I. Overview
Intelligent buildings represent the integration of traditional construction engineering with emerging information technology. By applying systems engineering principles, these projects optimize and combine four fundamental elements: the building structure (environment), systems (intelligent systems), services (resident/user demand services), and management (property operation management). The ultimate goal is to achieve optimal design, building automation, communication automation, and office automation, thereby creating elegant, comfortable, convenient, efficient, and highly secure environments through reasonable investment.
Since the development of intelligent buildings began relatively late, there is currently a shortage of professionals in this field—especially those with comprehensive expertise in technology, construction management, and engineering cost control. With rapid advancements in information technology, new technologies, processes, and materials continue to emerge. Additionally, intelligent building projects differ significantly from traditional civil and installation engineering in terms of design management processes, design depth, and participants, which increases the challenges associated with cost management.
II. Problems in Cost Control of Intelligent Building Engineering
Intelligent buildings consist of multiple intelligent subsystems, with the total project cost comprising equipment purchase, installation, software programming, and debugging for each subsystem. As most system design, detailed construction drawing, and implementation are handled by equipment suppliers, system integrators, or with assistance from design institutes, several issues arise in cost management:
1. Blind Determination of System Functions
During the project planning stage, owners often lack thorough research into their building’s actual needs. Caught up in the “smart building craze,” they may blindly pursue advanced technologies without considering practical requirements. After completion, many functionalities may remain underutilized due to limited management capabilities, resulting in wasted investment and a tendency toward superficial implementation.
2. Inadequate Preparation for Bidding and Tendering
In most projects, intelligent engineering design is not synchronized with the main building design during the initial analysis phase, as owners cannot provide clear requirements. Even when synchronized, designs typically address only basic cable trays and pipelines, failing to deliver accurate material and equipment lists. Consequently, bidders make estimates based on their own optimized designs, leading to inconsistent project scopes and difficulties in bid assessment. Furthermore, insufficient early-stage market research causes wide variation in system configurations and equipment prices between brands, resulting in significant differences among bids.
3. Unreasonable Evaluation Methods and Processes
Many intelligent building projects still apply evaluation procedures from mechanical, electrical, or civil engineering, simply combining subsystems or equipment using the “building block” approach. This often leads to lowest-price evaluation methods that overlook the integrated nature of intelligent systems. Due to a lack of specialized professionals on evaluation committees, not all members possess expertise in intelligent engineering costs. Under tight timelines, evaluators may struggle to accurately assess the cost-effectiveness of various proposals.
4. Contractor-Led Design Optimization
After winning the bid, contractors are responsible for optimizing and deepening the construction drawings in accordance with the design institute’s documents. However, contractors may use this opportunity to adjust plans in ways that favor their own interests—such as raising design standards, adding unnecessary redundancy, substituting brands due to long supply cycles, or making unreasonable allocations of equipment and spare parts. These changes often increase actual project costs beyond the bid price, undermining investment control.
III. Countermeasures for Cost Control in Intelligent Building Engineering
Cost control in intelligent building projects should be implemented throughout all stages: investment decision-making, design, bidding, construction, and final settlement.
1. Cost Control in the Investment Decision-Making Stage
At this stage, key activities include formulating project proposals, conducting feasibility studies, determining investment estimates, and preparing design task sheets. The main factors influencing costs are the project’s scale and construction standards. Due to limited expertise in intelligent engineering, it is critical for owners—especially for major government-backed projects—to involve industry experts in decision-making. By combining market research and local realities, stakeholders can determine appropriate project scope and standards, allowing for both immediate usability and future expansion. Comprehensive functional analysis, solution comparison, and technological, functional, and economic evaluation should inform the final intelligent system plan and investment estimate. Government agencies and industry associations should also regularly publish relevant data for reference.
2. Cost Control during the Design Phase
The design phase plays a decisive role in determining both functionality and cost, as it defines engineering schemes, construction methods, materials, equipment types, and models. Optimizations or subtle changes at this stage can greatly impact overall costs. Due to the current shortage of skilled designers in intelligent buildings, owners should engage engineering consultants or experienced companies early in the process to supervise design quality, progress, and implementation. Technical reviews of preliminary and detailed designs are essential, and any changes to key equipment or materials should be reviewed and approved by experts and relevant departments. Ideally, changes should remain within the original scope specified in bidding documents to prevent contractors from increasing profits by altering specifications.
3. Cost Control during the Bidding Stage
While most projects use the reasonable lowest-price bidding method, for intelligent buildings, this approach is insufficient unless technical solutions are thoroughly reviewed by experts for feasibility and practicality. A comprehensive scoring method is recommended, evaluating not only technical solutions and prices but also factors such as operation and maintenance costs, warranties, after-sales service, and service life. Although this increases the workload for evaluators, it significantly benefits the overall project outcome. Additionally, a cost-plus remuneration contract model can incentivize contractors to optimize designs, reduce costs, and shorten project timelines. Owners must also carefully plan and accurately determine the project’s target cost during investment estimation, design, and construction budgeting.
4. Cost Control during the Construction Phase
Construction often involves design changes and modifications. It is crucial to promptly track and compare the revised quantities and costs with the original plan to assess their impact on project goals. If costs or timelines exceed the initial plan, appropriate measures—economic, technical, organizational, or contractual—should be taken to keep the project within its targets. All changes and their economic and technical implications should be thoroughly documented to support future settlement and claims for increased costs or delays caused by design changes.
5. Cost Control during the Completion and Settlement Stage
Upon project completion, a final settlement audit should be conducted as per established procedures. Once the contractor submits all settlement documents, the owner should commission an intermediary agency to audit and issue a written opinion within the contractual timeframe. Where possible, combine completion and financial settlement audits. This helps prevent overestimation by construction units and ensures investments remain reasonable. Auditing financial accounts, preparing statements, and evaluating project investment benefits are essential steps for maintaining effective cost control.
IV. Conclusion
As science and technology continue to advance and living standards improve, intelligent buildings are becoming an increasingly integral part of daily life. Effective cost determination and control throughout the entire construction process is essential for the successful delivery of intelligent building projects. Careful management at each stage is the key to achieving effective cost control.
Source: China Institute of Metrology
Authors: Liu Xuwei, Yu Hongjie
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