![]() Cost management
Our powerful data analysis techniques allow us to build simple yet accurate cost models of the construction process which typically reduce the time required for estimating and controlling costs by 80%. As a result of our expertise in this area, we have been intimately involved in and made major contributions to the development of the International Cost Measurement Standards (ICMS) and the Global Professional Statement on Cost Prediction, both promoted by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and a coalition of 45 member organisations from all over the world. The ICMS seek to provide a structure and format for classifying, defining, analysing and presenting construction costs that provide consistency and transparency across international boundaries. For the first time, they allow the costs of projects within and between different countries to be compared on a like-for-like basis, and the causes of any differences ascertained. The Global Professional Statement on Cost Prediction sets out best practice in predicting costs which professional cost managers are expected to follow. Professor Horner is a member of the Drafting Group and Standard Setting Committee for the ICMS, and is currently working on the second edition which will incorporate life cycle costing. He chairs the drafting committee for the Global Professional Statement on Cost Prediction. We are therefore familiar with cost breakdown structures, different approaches to cost estimating, and quality assurance of cost estimates. Our free software for predicting, benchmarking and presenting costs in a form which is consistent with ICMS is available here. |