Automated creation of Bill of quantities
After creating the Cost Classification with defined cost item codes, hierarchy, naming, quantity formula and element queries based on the templates, information about cost and resources must be additionally included. This information can be added through two different workflows. The first workflow directly adds this information to each cost item in BEXEL Manager. The second workflow includes the export of the created Cost Classification in an Excel spreadsheet.
Select the cost item to include information about cost and resources → Click Edit in the second toolbar line → In the General tab add cost information or add resources in the Resource tab by clicking Add → After adding information about cost and resources finish the procedure by clicking OK.
To add information about cost and resources in an Excel spreadsheet, the created Cost Classification must be exported:
Select the Cost classification → Click Export and save the Cost classification → Open the Excel spreadsheet → Add information about cost and resources as per defined rules in the Help sheet → After all information about prices and resources is integrated into the Cost Classification in Excel, import the same Cost Classification into BEXEL Manager using the Import command.
After the Cost classification is created and added information about cost and resources, the next step is to Auto-Assign BIM model elements to the created Cost Classification.
Before initializing the Auto Assign process, it is recommended to perform a validation process to go through created Cost Classification and check if there are cost items that don’t have applicable elements or are failing to assign for a certain reason.
The validation process of the Cost Classification can be performed by selecting the cost classification items and clicking the Check Applicable Elements command in the second toolbar line. There are two options to check All Elements or Selected Elements. By selecting All Elements the system will perform analyses of all elements applicable to be assigned to selected cost classification or items. Choosing the option Selected elements the system will analyze if only selected elements can be assigned to respective cost items. After the process is completed, the system will automatically create selection sets in the Check Applicable Elements Results folder. The validation process will inform the user about which cost items have issues and will not pass the Auto Assign process.
After resolving detected issues through the Check Applicable Elements command select the parent folder and click on the Auto Assign command in the second toolbar line and choose To New Cost Version.
When the assignment process is completed, activate the Assigned Item tab to see the cost version with specified prices for every cost item and prices broken down by Labor Cost, Material Cost, Equipment Cost, Other Cost, Subcontractor cost and Base Construction Cost.
Elements linked to the selected cost item or multiple cost items can be selected directly from the cost version using Select Elements command. Using Filter by Element Selection command all cost items linked with selected elements of the BIM model will be filtered within the active cost version.
Non-BIM cost items that don’t have geometric representation in the BIM model can also be added into Cost Version by clicking on the New Cost Assignment command in the Assigned Items tab. All Non-BIM cost items needs to be defined in the Cost Editor tab in order to be added in the Cost Version in the Assigned Items tab.
Besides resources, supplement, and Non-BIM costs, Variable Costs can also be specified. In the Variable Costs, Markup costs can be defined for the complete project or part of the project. There is an option to include overhead cost as the percentage of the total cost and also Taxes.
Activate the Assigned Items tab → Select the Classification Item → Click the Edit command in the second toolbar line → The Cost Assignment Editor window will open → Click on the Variable Cost tab → Add Variable Cost in the column Percentage → Define variable costs for Base, Markup, Overhead and Tax categories → Finish the procedure by clicking OK.
After defining variable costs, add new columns in the cost table with defined costs:
Right-click on the header of any column and click on the Column Chooser command. → The Column Chooser window will open where → double-click on the column name or drag and drop to add to the cost table.
The useful functionality regarding cost classification is the possibility of generating multiple versions of cost classification using Ungroup assignments and the Creation Wizard command. This very important feature helps different project participants generate cost classification per their own needs and breakdown rules. With the Creation Wizard cost classifications can be reorganized per another breakdown rule.
Right-click on the Cost Classification and choose the Ungroup assignments command → The cost classification hierarchy is removed and only Cost Items are displayed → Right-click on the Cost Classification and choose the Creation Wizard command → Click on the New command to create a breakdown rule or click on the Template command to Load predefined templates according to which the cost classification will be reorganized → Finish the process by clicking OK.
After ungrouping assignments, using the command Group by Classification the system will group assignments according to initial hierarchy defined in the Cost editor tab.
