Using a Cost Model
Working on cost models within our Cost Modeling tool in Ediphi has some interesting features and processes to cover. From escalation to inline editing, we cover all the basis in this article.
For more information about Cost Modeling, please click here.
In this article
Escalation
Within the Cost Modeling tool, there are two types of escalations which help us obtain our Total Escalation:
- Time escalation
- Location escalation
For more information on how we calculate Escalation Totals, please click here.
Use Group Filtering
Within your cost model, you have the ability to filter the Use Groups that are displayed, which will allow you to isolate costs that are applicable to the job that you’re cost modeling for. For example, if one of your benchmarks is an apartment complex with a gym, but your current project (the one you are cost modeling for) does not have a gym, you can exclude the Gym Use Group to isolate the costs of the Apartments. You can always access your Use Groups in your cost model by clicking on the Use Groups button under your cost model name:
Use Groups get automatically added to your cost model based on the Use Groups contained within your benchmarked estimates. Say you have two benchmarked estimates, where one has Use Groups for Above & Below Grade Parking, Airport, and Amenity Deck, while the other has Above Grade Parking, Below Grade Parking, and Apartments. Your cost model will then automatically add and show all of these Use Groups to the list in your dropdown:
Hiding/Showing Use Groups
As previously mentioned, in the event that there is a need to exclude specific Use Groups from your cost model, you have the option to conceal/show them by clicking on the check-mark next to each one:
Adding Use Groups
If after adding your benchmarked estimates with their respective Use Groups you realize that there’s not a specific Use Group you need to factor in your cost model, you can always add a new one by clicking on the Use Groups button, and selecting Add Use Group:
For more information on how to add Use Groups and Scopes, please click here.
Editing Quantities
If you ever need to edit the quantities for those Use Groups on the current project you’re cost modeling for, you can click on the Use Groups button, and select Add Unit Quantities:
A pop-up will appear, in which you’ll have the ability to input/edit the respective quantities for each selected Use Group. Once you’re done adding/editing the quantities, click Save.
Pro tip: If you see a "Blank" Use Group, it means you have line items in your benchmarked estimates that have not been assigned to Use Groups within said estimates.
We recommend ensuring that all the line items in the estimates you want to benchmark are assigned to a Use Group prior to adding them to your cost model, in order to prevent this.
Unit Swapping
Unit Swapping in your cost models goes in hand with Unit Specs. We highly recommend setting up Unit Specs if you haven’t done so already for your company. For more information, please click here.
The advantage of Unit Swapping is the ability to view the cost per the Unit Spec that is most relevant to a particular Use Group. For example, for a Hotel Use Group, it may be important to view the Cost Per Key, while for a Data Center, it may be more relevant to view the Cost Per Kilowatt. Similarly, for an Apartment, it may be necessary to view the Cost Per Unit, and so on.
How to Unit Swap
In order to swap units within your cost model, you will need to click on the Units button located under your cost model's name.
A dropdown will appear, providing you with a list of your active Use Groups (Use Groups that are not enabled within Use Group Filtering will show greyed out) . Here you’ll be able to select the specific Unit Spec you want applied to each of your enabled Use Groups.
Once the unit swapping is completed within the cost model, the platform will calculate the total for that line item by dividing it by the count of that unit for that cost model.
Inline Editing
IMPORTANT: Before you start inline editing your cost model, please ensure you configure your Groupings the way you would like to visualize your cost model. Failure to do so may result in the changes you made not being reflected in the new Grouping, if you decide to modify your Grouping after making edits.
When making edits and attempting to change your Grouping within your cost model, the platform will display a warning to ensure that this action is intentional:
It should be noted that if you switch back to the Grouping where you made the changes, you will still see your previous modifications.
One of the outstanding features of cost modeling is the capability to edit the values of your cost model directly within the interface. Inline editing empowers users to efficiently update both the cost model and any benchmarked estimates. All cells within the cost modeling interface are inline editable, providing maximum flexibility. Any modifications made to benchmarked estimates imported into a cost model will not alter the original values of those numbers within the benchmarked estimate itself, but only within the context of this specific cost model.
Whenever you edit a value within your cost model, you will see a blue dot on the top left of the cell, which indicates that this cell has been manually edited. Manual edits will always override automatic calculations.
This can always be reversed by right-clicking on the cell, and selecting Reset Values.
Pro Tip: Another method to reset values is to click on a cell and press Delete. This action will revert the cell back to its original number.
With inline editing you also have the ability to click & drag, where you can drag an edited cell down and it will change the value on all cells from where you clicked and dragged from.
It is important to note that inline editing of Cost/GSF or Cost/Unit within your actual cost model (excluding the benchmarks) is not possible if the data does not exist. However, you can always modify the Total. Additionally, please be aware that editing a Total within a benchmark does not impact the calculated averages.
It is also important to note that when you inline edit a value, the corresponding other two values will be back-calculated. For instance, if you inline edit Total $, we will use that value to back calculate Cost/GSF as well as Cost/Unit. Users are not required to edit all three columns; they only need to inline edit one value of the three columns and the other two will be calculated based on that input.
Note: You cannot inline edit Groupings/Rows.
Hiding Values
If you encounter a value within your benchmarked estimates that you do not wish to include in your cost model or that serves no true purpose to your model, you can hide the values by right-clicking on the specific cell where the value is located and selecting Hide Values. Hiding these values also removes them from being calculated into the average of that section.
Please note that the ability to hide values is only available at the lowest grouping level. Meaning that, if a Grouping is established for the cost model with Bid Packages for example, and MF3 is set as a secondary grouping within those Bid Packages, the edits can only be made to the MF3 cells, and not the Bid Packages (unless MF3 is removed as a Grouping).
Markups
Markups within Cost Modeling are very similar to what's currently available in the platform. When you create your cost model, we will pull all markup values from the selected comparison estimates. Users can view and edit these markups as they see fit. We also enable the ability to set the relevant markups for the project you are currently cost modeling.
All you need to do is click on the gear icon located under the Markups Total cell at the bottom of your cost model (each estimate will have its own gear icon that you can click on).
A markup will be added to the bottom of the list, which you can then edit as needed by adding a markup percentage, a description of the markup, and the total cost will be automatically calculated by a dynamic formula using the values of the Cost of Trades + All Above Markups (but you can always edit this formula by clicking on the blue potion icon).
If you right-click on a specific markup, the platform will give you the following options:
- Move Up (moves the markup up on the list)
- Move Down (moves the markup down on the list)
- Add Markup Above (adds a new markup above this markup)
- Add Markup Below (adds a new markup below this markup)
- Duplicate (create a duplicate of this markup)
- Edit Formula (edits the dynamic formula of the markup)
- Delete (delete the markup)
Note: Markups are pulled in from benchmarked estimates with the following caveats:
- Previous Use Group Allocations are ignored and will be proportional.
- If a markup formula targeted a sort code, that will be converted into a Metric with a Value, and the Unit of Measurement will be a concatenation of that sort code (this is done so that the value is preserved).
- When markups are manually overridden on the estimate, we will convert that manual override into a proportional percentage to maintain the same dollar amount as the manually overridden value. This process is carried out to ensure accurate support for use group filtering with the cost modeling tool.
Exporting
After completing your cost model, you have the choice to export it as a PDF file or an Excel file. Simply click on the Export button located on the top right, and then choose the file type for your export:
This report process mimics the functionality of our Report Builder. The content displayed on the screen directly corresponds to the content included in the report, eliminating the need for manual adjustments or selection of report components. For instance, if you expand all headers, your report will display all headers expanded; similarly, if you have them all hidden, then your report will also hide them all.
Tips & Tricks
- The Cost Modeling tool offers a full screen mode to provide users with additional space to view their data. This feature can be accessed by clicking the button located next to the Export option.
- Everything displayed in the Details section of a benchmark project within the cost model represents the state of the project at the moment it was imported into the cost model (prior to any modifications; see the Snapshot date on the top right). This implies that any alterations made to the project's values within the cost model will not impact the values/data within Details.
- There’s no limit on how many estimates can be added to a cost model within the Cost Modeling tool. You can always add more benchmarked estimates to your cost model by clicking the + button.
- The headings of the estimate name and project name for benchmarked projects pulled into a cost model can be inline edited. This feature allows users to maintain project anonymity if necessary when exporting out a cost model and sharing with an Owner.
- All Use Groups will be aggregated into the tenant level Use Groups on the cost model. This implies that if you have a tenant level use group named “Apartment” and on your initial benchmarked estimate you have 2 Apartment Use Groups (one labeled “Tower 1” and the other labeled “Tower 2”), then on the cost model both Use Groups will be combined in the “Apartments” Use Group row.
- When users click on Estimate Insights for a benchmarked estimate, they have the option to click on the "jump to estimate" button within the side panel. This action will open the estimate in a new tab, allowing users to conveniently explore more details while building out their cost model.
- Groupings, Edits, Filtering, etc. are all saved per cost model, not per user.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact our support team and we'll be happy to help!