budget although they may be carried in the portion related to the electrical
work. That is because the electrical contractor typically installs conduit and
cable tray. Industry analysis has shown that the material cost of pathways is
about the same in an integrated approach; but like the cabling, consolidation
drastically reduces installation labor costs.
Additional efficiencies can be realized by addressing pathways for both low-
voltage and high-voltage distribution in a coordinated approach. Potential
cost savings are dependent on the type of space and the density of pathways,
possibly ranging from 15% to as high as 60% in an open office environment.
Project Management
When the technology systems are installed separately the project has many
more contractors or subcontractors involved. Each contractor mobilizes a
workforce and has to be managed, monitored, and coordinated by the general
contractor. Approximately 30% of the project management is eliminated by
consolidating the systems and cable installation. Assuming that project man-
agement is 8% on top of the total cost for the installation of all systems, sav-
ings is on the order of 2 to 3% of total cost.
Equipment
Integration of the systems also involves consolidation of system servers. This
consolidation results in less hardware, less space and reductions in ongoing
software licenses. This may result in relatively small cost savings but it is still
streamlining as a result of squeezing the redundancies and inefficiencies out
of the legacy approach to system deployment.
Training
System integration also affects the number and functionality of the system
administration workstations. Each system does not require its own dedicated
workstation. Administration can be accomplished through standard browser
and GUI interfaces. This allows a manager to access (as authorized) multiple
systems through a similar interface and to do so locally or remotely, resulting
in less training of personnel on system management tools and platforms, and
less equipment. This may be a modest savings initially, but has a much larger
impact over system life cycles. Quantifying the savings is project dependent.
The Economics of Smart Buildings 163