113CONTINUING EDUCATION
EDUCATIONAL-ADVERTISEMENTGordian is the world’s leading provider of construction cost data, software, and services for all phases of the construction life cycle.
From planning to design, procurement, construction, and operations, Gordian delivers groundbreaking solutions to contractors,
architects, engineers, educational-institution stakeholders, facility owners, and managers in nearly every industry. http://www.gordian.comContinues at ce.architecturalrecord.comPeter J. Arsenault, FAIA, NCARB, LEED AP,
is a nationally known architect and the author
of more than 200 continuing education courses
for design professionals. http://www.pjaarch.com,
http://www.linkedin.com/in/pjaarchcomfortable range may require only a rough
estimate of costs from the design professional
and instead rely on his or her own resources
to analyze costs and negotiate prices sepa-
rately. Or the client may be limited in the
amount of financing available and have a
high need to understand and control costs,
thus relying heavily on the project team to
direct and assist that effort. By contrast, a
public client often has a stated maximum
budget that is the result of legislation or
public bonds being issued, hence he or she
can be very sensitive to the need to avoid cost
overruns since it is a big deal to attempt to go
back and obtain additional funding. As such,
most public clients ask for cost estimates to
be prepared and updated at each project-
phase submission (i.e., schematic, design
development, construction documents, etc.)
if the project is managed that way. In any of
these or other situations, being sensitive to
the client needs for cost estimating means
the project team may need to tailor the way
information is analyzed and presented to suit
individual buildings.
Human Factors
The question of “who” is going to do the cost
estimating for a project needs to be answered
fairly early in the process. In some cases, a
large professional practice may have in-house
personnel and well-established office stan-
dards for preparing cost estimates for all of its
projects. In other cases, it may be just one or
two people in a firm who do the cost estimat-
ing as part of a much broader job description.
Alternatively, someone other than the design
professional may do the cost estimating. That
could be a construction management company
that is retained early in the design process, or it
could be an independent firm who focuses only
on cost-estimating services. In some cases, the
client may require such an independent cost
estimate as a “double check” on the estimate
prepared by the project team. Either way, the
people responsible for the cost estimating need
to be identified early in the design process,
with everyone feeling comfortable about their
qualifications and experience.
Data Factors
With an understanding of “what” is needed in
a cost estimate and “who” is providing it, the
remaining decision is “where” the cost data
will come from. The obvious need is for a reli-
able and up-to-date source of data on which a
cost estimate can be based. Such sources can
include a variety of choices such as histori-
cal project data, information from suppliers,
direct information from subcontractors, or
other direct personal contacts. However, data
from those sources may be rather subjective
and probably need to be scrutinized to ensure
they are directly applicable and timely for the
project at hand. Further, the information avail-
able needs to match the level of cost estimating
detail needed for different phases of a project.
For example, early on, square-footage costs
for general budgeting or schematic purposes
may be all that is reasonable or required. As
a project progresses and specific roof assem-
blies, wall assemblies, or similar construction
systems are identified, the cost data needs to be
updated to match the specified designs. Finally,
when all (or nearly all) project information is
identified, a fully detailed cost estimate can be
created that is based on individual unit costs
for material, labor, and equipment for each
part of the construction work.
In light of the variety of data needs above,
many estimators rely on independent, third-
party, published cost data that is available in
print or online. The advantage of the online
sources is that they are regularly updated,
while printed books may only come out once
a year or so. For estimates that need to bebased on the most current conditions, the
online sources will make the most sense.
Further, independent data typically addresses
regional and local cost differences, allowing
it to be customized or tailored to a particular
project location, accounting for differences in
the labor markets, material availability, and
other factors. Perhaps the biggest advantage of
these published data sources is that they are
prepared by organizations that have full-time
staff to focus on researching and identifying
objective data for all construction trades and
scopes of work. As such, they bring an element
of independent credibility and experience to a
project for accurate and up-to-date informa-
tion. The fact that a project cost estimator can
then rely on this data to apply it as appropri-
ate to a customized cost estimate at different
levels of development means the data can be
useful throughout the entire design and con-
struction process.There are multiple factors and variables that go into accurate construction cost estimating.
Recognizing and working with them can help produce the best results.