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Construction Cost Management

Construction cost management is one of the most important parts of any construction project. If proper construction cost management is not used and overruns occur, the project could fail, the contractor's reputation could be significantly damaged and the contractor, architect and property owner could all end up in an expensive legal battle.

Construction cost management is usually monitored through the use of computer programs. Introduced to the industry two decades ago, software used to determine the cost of construction has made a major impact in a short period of time. What was once a major issue of concern for all construction projects can now be done quickly and efficiently with the use of a computer program.

Construction cost management software can be purchased by a general contractor and installed on their computers, or, increasingly, it can be Web-based. This software can be very general, monitoring the overall cost of a project, or it can be highly specific, depending on the contractor's needs. There are programs aimed at certain segments of the construction industry, from residential to general to heavy construction. There are programs for carpentry estimating; conceptual estimating; concrete estimating and insurance claims estimating, as well as any miscellaneous estimating work that needs to be done. There are construction cost management software programs specializing in plumbing, piping and HVAC, as well as repair and remodeling tasks.

These computer programs are not overly expensive, with most programs falling into a price range between $60 and $250, depending on the capabilities of the software. Most software used in construction cost management is designed to work within Microsoft's Excel program, though some of them are stand-alone.

The benefits of construction cost management software are substantial. Using software programs that are able to monitor budgets and construction costs constantly, general contractors are able to keep track of the financial status on a daily or hourly basis as opposed to far less frequently when the work was being done by an employee. All budgetary information is stored in one location and is easily accessed, as opposed to when it was manually placed in separate files. The likelihood of errors is also far less than it would be if the budgetary computations were done by hand.

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