Good Planning Shows Results
Every step and phase of the project was timed and coordinated exactly to plan to allow each of the some 60 different trades and the 3,500 employees to work together effectively. This synchronized logistics ultimately saved time, money, and manpower. Even a miniature railway system was built at the site with cars pushed by workers. The cars could hold up to eight times the amount of a wheelbarrow and could transport the materials from the storage area to any part of the building much quicker and more effectively.
Smart Elevator Design
Ordinarily, the elevators would have to stop at every floor of a typical office building to let passengers on and off. But the Empire State Building was not a 
typical office building. Since the building was going to have 102 floors it would be impossible for the expected 15,000 employees to wait for hours to get to their floors. To solve this problem the architects divided the 63 passenger elevators into seven individual systems. Each elevator within a system serviced only a portion of the floors. System 3 elevators, for instance, would take passengers straight up to the 20th floor and let passengers on or off at a number of floors above the 20th, while system 5 elevators would travel directly to the 61st floor and provide service up to some other higher floor, etc. And since the Empire State Building was not your typical office building, the elevators were not the standard varieties either - they traveled at 1,200 feet per minute.
A Race To The Finish And The Final Cost
In their race to construct the tallest building in the world, Walter Chrysler won the contest when the 1,046-foot Chrysler Building opened in May 1930. But that distinction would be short-lived. Four months later the partially completed Empire State Building took the title away when the 85th floor was added.
Construction of the 1,250-foot Empire State Building was completed in April of 1931, three months ahead of schedule. And to the delight of all involved, the cost of this enormous building was well under budget. What was the cost?
The total cost to build the Empire State building was $41 million in 1931 ($24.7 million was for the construction and $16 million was for the land). This is $558 million in 2007 dollars
On May 1, 1931, President Herbert Hoover officially opened the building from the White House in Washington D.C. With the push of a button the building’s lights were turned on amid the cheers and celebration which only an engineering feat of this magnitude deserved.
Taller Buildings
Since that time other buildings have soared to heights once thought impossible. Today, the record for the tallest skyscraper in the world belongs to the Taipei 101 in Taipei, Taiwan which stands at 1,650 feet. That record may not stand for long, however, because a skyscraper in Dubai is under construction which will be 160 stories and at a yet to be determined height. Nevertheless, while no longer the tallest skyscraper in the world, the Empire State Building still stands alone as an icon of New York City and will always be a symbol of an enormous engineering and architectural achievement.