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On the globe, Malaysia is located far from a region known as the Pacific Ring-Fire. The latter is recognized as one of high seismic region in the world. However, the nation is still exposed to the tremors originated from Sumatra-Andaman and Philippines earthquakes. Besides, Malaysia also has its own local earthquakes originated from local faults. After experiencing both local and global earthquakes, the government came out with initiative to launched the Malaysia National Annex in order to implement seismic design for new buildings. However, the suggestion is still not fully implemented yet. This is due to uncertainty about the effect of considering seismic design on the cost increment. Hence, this paper presents an investigation to analyze and evaluate the increment of cost of structural work if earthquake load is considered in design. A 6-story reinforced concrete hotel building had been designed repeatedly for two parameters which is the level of seismicity and the soil type by referring to Malaysia National Annex. Based on results, the weight of steel as reinforcement increased for models which considering seismic design. Total cost for structural work increases around 0.9% to 8.8%, which depend on the level of seismicity and the soil type. Therefore, considering seismic design for new RC buildings in Sabah is worth for the sake of safety and to prevent greater damage and loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]