Cost Estimate palette
The Cost Estimate palette can be considered as a cost estimate or a Bill of quantities. It is used to view created cost version with associated quantities, units, unit costs, material costs, labor costs, equipment costs, total costs, and total costs, including tax, subcontractor cost, etc., depending on the needs and defined inputs. Created Cost version can be edited, deleted, duplicated, exported, or imported using commands on the toolbar line in the Cost Estimate tab.
The New Cost Version command creates a new cost version in which cost items can be added by linking with applicable BIM model elements or add Cost Items not associated with BIM elements (Non-BIM cost items).
The toolbar contains usual commands such as Edit, Delete and Duplicate, which are used to rename, delete, or duplicate created cost versions.
The Collapse All and Expand All commands are used to collapse or expand the whole activity list.
Export and Import commands are also available in the first toolbar line, allowing export the cost version in excel format and, vice versa, import the cost version from excel format.
Report command brings predefined report templates, which can be modified and exported to xlsx, csv or txt files or printed directly from the Report Editor window.
When the Show Mappings command is activated an additional row below each cost item will appear with mapping information from the quantity formula column.
Filter by Element Selection command is used to quickly filter cost items associated with selected BIM elements in the main window.
Filter Assignments Without Elements command is used to filter all non-BIM cost items added through the New Cost Assignment command and not associated with any BIM elements in the model.
Below, the second toolbar line contains commands such as New Cost Assignment, Edit and Delete, which are used for creating, editing, or deleting specific Cost Assignments. You can edit or delete one Cost Assignment or group of Cost Assignments.
The New Cost Assignment command is used to add a new Cost Assignment according to the created cost item in the Cost editor tab without any BIM elements.
Through the Select Elements command, you can select elements associated with one cost assignment or group of cost assignments to check if there are elements in the model that are not included in the active cost version.
Very important commands in the Cost Estimate tab are Creation Wizard, Ungroup Assignments, and Group by Classification. These commands can be found by right-clicking on the Cost Assignment and choosing one of the mentioned options. Ungroup Assignments command will ungroup all classification items leaving the cost version presented as a flat table, containing all cost items assigned. Choosing Group by Classification all cost assignments can be grouped as per the defined classification. Choosing the Creation Wizard command, cost versions can be arranged as per custom hierarchy, according to your needs (by Buildings, Levels, Categories, Zones, Methodology, etc.). This flexibility allows us to review or even export the cost classification by different breakdown rules.
The Update Grouping command evaluates the previously defined assignment grouping rules and, if necessary, redistributes assignments or removes/creates new groups. If, for example, you group assignments per previously defined Selection sets and one group of elements are located in multiple selection sets in the cost version Overlapping warning will appear. After resolving the issue between selection sets, you can click on the Update Grouping command and redistribute Cost Assignments as per updated Selection sets.
It can be also defined which columns will be visible in the Cost Estimate tab. To add columns, right-click on the column header and choose the command Column Chooser. The Column Chooser window will open, to drag and drop a new column. To hide unwanted columns, click on the column header and choose the Hide Column command. These commands can be found by right-clicking on the Cost Assignment and choosing one of the mentioned options.
Removing cost item from defined element
Activate the Cost Estimate tab → In the main viewport, mark the element to remove the Cost Item → Click Filter by Element Selection → A Cost Item which is connected to the selected element is displayed, with its location in the folder structure → Right-click the Cost Item and select the Delete Assignment command or by clicking Delete in the second toolbar line → A warning will appear, where the entire procedure is completed by clicking Yes.
Removing all cost items from BIM model elements
To remove the Cost Items linked to the BIM model activate the Cost Estimate tab, select the first Classification item, and click on the Delete command in the second toolbar line or by right-clicking choose the Delete Assignments command. This procedure deletes all previous Cost Items linked to BIM elements.
By linking Cost Items to elements of the BIM model, and connecting respective cost version to the construction Schedule (in the Schedule Editor Tab) – a full 5D BIM model is created. Once it’s done – cost, schedule and geometry data of BIM model are connected, and it could be displayed as a 5D simulation in the Schedule Animation tab. To correctly display the simulation, you should activate the Schedule display type.
