Hi all. My colleague is looking to run an LCC in tandem with an LCA that she’s begun in Tally, hoping to show the financial payback/benefits to making some adjustments to the design to reduce impact. Does anyone here have experience with LCCs, and are there any programs that you would recommend for LCC analysis in tandem with LCA?
Thanks for your time!
I have done this, but using my own program and data (using cost data from RS Means). There may be other costing software and data. Though the idea behind LCA and LCC is the same, LCC has its own complexities. I am not aware of any tools that would do this out of the box, especially not for Tally. OneClick LCA may have that function? I know OneClick LCA connects to Autocase which does triple bottom line analysis but last time I used it it didn’t do LCC of a building by its elements.
Yes, as Vaclav mentioned you can connect OneClickLCA data to AutoCase, which can do LCC in tandem with LCA. If you’re interested, I recommend reaching out to Simon Fowell (simon.fowell@autocase.com)
One Click LCA does have Life Cycle Cost functionality, although you may need the Expert level license or purchase it as an add on. It has some cost data, however I’m not sure how accurate it is or where that data comes from, at least for North American cost data. You can input your own cost data though for each line item if you have that cost information.
Thanks Vaclav, Boris, and Anthony!
That sounds about par for what we expected from an LCA-focused tool.
Are you (or are others) familiar with studies demonstrating ability to reduce embodied carbon with no to little extra cost? One of our teams is concerned about the whole “this is new, so it will cost more” vibe.
We are understanding that real costing is best left to someone familiar with financial modeling. It would be great to get a snapshot of cost impacts. At the same time, perhaps architects’ focus may be best directed toward sharing about increased ability to measure and reduce embodied carbon - asking our contractors and estimators to partner with us in this exciting effort. However - it would help to have some data to back up the fact that less carbon does not always equal more cost.
I know this isn’t a fancy approach, but focusing on material reduction by “Fully implementing advanced framing techniques can result in materials cost savings of up to $500 or $1,000 (for a 1,200- and 2,400-square-foot house, respectively), labor cost savings of between 3% and 5%, and annual heating and cooling cost savings of up to 5%.” (energy.gov)
I Know Lstiburek wrote an article on advanced framing that mentions cost reduction too, which I can find if anyone is still interested (I just noticed this is an old post).
I’m not sure of the project scale, but even switching to 24" o.c. framing in any non load-bearing or shear walls should have a cost and embodied carbon reduction.