Overview

As a design professional or Prime Design Consultant, integrity and quality underscores your work with each and every deliverable. The same is true of us. By choosing MyRealCost to fulfill your project needs you’ll have the guarantee that all work preformed adheres to the level of service that your company strives to accomplish. At MyRealCost our primary role is that of construction cost management and cost estimating. Our objective is to provide the necessary services to 1.) quantify and define the true construction cost of your projects 2.) meet and exceed client expectations 3.) provide realistic and attainable solutions where issues of design constraints/requirements vs. budget exist 4.) bring analyses and solutions to your in-house cost accounting and design operations for greater profitability. We bring decades of an advanced level of expertise in construction cost accounting as it applies to land development, site/civil work, and building structures.

Having worked with some of the largest design firms in North America, as well as those with a small staff, we understand the expectations and requirements that exist with design and construction projects from $1 up to $1 billion. If your work is with a Capital Improvement Project, Public Housing Authority, ground-up construction, or adaptive reuse project we have the experience and expertise to meet your needs. This experience and expertise allows us to work and blend well with any team, contract constraints, and stage of design or construction to help secure the greatest outcome possible for your project. Our desire is to do what we do best, which is to help you do what you do best, and as a result facilitate greater efficiency and profitability. Please continue to read below for a summary of how we can provide your company and your projects with services others are unwilling or unable to perform.

Profit Center

Cost of Design—How efficient, accurate, and complete is your current pricing, cost accounting practices, and in-house cost database? Are you confident their use in future design projects will see profit margins hold or increase? Its most beneficial to have someone who not only understands the how and why of your billing practices, but can help develop better billing structure or practices for building and construction application. For example, one area to consider is billing rates per design detail or pre-determined design options. It is understood, of course, that design details vary based upon design elements and complexity. However, with the correct application this can be accomplished. Does your firm strictly use percentage based fees for billing? Do you track every design hour, or desire to do so? These are important questions to consider when it comes to profit and billing practices. We can develop cost models to capture and report job costing as it directly relates to the relationship between design and construction. We understand that generally anything that complicates a project or adds design time adds to the fee—which is often difficult for an owner/client to accept. Our level of understanding is the beginning to bridging the gap between your owner/client relationship and reaching a greater level of profitability that you strive for.

Design Competition—We understand that competition among other design firms can produce narrow margins in todays design and construction environment. So when your firm’s integrity, competency, and capability speaks for itself—how do you increase profitability in aggressive competition? Say for instance, your design cost is 6% of project cost for a particular job and, due to competition, an owner is unwilling to pay more than 4%. What is your approach going to be? You could just accept the 4% fee and create a set of drawings that does not exceed the accepted fee knowing full well that all the construction questions won’t or can't be answered in the original design documents. It may seem more cost effective to use this approach, but how does this impact the builder/contractor or the expectations of the owner when all the necessary design change work comes along, and just happens to total your original 6% fee?

Improved Efficiency—What are the areas related to design cost and billable rates that could improve to increase profitability? What is your current method for capturing and billing for various design time as it relates to design and construction projects? When it comes to cost accounting (not the same as financial accounting) we believe the benefit of our expertise will yield significant results. Even if you prepare statements of probable cost for projects in-house we can deliver local, accurate, and reliable cost data for use in preparing budgets and estimates. We can also provide customized cost models for your clients that would benefit from or require analysis of initial cost vs. life-cycle cost.

Primary Functions

forensic estimating

From the word forensic we understand this is the application of scientific knowledge as relates to legal issues. Nevertheless, this is applied science. At MyRealCost we have extensively researched, adopted, and adapted forensic principles and methodologies for use in construction estimating. Especially as it applies to change order work and construction claims.

cost estimating

At MyRealCost, we can provide complete cost estimating for your design and construction project. Either in the public or private sector. We can provide comprehensive and accurate cost data for a given project using qualified, actual, and historical in house data. We offer estimating services for design and construction projects in the range of $1—$1 billion. Our services are available for your projects in the following segments: land development, residential, commercial, multi-tenant/multi-family, mixed-use, adaptive reuse, and health care. Our in-house estimating staff can prepare a wide range of comprehensive and detailed cost estimating at all stages of design: conceptual, pre-construction/programming, SD, DD, CD, and thru close-out.

cost Analysis

Cost analysis is the backbone here at MyRealCost. We strive to become your go-to when it comes to the bidding process—especially as it relates to unbalanced bids. We can provide customized, detailed analysis of cost at every level for all types of competitive and negotiated contracts: lump-sum, unit price, cost-plus-fixed percentage, cost-plus-fixed fee, cost-plus-variable percentage, target estimate, and GMP. Additionally, we understand that when it comes to risk allocation (i.e. risk sharing/risk assignment) due diligence is key. All analyses performed are based upon a firm grounding and understanding of contractual language and rights across varied contract methods. The analysis we can provide can be as simple as data and supporting detail for change order work to more complicated claims analysis, and everything in between.