A new total at every milestone
Each design milestone brings an updated estimate from the cost consultant or the design team. The owner sees a new total, but not which line items moved, which scope was added or which allowances were used up.
Guide for owners
How owners set, approve and compare construction cost estimates by design phase
An owner sees several construction cost estimates before a project is built: one at concept or schematic design, an update at design development and another at construction documents, before bids come in. Each is a better picture of the same project, and the owner has to decide which one becomes the budget and see why the number moved between them. This guide walks through that sequence, and shows how Fidrel keeps every estimate, approves one as the baseline and compares the others with it.
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Why the budget drifts between design phases
Several versions, one name
The cost consultant’s estimate, the design team’s update and the owner’s own spreadsheet all call themselves the budget. Nobody can say which one the board approved.
The estimate never becomes the budget
Once approved, the estimate is copied into a separate cost report by hand, and the link between what was estimated and what is now being tracked is lost.
What changes from one design phase to the next
Early in design, an estimate rests on floor areas, building systems and allowances, because much of the building is not drawn yet. As design development and construction documents fill in the details, allowances turn into measured quantities and priced line items, and the contingency held for undefined design scope can come down. The total moves at every step, so the owner needs each estimate beside the one approved before it, not only its bottom line.
Cost estimation
Deciding which estimate is the budget
Only one estimate should carry the name budget. In Fidrel each estimate is marked as a baseline, alternate, working or forecast estimate, and approving one as the baseline requires budget and approval rights, which the database checks. The approved estimate is locked and becomes the original budget for cost tracking; from then on changes go through change orders, budget changes or a revision.
Estimates through the design phases, step by step
Step 1
Set the first budget estimate
At concept or schematic design, build the owner’s estimate in groups and line items with code, description, quantity, unit and unit price, or import the cost consultant’s CSV or XLSX file.
Step 2
Approve one estimate as the budget
When the owner commits to the project, someone with budget and approval rights approves the estimate as the baseline. It is locked and becomes the original budget for cost tracking.
Step 3
Compare each later estimate with it
Add the design development and construction documents estimates as numbered revisions and compare each one with the baseline. A revision the owner approves can replace the baseline, keeping approved changes on top or folding them in.
Comparing estimates line by line
Revisions are numbered and the history is kept. Any two estimates can be compared: the comparison shows the line items found in only one of them and the difference on each line, and can be narrowed to the differences only. Markups and deductions such as general conditions, overhead, contingency and profit are added as a percentage or an amount, and a line’s quantity can come from a takeoff on a drawing or a model, flagged when that source changes.
Bringing in the cost consultant’s estimate
Owners often receive their estimates from a cost consultant or the design team. You can paste rows from a spreadsheet or import a CSV or XLSX file, with groups built from levels or codes; an estimate holds up to 5,000 rows. A line’s unit price can be built up from labor, material, equipment, subcontract and other resources, or taken from a vendor quote attached to the line. Every estimate exports to XLSX, CSV or PDF.
What estimating in Fidrel does not do
There is no unit cost library, cost database, assembly library or labor-rate table in Fidrel. Cost codes are free text, with no bundled MasterFormat or Uniformat list. Approval has no e-signature, and Fidrel does not turn an estimate into a client proposal.
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Guide for owners
Frequently asked questions
Anything else on your mind? We are happy to help.
Talk to usWhen the owner commits funds to the project. In Fidrel, whichever estimate you approve as the baseline is locked and becomes the original budget, and the later design-phase estimates are revisions compared with it.
The line items that appear in only one of them and the difference on each line, so the board can see where the total moved between the schematic design and design development estimates.
Yes. Import a CSV or XLSX file of up to 15 MB, with groups from its levels or codes, or paste rows; an estimate holds up to 5,000 rows.
It is locked and becomes the original budget for cost tracking. Changes after that go through change orders, budget changes or a new revision of the estimate.
No. Unit prices are typed, pasted or imported, built up from resources or taken from a vendor quote; there is no cost or assembly library.