Cost history means being able to mine from your most accurate and consistent construction data in the future, so you have what you need to get the cost information you want. Within DESTINI Estimator, you can save and log your data in a variety of ways to rely on that information on future projects. 
Think of it as your repository of estimate data that made it into your construction project. In a month, six months, or two years from now, you can then go back and see the trend of that data over time, among region, and/or on similar projects.
Pretty powerful, right?
Construction firms have notoriously struggled with collecting and tracking their estimating data. Most of the industry still uses Excel to develop and deliver estimates. Being able to cull data from those estimates and save them in a central database is a monumental effort. Even other estimating software technologies struggle with storing cost data and severely lack the analyzing power to decipher what the numbers mean.
Enter DESTINI Estimator into the cost history chat. The DESTINI platform was built based on what estimators need as well as what the construction industry could want to be more efficient. Our technology uses cost databases so historical data is saved to be used on future projects. That data is also analyzed so precon pros can quickly see the ebbs and flows of pricing, crew rates, material costs, and a multitude of factors that impact construction project costs.
Cost History and Conceptual Estimating
By combining cost history information with parametric estimating, precon pros can quickly get to a conceptual estimate in DESTINI Estimator. Users can benchmark unit prices against similar projects easily. Benchmarking can happen across any region and timeframe thereby making your conceptual estimates efficient and transparent.
“DESTINI Estimator helps justify our pricing to clients. If they want to challenge our numbers, we can produce the data now that says, ‘this is what we’ve seen in the past, so this is what we think you’re building will cost in the future.” - Tom Quinn, Director of Preconstruction at Russell Construction
Cost History and Project Solutions 
Innovative solutions that happen on the fly on a construction project is the norm. How we get to those solutions takes experience and knowledge. Cost history can assist with project solutions because you have a massive amount of data at your fingertips to analyze what has worked in the past. If a DESTINI Estimator user starts their estimate project from a template with cost history data, they are already several steps ahead in their process for being a problem solver, a trusted advisor, and go-to resource for the project owner.
“Being able to access and leverage our preconstruction cost data in DESTINI Estimator allows us to quickly and easily provide feedback and solutions to our clients.” - Mike Hurley, Chief Estimator at Clark Construction Group
Cost History and Lessons Learned
Lessons learned are abundant in construction. Project executives use safety reports, scheduling calendars, and a wide variety of reports to keep track of how their project is progressing and how to improve it going forward. When it comes to estimating, historical cost data serves as a valuable asset for recording insights. In DESTINI Estimator, the ability to observe cost variations, adjustment in crew rates, material cost discrepancies, and inflation rate variables offer a wealth of preconstruction knowledge. These lessons contribute to the growth and improvement for subsequent projects.
“I also rely on the estimate comparison tool. Owners like to know what happened since the first estimate version. Why is it more now? Estimator lets me drill down to the detail and quickly see that there’s more carpet, windows, or brick. You can move from schematic drawings to design development drawings and see what the architect has changed that impacts the cost.” - Taimoor Khan, Vice President Preconstruction at Satterfield & Pontikes
While we have a lot of power today in our cost history capabilities, the industry will only get better at collecting, analyzing, and using the data going forward. It has only been within the past five years that estimators understood that construction estimating software like DESTINI Estimator can do the heavy lifting of compiling cost history data without manual data entry.
