WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has often touted his experience as a real estate builder who is good at building things "on budget and on time," as he did when he hosted a dinner on Oct. 15 for donors to his long-championed White House ballroom.

Then, exactly a week later, on Oct. 22, Trump quoted a brand-new price tag for the 90,000-square-foot ballroom: $300 million, a 50% increase from the cost he quoted when he first unveiled the project in July. And a 20% increase since September, when he said it would cost $250 million.

Trump, who initially said he would finance the ballroom himself, also began accepting donations from private donors over the last three months. Many of them are parties with ongoing business with the U.S. government.

Earlier this week, the project sparked widespread outrage after demolition and tree clearance began of the entire East Wing to accommodate the massive ballroom. Trump had initially said the project would not "touch" the existing structure.

A White House official brushed off the changes on Oct. 22 in response to a question by USA TODAY, saying, "the scope and size of the ballroom project has always been subject to vary as the scope and size of the process developed."

The White House has long projected confidence about completing the project before Trump's term ends in January 2029.

At a dinner with donors to the ballroom project on Oct. 15 and on several prior occasions, Trump played up his builder bona fides – and slammed others, such as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and former President Barack Obama, for their perceived lack of expertise in the area and cost overruns on construction projects under their supervision.

"I’m very good at building things on time and on budget," Trump told the group of donors who had been invited to an Oct. 15 dinner in the East Room to thank them for their "generous" donations.

Then he proceeded to take a dig at Powell by bringing up the $2.5 billion renovation to the central bank's headquarters.

The cost of the renovation of the Fed’s headquarters overlooking the National Mall in Washington, DC, was originally estimated at $1.9 billion in 2019, but the budget swelled by 33% to $2.5 billion in 2025.