Cost Analysis

[TracyGA]

For years now our firm has been looking for a good way to do a cost analysis on our projects using ArchiCAD's schedules. I'd hoped that the new advancements with the version 22 schedules would make this possible, but I am still not finding a good way to do this. Has anyone found a good way to create a cost analysis schedule that calculates the different parts of the building and then calculates a cost per square foot or other?

[poco2013]

Since there are no other replies to to this time I'll give an opinion.

The short answer is NO.

However cost estimating is a subjective topic and you did not define what aspects of cost you are interested in and what level of effort you are willing to "endure'? Costing on a sq. ft. basic is a relatively simple process is a simple process using zones which i am sure you are aware, But without knowing what are the major items that you want to track, this is a completely open topic and too subjective.

I assume you may be just on a fishing expedition to garner ideas from others, rather than a "how do"?

My own opinion is that Archicad does not offer the level of object detail necessary to do a comprehensive B/M and cost estimate, at least, not in comparison to external estimators.

BUT if you could provide specifics, the current expressions features together with the interactive schedules offer some interesting abilities, of course, with some additional expertise required?