I would like to take issue with the headline to Peter Mayer鈥檚 excellent article on lifecycle costing (22 February, page 78).

Lifecycle costing (LCC) is not complicated. Yes, it requires a lot of information and a lot of decisions, but it is very simple.

Beyond the cost estimating, which is the stock in trade of the QS, you need to establish with your client the period over which you want to calculate the LCC, predict how long components will last and what needs to be done to them to make them last that long and 鈥� well, that鈥檚 it really.

Yes you have to do it for hundreds, maybe thousands, of components but that doesn鈥檛 make it complicated. Yes, you may be asked to calculate a net present value or similar but this is just applying a formulae.

As Mr Mayer points out, the forthcoming BCIS/BSi Standardised Methodology of Life Cycle Costing will clarify, and hopefully standardise the definitions, terminology and presentation structure for lifecycle cost plans.

If the industry is to deliver the sustainability agenda, it needs to embrace LCC as a normal part of the economic assessment of a project. It is hard work but it is not complicated, so let鈥檚 do it!

Joe Martin, executive director, BCIS

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