The Importance of Cost-Effective Estimation and Quotation Software for Reducing Carbon Footprint in Construction Projects

The construction industry accounts for approximately 40% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, leading to excessive resource consumption and a large carbon footprint. Embedded carbon in the built environment accelerates climate change and causes various adverse effects, including resource depletion, ecological degradation, and public health issues. Consequently, construction companies, architects, and engineers need to strive to reduce embedded carbon emissions and implement sustainable construction practices.

As part of these efforts, the use of cost-effective and user-friendly quantity surveying and estimating software is gaining attention. These software solutions facilitate accurate estimation and cost calculation of materials, labor, and equipment for construction projects, and they can also contribute to the assessment and reduction of embedded carbon emissions.

Traditionally, construction companies have relied on spreadsheet programs like Excel for quantity surveying and estimating tasks. However, this manual approach has several drawbacks. First, there is a lack of data consistency, as formats and items can vary among personnel. Second, numerous input items can lead to errors and require significant time for review and approval. Most importantly, information on the carbon footprint of materials, labor, and equipment is often missing, making it difficult to accurately calculate embedded carbon emissions.

In contrast, modern quantity surveying and estimating software can address these issues. It provides standardized formats and items to ensure consistency and reduces errors through automated calculation functions. It also enables real-time sharing, review, and analysis, thereby enhancing operational efficiency. Most importantly, it can accurately calculate the embedded carbon emissions of an entire project by storing carbon emission factors for each material, equipment, and labor resource in a database.

For example, the Japanese construction company Xerox Corporation (ゼロック) offers a solution called 'One Click LCA'. This solution leverages a database of carbon emission data for building materials and construction methods to estimate embedded carbon from the design stage and propose mitigation measures. This enables the selection of low-carbon designs and materials, minimizing carbon emissions throughout the building's entire lifecycle.

Quantity surveying and estimating software also plays a significant role in improving the productivity and profitability of construction companies. This is because data integration and automation enhance operational efficiency and reduce labor waste. It also facilitates project-wide cost tracking and control, leading to improved budget management. These advantages enhance the competitiveness of construction companies.

Global architectural solution providers like Autodesk are also releasing integrated quantity surveying and estimating solutions that integrate with BIM (Building Information Modeling). These solutions enable accurate cost estimation without omissions through design data integration and can reflect cost fluctuations due to construction processes and material changes in real-time.

Reducing carbon emissions in the built environment requires efficient and environmentally friendly construction. Implementing cost-effective quantity surveying and estimating software can be the first step. If construction companies adopt these solutions, they can expect various benefits, such as embedded carbon assessment and reduction, cost savings, and improved productivity. Ultimately, it can pave the way towards sustainable construction.