Cost Modeling from the Contractor Perspective: Application to Residential and Office Buildings

For the majority of the contractual arrangements used in construction projects, the owner is not responsible for the cost deviations due to the variability of labor productivity or material price, amongst many other aspects. Consequently, the cost performance of a project may be entirely distinct for the owner and the contractor. Since the majority of quantitative research on cost estimation and deviation found in the literature adopts the owners’ perspective, this research provides a contribution towards modeling costs and cost deviation from a contractor’s perspective. From an initial sample of 13 residential buildings and 10 office building projects, it was possible to develop models for cost estimation at the early stage of development, including both endogenous and exogenous variables. Although the sample is relatively small, the authors were able to fully analyze all the cost data, using no secondary sources of data (which is very frequent in cost modeling studies). The statistically significant variables in the cost estimation models were the areas above and below ground and the years following the 2008 financial crisis, including the international bailout (2011–2014) period. For estimating the unit cost, a nonlinear model was obtained with the number of underground and total floor, the floor ratio, and the years following the 2008 financial crisis, including the international bailout (2011–2014) period as predictors. For the office buildings, a statistically significant correlation was also found between the cost deviation and number of underground floors.

Evaluation Method and Collaborative Study of Sustainable Additive-Manufacturing

It has been commonly recognized that additive manufacturing (AM) enables cost-effective and efficient production towards sustainability. A rigorous evaluation method is required to further investigate the measurement method and efficiency before AM can be well-positioned in sustainable manufacturing and become the industry mainstream. Cost reduction plays key role in manufacturing industry. Compared to conventional manufacturing (CM), cost of AM is volume independent. In contrary, CM production requires a certain volume to share initial tooling cost to achieve cost reduction. This constraint limits CM from service on demand, and leave ambiguity behind. Invisibility of AM advantage in cost factors blocks AM technologies from appropriate process and affects its applications.The major issues AM encountering are the scaling, speed and size of products. Enhancement in scaling threshold and cost modeling are the novelty of this study and a breakthrough of AM issues. Through this study, generic equations are derived by using Convergence Effect and Buy-to-Fly (BTF) ratio. The Divide-and-Conquer approach further supports scaling factors and dependencies of conventional manufacturing (CM) cost modeling as well as AM methods. Consequently, appropriate AM technologies and CM convergence threshold can enhance standardization, decision support, and pre-pilot of AM society through this rigorous benchmarking.Advantages of AM are identified, and a collaboration pattern is proposed to connect large enterprise (LE), SME, and home-based-business (HBB) into an AM society. Through this society, advantages of AM can be fully utilized, scaling and speed issues can be resolved, and AM’s dominant role in sustainable manufacturing becomes feasible.

Evaluation Method and Collaborative Study of Sustainable Additive-Manufacturing

It has been commonly recognized that additive manufacturing (AM) enables cost-effective and efficient production towards sustainability. A rigorous evaluation method is required to further investigate the measurement method and efficiency before AM can be well-positioned in sustainable manufacturing and become the industry mainstream. Cost reduction plays key role in manufacturing industry. Compared to conventional manufacturing (CM), cost of AM is volume independent. In contrary, CM production requires a certain volume to share initial tooling cost to achieve cost reduction. This constraint limits CM from service on demand, and leave ambiguity behind. Invisibility of AM advantage in cost factors blocks AM technologies from appropriate process and affects its applications. The major issues AM encountering are the scaling, speed and size of products. Enhancement in scaling threshold and cost modeling are the novelty of this study and a breakthrough of AM issues. Through this study, generic equations are derived by using Convergence Effect and Buy-to-Fly (BTF) ratio. The Divide-and-Conquer approach further supports scaling factors and dependencies of conventional manufacturing (CM) cost modeling as well as AM methods. Consequently, appropriate AM technologies and CM convergence threshold can enhance standardization, decision support, and pre-pilot of AM society through this rigorous benchmarking. Advantages of AM are identified, and a collaboration pattern is proposed to connect large enterprise (LE), SME, and home-based-business (HBB) into an AM society. Through this society, advantages of AM can be fully utilized, scaling and speed issues can be resolved, and AM’s dominant role in sustainable manufacturing becomes feasible.

Evaluation Method and Collaborative Study of Sustainable Additive-Manufacturing

It has been commonly recognized that additive manufacturing (AM) enables cost-effective and efficient production towards sustainability. A rigorous evaluation method is required to further investigate the measurement method and efficiency before AM can be well-positioned in sustainable manufacturing and become the industry mainstream. Cost reduction plays key role in manufacturing industry. Compared to conventional manufacturing (CM), cost of AM is volume independent. In contrary, CM production requires a certain volume to share initial tooling cost to achieve cost reduction. This constraint limits CM from service on demand, and leave ambiguity behind. Invisibility of AM advantage in cost factors blocks AM technologies from appropriate process and affects its applications. The major issues AM encountering are the scaling, speed and size of products. Enhancement in scaling threshold and cost modeling are the nobility of this study and a breakthrough of AM issues. Through this study, generic equations are derived by using Convergence Effect and Buy-to-Fly (BTF) ratio. The Divide-and-Conquer approach further supports scaling factors and dependencies of conventional manufacturing (CM) cost modeling as well as AM methods. Consequently, appropriate AM technologies and CM convergence threshold can enhance standardization, decision support, and pre-pilot of AM society through this rigorous benchmarking. Advantages of AM are identified, and a collaboration pattern is proposed to connect large enterprise (LE), SME, and home-based-business (HBB) into an AM society. Through this society, advantages of AM can be fully utilized, scaling and speed issues can be resolved, and AM’s dominant role in sustainable manufacturing becomes feasible