Product Update: Ediphi Enhances Preconstruction Platform with New Cost Modeling Capabilities

Cost modeling, the initial application of cost on a project, can determine whether a contractor wins or loses an opportunity. Providing quick and accurate pricing that aligns with project goals early in the lifecycle not only builds credibility but also ensures a smooth and informed client experience. An effective Cost Modeling capability serves as a competitive differentiator, increasing the volume and quality of projects you can pursue—and potentially win. It may even become the cornerstone of your strategy for securing new work.

Solutions for Cost Modeling have been around for decades; tools like Modelogix predate the advent of cloud technology. But let's examine the inherent problems. While these tools offer robust functionality, the challenge has always been the transfer of data into and out of the cost modeling tool. 

Consider a contractor trying to provide initial pricing for an apartment complex. Traditionally, they would look through databases for comparable projects, laboriously convert data into a compatible format, filter out irrelevant details, export the data from their database, import the data into their cost modeling tool, and only then begin cost modeling. This process is slow and error-prone, depending on the seamless integration of data from estimates into cost modeling—which hasn’t ever been a streamlined process—until now. 

Enter Ediphi. Our new Cost Modeling feature lives directly within the same preconstruction platform as our estimating solution. Simply mark an estimate as benchmarked, and it’s instantly ready to use, ironing-out how data flows from estimates to your benchmark cost database. This allows for direct comparison between estimates and cost models, providing clearer context and enabling faster, more accurate, and confident pricing.

Key Features of Cost Modeling

• Use Group Filters: Simplify cost modeling by viewing projects according to their similar attributes. This feature allows you to eliminate irrelevant data, enabling swift and accurate apples-to-apples comparisons.
• Estimate Insights: View relevant estimate details of any benchmarked project directly from your cost model, or open the full estimate for deeper context—so you can quickly identify the cost drivers.
• Custom Unit Specs: Segment important data points such as hotel cost per key or data center cost per kilowatt. This specificity aids in accurately assessing project feasibility and allows you to pivot costs based on the parameters unique to each project.
• Time & Location Escalation: Automatically update project costs to reflect time and geographical variations, keeping your benchmarked and historical estimates current and comparable.

Read more about cost modeling here.

See Cost Modeling in Action

Where We're Heading

Cost Modeling is the vital piece that completes the preconstruction lifecycle by enhancing storytelling. Estimators are, in essence, storytellers whose success depends on how effectively they communicate project narratives to clients. While crafting these narratives can be challenging, Ediphi's Cost Modeling simplifies this process.

This development sets the stage for us to further empower our preconstruction and estimator clients with advanced storytelling tools. Features such as milestone tracking, cost trendline analysis, and eventually value engineering are all in the pipeline, integrated into a single, connected, cloud-based preconstruction solution.

Want to learn more about Cost Modeling with Ediphi? Contact sales for a personal demo of Cost Modeling and the Ediphi platform.