Blog: Trends & Insights

Comparison Of Buildings To illustrate a comparison of buildings, the publicly available dataset was again used to develop 5 life cycle cost models that were created in a similar manner as previously described.   

Life cycle cost analysis is the act of considering the initial, sustainment, and the cost of replacement or disposal over the lifespan of the facility. It is the full measure of a facility’s cost and is instrumental in the comparison of multiple facilities. So how can you estimate, plan, and prepare for a facility’s life cycle costs?  How can you easily compare multiple facility’s life cycle costs against each other? What does the geolocation of facility life cycle costs look like and what are the advantages? This article attempts to answer these questions and more using cost data by RSMeans and external resources.  

“What are the “appropriate” markups for overhead, profit and contingency when budgeting facilities construction projects?” I get this question a lot from my architect friends when helping them budget their projects through the design process. The answer can get messy considering all the factors that can impact the bottom line. There are many variables to consider. With this blog post I will answer the “markup” question for an average facilities project and try to keep it simple but still useful.  

Let’s start with a little bit of sarcasm. Imagine an advertisement for the latest construction estimating software; “…With click and drag speed you can choose from thousands of line items of unit cost national average data and build accurate cost estimates…blah, blah, blah! ”  

Having a knowledgeable and experienced person perform value engineering on a proposed construction project is a great benefit and can save time and money for the facility owner.