Reliability of IFC classes in ontology definition and cost estimation of public procurement

Abstract: Cost estimation is one of the most critical tasks in the architecture, engineering, construction, and facilities management industry (AEC/FM). The lack of a standardized support procedure for verifying the association of the cost to geometric objects cause a waste of time, inaccuracy and human errors in the cost estimates.This research investigates how to identify a cost ontology within the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) database.The results show that we can consider the cost element no longer as a natural language text string, detached from the digital model, but as a structured class in the IFC data model (IfcCostItem).