This revised second edition of the standard reference for design professionals supplies an arsenal of economic weapons for constructing, operating, and managing buildings at the lowest cost possible. Everything professionals need to put the latest construction-related strategies to work is right here in one convenient, quick reference guide.
Although technology and productivity has changed much of engineering, many topics are still taught in very similarly to how they were taught in the 70s. Using a new approach to engineering economics, Systems Life Cycle Costing: Economic Analysis, Estimation, and Management presents the material that a modern engineer must understand to work as a practicing engineer conducting economic analysis. Organized around a product development process that provides a framework for the material, the book presents techniques such as engineering economics and simulation-based costing (SBC), with a focus on total life cycle understanding and perspective and introduces techniques for detailed analysis of modern complex systems. The author includes rules of thumb for estimation grouped with the methods, processes, and tools (MPTs) for conducting a detailed engineering buildup for costing. He presents the estimating costing of complex systems and software and then explores concepts such as design to cost (DTC), cost as an independent variable (CAIV), the role of commercial off-the-shelf technology, cost of quality, and the role of project management in LCC management. No product or services are immune from cost, performance, schedule, quality, risks, and tradeoffs. Yet engineers spend most of their formal education focused on performance and most of their professional careers worrying about resources and schedule. Too often, the design stage becomes about the technical performance without considering the downstream costs that contribute to the tota1 life cycle costs (LCC) of a system. This text presents the methods, processes, and tools needed for the economic analysis, estimation, and management that bring these costs in line with the goals of pleasing the customer and staying within budget.
This comprehensive resource provides expert guidance on how Life Cycle Costing (LCC) can optimize decision-making and enhance long-term profit. Sixteen case studies show how to apply LCC to particular facility types and building components, in a new construction and remodeling.
The construction industry is becoming increasingly aware of the need to adopt a holistic approach to the design, building, and disposal of structures. With 60 per cent of the total construction budget in most developed countries being spent on repair and maintenance, there is an obvious need to design for reliability and durability, with more carefully planned maintenance and repair schedules. One important facet is to look at how costs are distributed and spent during the lifetime of a structure: an approach known as life cycle costing, which has the ultimate aim of minimising total lifetime expenditure. As an example, choosing an inexpensive coating for steelwork may require maintenance every three years, whereas a coating which is more expensive may require repairing only once per decade. It is a question of balance - taking the lifetime costs of the structure into consideration. This new book provides an insight into how whole life costing is affecting our approach to designing, building, maintaining and disposing of structures. The book is written for consulting engineers in the fields of civil and structural engineering, building designers, architects, quantity surveyors, refurbishing specialists, as well as practising civil and structural engineers engaged in planning, design, construction, repair and refurbishment of structures.
In the mid-1960s geotechnical engineers paid the highest liability insurance of any profession and by 1969 were virtually uninsurable. As a result, the ASFE was founded and helped these engineers not only lower their insurance rates, but get to the point where, by 1980, they were the least liability-prone members of the design profession. Now, John Bachner and the ASFE tell all other design professionals how to accomplish the same task. This book, which incorporates the ASFE's Introduction to Professional Practice program for advancing architects' and engineers' knowledge of professional practice issues, addresses almost every aspect of the design professionals' practice as they relate to liability, from procedures for verifying the accuracy of technical output to steps for improving client and project selection, workscope development, personnel training and dispute resolution.
With its mixture of established theory, best practice and innovation Whole-life costing: risk and risk responses offers a thorough grounding in both the theory and practical application of WLCC. It will help to improve accuracy of the assessments of long-term effectiveness of projects - now an essential tool for those performing risk analysis in construction investment.
The key areas of life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) and whole life costing (WLC) are exemplified in this volume with accounts of their application to housing stock, a community hydroelectric power system, various aspects of highway infrastructure, and corrosion protective coatings. Sustainable construction and design requires more than compliance with safety requirements and economic constraints; there is also the impact on the environment, the surrounding population, and users of the infrastructure. This requires a multidimensional perspective of sustainability to be considered in life cycle costing (LCC) combining current design criteria with these other aspects. It has become increasingly important to understand the full costs of civil engineering infrastructure, and the main sources of cost, along the whole supply chain and to identify cost reduction opportunities. The conventional procurement approach without the integration of probabilistic life cycle cost modelling induces substantial long-term maintenance costs. Once deterioration and life cycle cost models have been established, appropriate partnership procurement strategies, associated financing methods, and determination of the project period can be developed. LCC includes the cost of planning, design, acquisition, operation, maintenance, and disposal of buildings and other construction assets, while WLC additionally includes incomes and other costs such as non-construction costs and externalities. In whole life costing, social, environmental, or business costs or benefits are considered as externalities and care must be taken not to double count the impacts when WLC is used together with LCCA. The international examples included in this book illustrate practically the methodology of life cycle costing and the application of life cycle cost analysis to identify the most appropriate method for assessing the relative merits of competing project implementation alternatives.
Authors have attempted to create coherent chapters and sections on how the fundamentals of maintenance cost should be organized, to present them in a logical and sequential order. Necessarily, the text starts with importance of maintenance function in the organization and moves to life cycle cost (LCC) considerations followed by the budgeting constraints. In the process, they have intentionally postponed the discussion about intangible costs and downtime costs later on in the book mainly due to the controversial part of it when arguing with managers. The book will be concluding with a short description of a number of sectors where maintenance cost is of critical importance. The goal is to train the readers for a deeper study and understanding of these elements for decision making in maintenance, more specifically in the context of asset management. This book is intended for managers, engineers, researchers, and practitioners, directly or indirectly involved in the area of maintenance. The book is focused to contribute towards better understanding of maintenance cost and use of this knowledge to improve the maintenance process. Key Features: • Emphasis on maintenance cost and life cycle cost especially under uncertainty. • Systematic approach of how cost models can be applied and used in the maintenance field. • Compiles and reviews existing maintenance cost models. • Consequential and direct costs considered. • Comparison of maintenance costs in different sectors, infrastructure, manufacturing, transport.
