Construction Cost Data
The Hidden Treasure of Construction Projects
What is data?
To ask, ‘what is data?’ seems like a silly question. We know that data are pieces of information—facts, figures, measurements, prices—data comes in many forms.
We often visualize data as depicted on spreadsheets, graphs, and diagrams. But there is an entire other set of data that is more prevalent today and that is digital data. Egnyte, a content security, compliance, and collaboration software, defines digital data as, “Digital data is the electronic representation of information in a format or language that machines can read and understand.”
The unit of measure to describe a computer or other digital device’s storage capacity is called a byte. One bit is 1 or 0. A byte is 8 bits. Bytes are labeled by their size: kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, terabyte, petabyte, exabyte, zettabyte, and yottabyte. (A yottabyte is 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176 bytes.)
To be able to grasp the capacity how large bytes go, it is best to look at real world examples. A music CD holds about 700 megabytes. The largest iPhone (the 15 Pro) does come in the choice of 1 terabyte memory. 1 terabyte will store 500 hours of HD movies or 65 million documents (like Word or PDFs.) A zettabyte has the equivalent storage capacity of 33 million human brains.
Right now, there is an estimated 64 zettabytes in the global datasphere. By 2025, it is expected for that number to rise to 175 zettabytes.
There is no way for us to comprehend the extent of the size of how much data this is. It’s like trying to grasp infinity. Every second we produce more data. And this data translates into valuable assets. There are billions of dollars floating around in the datasphere, but it is all completely useless if it is not captured, sorted, and analyzed correctly.
Every project you work on gathers a ton of data—schedule, cost, payroll, productivity, safety, equipment tracking, design, materials…the list goes on…and if harnessed effectively, you can:
- Identify and avoid risk.
- Predict future trends.
- Accurately present better project cost and scheduling.
But the construction industry has yet to catch up with other industries when it comes to utilizing the power of data. The tools are out there. There’s just a reluctancy to use them. And now more than ever, it’s causing problems for those firms that can’t keep up.
The numbers speak for themselves:
- Only 0.5% of construction data is used efficiently.
- Bad data has cost the construction industry over $1.84 trillion.
- $7.1 million dollars in rework could have been avoided if data was utilized properly.
- 90% of construction executives report spending 1,300 hours a year trying to organize data.
- 95.5% of construction data collected goes unused.
For those who are trying to collect and use data, most of the methods are ineffective. 65% are still using Excel spreadsheets to record and track information, while the other nearly half are still using manual methods of data collection. With estimating accuracy being noted as one of the top biggest impacts to the construction industry, it is imperative that preconstruction teams be as proactive as possible when it comes to gathering, storing, and utilizing data.
Boss magazine reports from a TrackVia, a task management platform, survey, that almost all construction managers agree that construction data is essential to their success. However, when this data is collected manually, it leads to “…poor work quality and customer satisfaction.”. -
If your team embraces a single-source solution to data collection, you’ll save 400% MORE time it is taking for those executives mentioned above who are spending wasted hours organizing their construction data.
The solution is to create a construction cost database.
What is a Construction Cost Database?
A construction cost database is a collection of all project data gathered through the preconstruction data lifecycle.
How is data defined in preconstruction? Data, simply put, is an item within an estimate and any descriptive information about the project. There are also attributes assigned to that data, like unit cost, unit of measure, and then classified, for example, division 3 concrete or Uniformat foundation. All this data has value.
Storing this data allows precon teams to go back and easily see what was done in the past and follow current reiterations of how a project develops.
Construction cost databases help preconstruction teams make data-driven decisions based on facts and figures rather than just experience. Using a database-driven construction cost estimating software like DESTINI Estimator means not only can you present and defend your estimate displaying dashboards with proof of numbers, but you can also analyze and benchmark your projects to see where you are losing money and where you are making it, detail inefficiencies and fix them, and help you decide what projects to pursue and how to build better buildings.
Switching to a data-based driven preconstruction process also saves you time, makes training new hires easier, streamlines workflows, creates consistency in deliverables, and greatly improves communication across internal and external teams.
The construction industry creates a vast amount of data, yet we do nothing with that data. As Stewart Carroll, Beck Technology’s President, says, “It goes into the virtual filing cabinet, never to see the light of day again.”
However, many general contractors are recognizing that to create a better owner experience, you need to collect data in a standardized way and utilize it for the next project. Owners are increasingly demanding more information quicker and earlier and desire more certainty on cost and scheduling. You can’t meet this demand without being data driven.
How do You Create a Construction Cost Database?
You have a database. It might just be in your head or scattered all over different programs. A study conducted by FMI in conjunction with Autodesk found that over half the respondents aren’t confident they have a way to capture their construction data efficiently. It’s no wonder that 95% of that data isn’t used.
AI job site capture software StructionSite writes, “…as much as 80% of this data is usually left unstructured and therefore, considered to be “dark data.” Construction companies can sometimes fall into the trap of mindlessly collecting data without having systems to process and analyze it. This data is often kept in multiple, unconnected spreadsheets and documents. Consequently, the majority of data generated by on-site equipment, paper forms, and office software is never used, wasting time and effort.”
Fortunately, there are tools out there that help preconstruction teams capture and house all their data like DESTINI Estimator construction estimating software.
Driven by DESTINI Data Manager, DESTINI Estimator is a fully integrated, all-in-one data-driven estimating system that allows preconstruction teams to create estimates from templates, compare similar projects, benchmark key project milestones, and sort and present data to clients in the way they want. From conceptual estimating to 2D and 3D takeoff, DESTINI Estimator is your one stop shop for creating accurate estimates quickly and collaboratively.
Because DESTINI Estimator captures and stores your estimate data, everyone on the precon team will work in the same estimate at the same time, standardizing and streamlining your process. Switching to a data-driven based process helps precon teams spot and eliminate risk, avoid change orders, track project profitability, make decisions based on real-time data, and offer better solutions to owners.
Over half the general contractors who responded to a TrackVia survey say “they believe many hurdles created by manual data collection could be eliminated by digitization of processes.”
ENR Top 400 Contractors, Balfour Beatty says, “Standardizing to one estimating platform in every office will improve service both inside the organization and externally. It will create consistency in scope descriptions, costs, reporting, and communication, so we can present a united front (and a united estimate) to our clients. But, most importantly, it will give us a single, centralized cost database to capture all of our cost history in every market across the entire country.”
Utilizing a system that captures and houses your data means you no longer have to spend the time searching down information, piecing together estimates at the last minute, or worrying about missing or broken information. Not only that, but it significantly improves the time and energy it takes to train new estimators.
Click here to read more about how to create a construction cost database.
Standardizing How Your Construction Cost Data is Collected
Digitizing your estimating process is the only way to ensure your estimate data is as accurate as possible. Now more than ever, to secure financing, owners need the assurance that the estimate cost is accurate. Owner pressure is accelerating the need for preconstruction teams to invest in a more efficient way to capture construction cost data and to leverage it.
After implementing DESTINI Estimator, the program automatically captures your cost history throughout the life of the project. With technology we can build better buildings by becoming less focused on the deliverable and more focused on analyzing the construction cost data collected.
Stewart says it is important for precon teams to “realize that there is value that you can capture through standardization.”
Precon is historically notorious for working in silos and it has a damaging effect. 1/3 of construction projects that go over budget and/or are delayed are due to communication problems. However, those teams that collaborate and use integrated methods of construction are seeing how successful these collaborative approaches are. This isn’t just a trend. It’s the direction the industry is moving in.
Precon teams who bring in architects, operations, and owners all together at the same table are seeing that collaboration pays back.
Trent Isaacson, Vice President of Preconstruction at Layton Construction says though the price of a project is of course important, he wants clients to see “the way that we’re going to be successful in delivering you the best outcome is through collaboration and teamwork.”
Cloud-hosted DESTINI Estimator allows precon teams to work from anywhere and the Team Estimating feature means estimators can all be working in the same estimate at the same time. Changes to the estimate are seen in real time, so no time is wasted waiting for an estimate to be reviewed. And the integration with Microsoft Power BI allows estimators to put together easy-to-understand dashboards in a way that owners want.
Removing the communication barriers from traditional delivery methods reduces the cost of a project, reduces risk, and increases the time preconstruction teams have to focus on higher value activities.