Understanding Construction Cost Data is central to improving built environment planning, procurement, and project delivery.
Request the WHITE PAPER – Understanding Construction Cost Data: A Comprehensive Guide for Business Owners and Facilities Managers
Executive Summary
Construction cost data is a foundation for well-informed decisions, budget optimization, and project success. Crucially, only timely, objective, and locally researched cost data provides the precision needed for appropriation-quality estimates and defensible budgeting. Four BT, LLC is the only provider of independently researched, locally sourced construction cost data—setting the standard for reliability and transparency in North America. Multiple academic and industry citations confirm the necessity of locally researched data and the limitations of national average indexes and location adjustment factors.
- “Location factors are used during preliminary project evaluations. They are not intended to be used when preparing appropriation-quality estimates.” (Peitlock, ICCMJ, 1998)
- “Location factors … are not intended to be used for higher quality estimates.” (Martinez, UNM, 2010)
- The accuracy of adjustment factor estimates in early phases can vary from –100% to +200%. Geostatistical prediction techniques may improve accuracy if locally based. (Migliaccio, J Constr Eng Manag, 2013)
- Standardized cost indexes (CCI) cannot account for unique conditions by state and may lead to ±20% swings after bidding; local economic conditions are especially influential. (Univ. Colorado Denver, 2017)
