The Conceptimator: An Expert System for Conceptual Cost Estimating of Building Foundations

The Conceptimator is an expert system we wrote which generates conceptual cost estimates of building foundations by simulating the design process. It is designed to be used not by civil engineers or building construction experts, but rather by non-technical users, such as land owners who have an idea for a building project. The Conceptimator puts the knowledge of many experts in the building construction field into the hands of the future building owner by producing a detailed conceptual estimate at a stage of the project when some of the data needed to estimate unambiguously are missing. The system outputs: a product model for the designed building, which shows the selected foundation; an Autocad drawing of the foundation; and a report summarizing the inputs to the system, the allowable foundation types and cost for each one, and a detailed description of geometry and cost of the chosen foundation. The Conceptimator is a working system which is a proof of concept prototype; it shows that conceptual estimating can be done by design rather than classification. The Conceptimator's building design and estimate can be used as a new component in project cost control in the role of a defending champion. Since it generates a detailed design at an early stage in the project, it could be used by the project owner as a comparator to competing design ideas proposed later in the project by human specialists, such as the structural engineer or contractor. If the estimated costs later in the project are above that of The Conceptimator's cost estimation, the owner can hold The Conceptimator's estimation as the defending champion against new solutions proposed by the contractor. New solutions must defeat The Conceptimator's estimate on a cost versus functionality trade-off before they are accepted.