a year on, and asking for testers again
Some of you might remember I posted here back in April last year looking for pilot users for Rate QS (automated cost benchmarking platform for QS teams). Got three pilots out of it and a load of useful conversations, so wanted to come back with an honest update and a small ask.
What we got wrong
The original classification model was Element; Descriptor — so a line item would get tagged something like "Slab; in-situ concrete." Sounded clean on paper but in practice it fell apart fast. Too much got jammed into "descriptor" material, spec, size, finish, all fighting for the same field — and benchmarking across projects got noisy because two items that should match often didn't.
We've rebuilt it around four fields instead: Component, Material, Specification, Scale. So that same slab is now Component: slab / Material: in-situ concrete / Specification: C32/40, reinforced / Scale: 300mm. Benchmarking actually works now, you can drill from "all slabs" down to "300mm RC slabs" and the rates line up properly.
We also added NRM mapping on top, which a lot of pilot users asked for, items get tagged to NRM codes automatically alongside the keyword fields, so you can roll up either way depending on what you're doing.
The ask
The other thing we've been building is parametric cost modelling, sliders for GIA, storeys, pile depth, that kind of thing it pulls from your benchmarked data and updates high-level costs in real time as you change assumptions. Early stage, not public yet, want to put it in front of a couple of QSs before we ship.
Selective on testers this time:
- You'd need to upload at least one cost plan/BoQ to Rate QS first (the parametric tool only works once it has your data to pull from)
- Mostly working on new builds rather than refurbs/fit-outs (the model isn't tuned for refurb yet)
- Also its super high level - we see this as replacing generic cost per m2 type advice, its based on your assumptions about a building at an early stage and builds quite a detailed model based on this (see screenshot 1)
Drop a comment or DM if interested. Happy to answer questions about the rebuild too.