The Cost Estimating Report produced by vitras.ai offers a comprehensive assessment of a project's construction cost. The report provides a breakdown of structure, exterior envelope, interior, electrical, mechanical, and plumbing costs. It provides further context for cost escalation and project location, providing a complete synopsis of the components of a building's construction costs.
Creation Workflow
1. Identifying the type of report:
Begin by typing keywords related to your objectives and choose the most relevant report from the pre-defined workflows suggested. For a Cost Estimating Report, relevant keywords might include 'building cost', 'estimation', and 'cost analysis', among others.
2. Choosing the appropriate workflow type:
vitras.ai offers 2 types of workflows that require varying levels of details from the user.
a. Auto Create:
This workflow enables users to input minimal details to generate a generic model of a building based on its area and building type. If you are in the preliminary design stage and have not explored building cost by component (structure, mechanical, electrical, etc.), this workflow can estimate the building's potential construction cost.
The first page of this workflow requires the user to input the following information:
Project Name
Project Location (Address) :Uses project address to adjust cost according to regional market conditions.
Building Type: Determines the building category from which construction costs can be calculated.
Unit of Measure
The second page of this workflow requires the user to input:
Structure Type: Specifies construction categories based on structure type, such as Wood, Steel, Concrete, or Masonry.
Quality Classification Type (High Medium Low): Identifies the project's quality level (High, Medium, or Low) to adjust quality parameters for all construction categories. The Auto-Create workflow assumes a uniform quality level for all categories, while the Assisted-Create workflow allows users to customize quality levels for different categories.
Building Floor Area: Ensures an accurate construction cost estimate on a per unit measurement of project construction.
The third page of this workflow requires the user to input:
Construction Start Date: Provides the start date for calculating price escalation over the project duration.
Construction Duration: Used in estimating the total escalation based on duration of the project.
Average Monthly Escalation: A percentage value indicating the monthly increase in costs, compounded over the project duration. Refer to adjustment factors for more details.
b. Assisted Create:
Beyond the inputs required in the 'Auto Create' workflow, the 'Assisted Create' workflow delves deeper into the cost of your building. This additional detail allows you to refine the assumptions made for your building model to more accurately reflect the actual cost of your building by component.
The first page of this workflow requires the user to input the following information:
Project Name
Project Location (Address) :Uses project address to adjust cost according to regional market conditions.
Building Type: Determines the building category from which construction costs can be calculated.
Unit of Measure
The second page of this workflow requires the user to input:
Structure Type: Specifies construction categories based on structure type, such as Wood, Steel, Concrete, or Masonry.
Quality Classification Type (High Medium Low): Identifies the project's quality level (High, Medium, or Low) to adjust quality parameters for all construction categories. The Auto-Create workflow assumes a uniform quality level for all categories, while the Assisted-Create workflow allows users to customize quality levels for different categories.
Building Floor Area: Ensures an accurate construction cost estimate on a per unit measurement of project construction.
The third page of this workflow requires the user to select if each building component has a high, medium, or low cost. The building components are:
Structure
Exterior Envelope
Interior
Electrical
Mechanical
Plumbing
The advanced inputs allow a user to change the high, medium, and low values of a category based on selection.
Report Breakdown
The report is structured into three main sections: Project Overview, Basis of Estimate, Project Cost Summary, Construction Cost Summary, and Escalation.
1. Project Overview:
The report summarizes the information provided by the user and provides an overview of the project information. This information includes:
Location
Total Area
Building Type
Structure Type or No. of Units
Quality Classification
Construction Duration
Avg. Monthly Escalation Rate
2. Basis of Estimate:
The estimate provides a summary of the Total Project Cost, breaking it down by cost per square foot. Additionally, this page outlines the basis of the Cost Estimating Report, provides data sources, and details the methodology used.
3. Project Cost Summary:
The Project Cost Summary gives further detail to the total project costs. The inputs selected by the user are utilized to calculate the construction and escalation costs. This data is then used to provide a comparison of the project costs on the scale of project costs of the same building type and area from low to high.
4. Construction Cost Summary:
The Construction Cost Summary provides an overview of the costs covered in a construction project. It includes a breakdown of direct, indirect, and contingency costs to give stakeholders a comprehensive view of the total investment required. Key elements shown include the cost per square foot for construction and labor, distribution of costs by project areas, and a detailed list of specific cost allocations for various components of construction.
5. Escalation:
Escalation in cost estimation adjusts projected costs to account for expected increases over time due to factors like inflation and market changes. It's used in budgeting for long-term projects, ensuring costs are realistically forecasted based on historical and current economic data. Here, if the percent escalation is not entered by the user, it is assumed to be 4% escalation.
Premium Insights
vitras.ai enables you to establish a LOD100 cost report based on assumed parameters from your inputs. However, if you are further along in your estimation process and need a more cost analysis customized to your design, you can consider leveraging our project.assist services for a detailed Cost Estimation.