but a number about $80 a yard seems workable in large quantities, so you might figure half that producing your own

http://www.greenbuildingtalk.com/Forums/...

  a cubic meter is 1.3079 cubic yards so

the pyramid is 3 391 343.41 cubic yards

so $135,653,736 for the concrete might work.  

Of course you could make it hollow and rent out rooms or tombs along side yours.

Answer 2

If not many millions of dollars then billions, they used the best of the best. The amount of land needed, labor, etc...The entire outside originally was covered in a certain type of rock maybe crystal not sure, but the entire thing would shine like the sun.

Answer 3

The Luxor casino in Las Vegas cost $375M in 1993.

The Luxor is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada.  It has an Ancient Egyptian motif and contains a total of 4,407 rooms lining the interior walls of a hollow pyramid and contained within twin ziggurat towers that were built as later additions.

When it opened on October 15, 1993, the pyramid was the tallest building on the strip; it cost $375 million to build.

Answer 4

Various engineers have already calculated the expected costs of buidling a pyramid similiar to the Great Pyramid by Cheops.  Here's a link to one analysis (written in 1970).  Compare it with the costs of buidling the same using the same techniques in Cheop's time, see next link. As you can see, at today's construction costs and prices, it's likely to cost in the neighborhood of several billion dollars, even with use of modern methods and machinery.  This is assuming using quarried limestone blocks, instead of poured concrete, and would depend on how far away the quarry is from the buidling site.  It's a lot cheaper to use poured concrete, which is one reason why it's the material of choice for massive construction projects.

Addendum:  I checked current quarried limestone block costs, and it seems to be running anywhere from 3 to 7 dollars per cubic foot.  So, if the Great Pyramid of Cheops has roughly 100,000,000 cubic feet of limestone, we are already having to spend 0.3 to 0.7 billion dollars just to purchase the material.  This does not include delivery charges, nor masonry cutting costs.