Item: RSMeans data, from Gordian (Costworks)
Rating: 9
Author: Robert Bass

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

CostWorks is used across our multi-discipline firm to give us and our clients a good handle on construction costs for our new design and renovation projects. The user must be careful when it comes to markup factors such as City Cost indexes, overhead, and profit markups since they will vary from project to project and greatly affect the overall cost of construction.

Pros and Cons

unit costs of construction materials
labor rates for large projects

small project costs where labor is a bigger portion than materials on cost
markup factors on governmental projects

Return on Investment

Good - it saves a lot of time on producing estimates

Alternatives Considered

CostWorks is much quicker than manually looking up costs and copying them to a spreadsheet.

Key Insights

Do you think RSMeans data, from Gordian (Costworks) delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with RSMeans data, from Gordian (Costworks)'s feature set?

Yes

Did RSMeans data, from Gordian (Costworks) live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of RSMeans data, from Gordian (Costworks) go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy RSMeans data, from Gordian (Costworks) again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Microsoft Office 2016, Deltek Vision, Kofax Power PDF (formerly Nuance Power PDF)

Likelihood to Recommend

Well Suited:
Construction cost estimates for new larger projects where the construction will start within the next 6-9 months. Budgetary estimates for future buildings through its square foot models.

Not Well Suited:
Not accurate enough on small projects where labor, travel to sites, and OH&P are a higher percentage of unit costs than on larger projects where these costs are spread out across more units.

Support Rating

5

I've never had the need to discuss CostWorks with a vendor.

Great help with large construction project costs

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with CostWorks