Construction Cost Estimation: The Importance of Accuracy
There is no comparison between construction projects and products built on assembly lines, because each building is unique, even for groups of buildings that appear the same.This is the reason why the computation of Construction Costs are Expected to Rise through 2022 has to be performed individually for each project, as opposed to assembly line manufacturing, where every product is identical and costs the same amount.
It’s detrimental for construction projects to estimate costs poorly, both overestimating and underestimating.
Unless the costs are properly estimated, the owner may end up spending more than needed or may decide against completing the project.In addition to overestimating project costs, contractors can also suffer adverse consequences: they may be rejected in competitive bidding or they may be seen as scammers, damaging their reputation.
During the construction phase, cost estimations are often underestimated, causing unexpected expenses.These Construction Costs are Expected to Rise through 2022 may be incurred by either the owner or the contractor, depending on the contractual structure.There are cases where contractors or developers go bankrupt due to drastic underestimations on a large project.
When estimating the cost of a construction project, there is always some uncertainty, but accuracy can be improved by using proficient experts, relying on reliable data, and utilizing software for repetitive calculations to speed up the process.Both overestimation and overengineering can be detrimental to your project; however, cost overestimating is more serious.Overestimating occurs when some project elements are priced unreasonably high, and overengineering occurs when too much space is specified – both result in an inordinate cost for your project.
Construction Cost Estimation: The Main Challenges
Materials used in building construction are shipped from far-away places, and many of those materials are imported.Several of these materials have extremely volatile prices on the international market, with steel being one of the most notable examples.Additionally, you need to consider that construction is an energy and manpower-intensive process.During construction cost estimation, time can also be a limitation.It should be possible for estimates to divide the list of materials into exact quantities of bolts, nuts, and nails.The downside of this method is that, especially for large projects, it requires a significant amount of time.Taking this approach also requires a lot of paid time and effort.