Cost & Estimation

The purpose of cost estimating is to forecast the cost of a project prior to its actual construction. Cost estimating is a method of approximating the probable cost of a project before its construction. The exact cost of a project is known after completion of the project. Cost estimate is prepared at various stages during the life of a project on the basis of the information available during the time of preparation of the estimate. Generally for any construction project, three parties are involved namely owner, design professionals and construction professionals. In some cases the design professional and construction professional are from the same company or they form a team through a joint venture for providing service to the owner in the project. It is the responsibility of each party involved in the project to estimate the costs during various stages of the project. An early estimate helps the owner to decide whether the project is affordable within the available budget, while satisfying the project’s objectives

For cost estimating, work breakdown structure (WBS) serves as an important framework for organized collection project cost data and preparing the cost estimates at different levels. It is a technique that involves the hierarchical breakdown of the project into different work elements at successive levels and defines the interrelationships between them. For preparation of cost estimates, the estimator performs quantity take-off to quantify each item of work by reviewing the contract drawings and specifications. In cost estimation, quantity take-off is an important task that is carried out before pricing each item of work and quantities should be represented in standard units of measure.