Center for the Built Environment

This report, a companion to the first cost model assumptions report [Webster et. al. 2008] documents the issues and assumptions upon which the CBE UFAD life cycle cost (LCC) modeling tool were based. In this first section we provide and overview of the model structure and a brief description of its main parts. In Section 2 we summarize highlights of the literature search that we conducted to inform our model development work. Section 3 summarizes the major issues and assumptions for the model approach as well as pertinent LCC elements. Section 4 contains more detailed descriptions of the model elements as implemented in the accompanying tool.

The issues and assumptions provide a wealth of information about what things need to be considered when constructing a tool but also serve as a guide for considerations important to any LCC methods that attempt to compare system types.

Our intent in designing this tool was to provide a comprehensive tool with flexibility to not only allow users options but provide the ability to conduct analyses on a broad range of building types in both private commercial and public buildings