AutoCAD Plant 3D

[#1]

Hi all,

I have a question about estimating the real life cost of construction of a Project designed in Autocad. (I use Autocad Plant 3D)

What I want to know is what method should I use. I searched the forums and didn't find a clear answer on what is the best method.

Here is what I think would work, but before actually making it, I want to know, from experienced users, what works and what doesn't.

Option 1- Assign a price tag to every piece of equipment / Produce a BOM / use a formula in the BOM to get the total price.

Option 2- Assign a price tag to every piece of equipment / Produce a BOM / Export to excel and create the formula to get the total price.

Option 3- Produce a BOM / Use Excel to assign a price to every piece of equipment using unique IDs in a price list and calculate the total price.
 

Which one is better ? Maybe the best option would be something else completely ?

There is not an easy answer I guess!

Thanks!

[#2]

First, try the Plant 3D forum - they will have much better idea of estimating in your field than those here.

Second, try project management sites - this one is primarily for technical support, and most of the posters here are technically (rather than manager -ially) oriented.

[#3]

Thanks to the admin for moving the post.

[#4]

Hi Mad,

My option is a variation of your Option #1. I would add the price field to the catalog and Calculate the Total cost by generating a report in Report Writer. The report writer allows you to use expressions similar to excel. 

[#5 · Accepted solution]

I would say option 3 is your best bet.

Reason being is to tally up pipe lengths is easier done in Excel. (With pivot tables and such)

Also with a price change, it would mean re-doing your catalogues and specs, updating models, etc etc...

My opinion anyways...

Good luck!

[#6]

Thanks for those who answered. Choice #3 seems to be the way to go since I have many pipes in my design. But this will have to wait...

Please keep the thread alive as I am experiencing a frustrating FATAL ERROR : Unhandled Access Violation Reading 0x0000 Exception at f50cd74eh... for whatever this means!

Will be back as soon as I get this fixed.