Capital Cost Estimating

How much will a project cost?

That is a question PEHTC, is often asked.

With very little information to start with, the PEHTC, team will extract key pieces of information from the prospective client during a brief meeting, and then develop the rest of the needed data through a process known as capital cost estimating.

PEHTC, has developed and successfully applied a database-driven, customizable line-item, capital cost estimating software program for construction projects. The software generates a project-specific database with revision control features. The capital cost estimating software also maintains a historical database that includes such information as unit labor, unit material, project location, primary discipline, and comments specific to each selectable line item.

The PEHTC, capital cost estimating software can generate the following reports:

• Summary for overall plant
• Summary by plant areas
• Summary by unit operations
• Line-item detail by area & discipline
• Line-item detail by area/group/discipline
• Equipment list by plant area or by type
• Notes for specific areas
• Notes to communicate assumptions & clarifications

Depending on need, the level of detail can range from very minimal to highly significant. The estimator can group line items for ease of viewing. Another feature is the ability to assign a bid-package number to each line item in a bid-package report — thereby allowing calculations for total costs per contract and total units (e.g., tons of steel, yards of concrete).

A realistic contingency of any percentage can be applied to the estimate at any time during the estimate development activities. Also, the program can calculate work-hours for items that require installation labor. The software’s reporting structure makes it easy to produce and submit professionally generated and formatted capital cost estimates for any stage, from budget submission through budget tracking.