The Importance of Construction Cost Data

Masterformat, Uniformat, and reference cost databases such as RS Means Construction Cost Data are important “best practices” for enabling facility Owners, Contractors, AE’s, and oversight groups to achieve higher productivity, accuracy, and transparency for all construction, renovation, repair, and sustainability projects.

– MasterFormat is a standard for construction unit price line items for commercial and institutional (JOC, SABER, IDIQ, SATOC, MATOC, MACC, POCA, BOA) building projects. MasterFormat was developed by the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) and Construction Specifications Canada. In November 2004 MasterFormat expanded from 16 Divisions to 50 Division to keep pace with the construction industry.
– UniFormat, also a publication of CSI and CSC, is a method of arranging construction information based on functional elements, or parts of a facility characterized by their functions, these elements are often referred to as systems or assemblies. Uniformat II is the current version available.
– RSMeans Cost Data adheres to, and expands upon the MasterFormat and Uniformat II standard, while 4Clicks provides an even further enhancement of RSMeans Cost Data, providing approximately 400,000 line items.

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