Construction Cost Estimating Facts
#1 There is no such thing as an “accurate cost estimate”. Beware of any so called expert, estimating firm, or vendor using the term.
#2 Construction cost estimating is NOT an art. Decades of professional experience in construction cost estimating, knowledge of actual construction process, means, and methods, and business environment acumen lead to becoming a valued construction cost estimating professional. There is no “secret sauce”, there are no “short cuts”, and technology in itself is not a solution.
3# Detailed knowledge of local market labor, material, equipment, and productivity information a granular level is required to produce a verifiable and defensible construction cost estimate that is actionable. The use of building cost models, assemblies, national average cost data, historical costs, location or area cost factors, economic factors are will not provide equivalent, actionable cost information.
#4 Failure to make cost estimating part of a robust and integrated planning, procurement, and project delivery process, will inevitably result in cost and schedule overruns, change orders, and other forms of waste. 80% of all repair, renovation, maintenance, and new build activities lack financial and technical visibility in the form of a line item, detailed scope of work per above, and therefore result in one or more “failures”. Poor management and poor process are the cause of 85%+ of all project failures, not the people actually doing the work.
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