Category: Uncategorized

There are no Cost Standardization in Denmark

by ross griffin

The standardization in how we collect cost data, and right now today in the Industry we don’t have a sufficient standardization around cost

We need to drive forward in standardization
preparing how we manage cost in the Danish Industry
And that’s something that KOSMOS are very much driving with our clients
Our current clients and will be with our future clients
We have one cost breakdown structure in our organization

Currently, in Denmark, today, there’s no standards around cost


You have, historically what’s called SFB, which is a standard cost breakdown structure.
It’s a very loose structure when you compare it to its counterparts in the UK or in Ireland.
We have something called BIM7AA, which is a coding structure for 3D models. Not a cost breakdown structure – a coding structure.
The principles are based on SFB, so you could say you could use it.

You have CCS coding structure. Again it’s a coding structure for building parts within a 3D model environment, not a cost breakdown structure.


We don’t have a sufficient standardization around cost, so we will not be able to automate in the Industry in Denmark around cost because it doesn’t exist.

Will Cost Managers go extinct?

by elia gonzalez

What people don’t realise – I think, there’s a misconception in the Industry is that BIM and the 3D-world will eventually remove the need for cost managers because it will be automated.

Cost estimating as a task being a very small part of what a cost manager does, in a project life cycle automation in the future will remove a certain proportion of that task – cost estimating not the cost managements role because what we don’t talk about, a lot actually in the Industry is that the quality of 3D information develops during the design life cycle.

At the first stage you have very little to nothing.
Stage 2 you begin to have more information, more detail in the model.

But you cannot just use that information and calculate and estimate your design or your project or your proposals budget.

Because at that stage you probably only have 40-50% of design information.

So the cost manager – this is where they add value – while you have some design, you have a huge proportion that you need to estimate that’s not designed yet.

Likewise when we go to the detailed design stage, not one project in the world today has been designed in 3D 100%

And it wont be in the near future.
It will be eventually when we begin to standardize but at the moment it wont be.

So even though we say that BIM extract quantities from your 3D model gives you your bill of quantities (or your tilbudsliste in Denmark), it does not.

Because actually we only model 80% of the building parts or the building components that are necessary to price or necessary to budget.

That’s something very important because  what we see is this huge drive towards 5D, and 5D BIM is  automated real-time cost updating. But how can you do that if you don’t have a model that’s 100%.

What you end up having, is 5D automated real-time partial cost updating.

Do you think it is possible to have a detailed cost calculation with quantities and unit prices in the early design stages?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ1tiE8nO3w&ab_channel=KOSMOSCommercialmanagement-Denmark

Data & data bases are useless without these 3 things

by eliaglobaladmin
  1. Number 1 being a qualified standard structure that’s important
  1. Number 2 is the data collected in a structured manner In order for you to benchmark data the data has to be in the same way For example a box has to be a box has to be a box.
    It can’t be a box a triangle and a circle Because they don’t fit over each other So in a structured way the data has to be collected And right now in the Construction Industry relating to cost we’re really struggling with that We do not have standard structures for cost data The ICMS (Internatioal Construction Measurement Standards).
    That’s an international construction measurement standard for cost we would use that in our data collection and then map that to local standards like SFB in Denmark.
  1. And number 3 is having a specialist that understands the Quality Level in the data Data is information

And you can give information to anybody. But if they don’t understand what they’re looking at it doesn’t matter if the information is of high quality or low quality.

They won’t be able to recognize the quality levels so the data is at it’s lowest point in terms of it’s usability.

What is your experience with cost databases?

The Industry as a Game

by ross griffin

For me I look at our projects and our deliveries as a game.

Every time you set a budget it becomes a challenge that you sort of set personally to target, to achieve that.

And I think that’s what makes it kind of fun.

At least for me. Again, when you look at it in that sense rather than it being just work, you are setting these kind of targets and games and I tell you there’s nothing for satisfying than setting a budget at 500 millions and getting 5 prices back and the average is 500 million.

 You cannot do your job any better than that.

 There’s nothing worse than tender bids coming back and them being 20% – 30% and in some cases 50% over budget.
In my mind that’s bonkers.
That means you have no idea what you’re doing.

Whereas coming in on budget means you now started a process with a contractor, who has submitted a price, who is comfortable.

The client is comfortable because they have money to execute, they have a design that they love that they want to execute and you go into an execution phase, kind of satisfied.

We always like to talk about it in KOSMOS of kind of open-source information, sharing knowledge.

It’s vital, even to competitors, the best thing you can do is share your knowledge with your competitor.
Because everybody can come up in the Industry and get better at what they do.

So on your project, if you are having some difficulties with some aspects of the budget or the strategy around the budget control, just drop us a message below and we will come back to you and let’s create a discussion around it.

Because the more open we are about cost control and economy control the better it is for everybody.

How we collaborate in the Danish Construction Industry

by ross griffin

We’re not there to replace you, we’re there to support you.


One of the things I’d like to talk about is collaboration
and collaboration as I mentioned earlier is a very important part of
how we deliver projects.


But it’s not just about the projects – it’s collaboration with
other specialist companies.


For example architects and engineers who deliver very specialized architectural and engineering services.
They might not have the in-house capability and that’s where we come in to collaborate with these type of companies.


So the way we see the Industry going actually is very small specialized groups like KOSMOS and like many other companies, and those groups coming together in partnerships to deliver projects
And maybe repeating again on the next project or maybe disbanding and coming back in the future again.
That’s how we see the Industry, at least for the small to medium sized business.


And I think that’s an important aspect of what we are as KOSMOS, we’re not there to replace you.

Data Collection and Benchmarking

by elia gonzalez

DATA is one of the most valuable tools a company can have.

  • It provides understanding of a specific case, by looking at previous cases.
  • It gives security on decision making, looking at how similar cases turned out.
  • It accelerates process and tasks, allowing the reuse of information rather than generating it over and over again.

Then, why are companies, specially in the construction industry, not collecting and storing all their data in a usable way?

It requires great effort, to assimilate data collection as a regular practice, to comprehend the value of that data, and to consider it not as a waste of time but the most valuable investment a company can make. Once this is decided upon and a strong standard is established to allow this process to be an automatic task, a company has a TREASURE!