Life Cycle Cost Tool
Free Downloadable Exceltool
The CRAVEzero spreadsheet is a comprehensive tool to perform life-cycle cost analysis for nZEBs.
About
This section provides a general overview of the LCC tool and its features, explaining the main sections and highlighting the input data.

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A SHORT VIDEO TUTORAIL OF THE LIFE CYCLE COST TOOLWatch the online video tutorial of the life cycle cost tool. Federico Garzia from EURAC will guide you through the main functions of the tool in 11 minutes. |
NORMS AND STANDARDSThe data collection, within the tool, is organized following as a base reference the LCC structure introduced by the Standard ISO 15686-5:2017 (Buildings and constructed assets -- Service life planning -- Part 5: Life-cycle costing). Furthermore, the source used to structure the construction costs is the European Code of Measurement, elaborated by the European Committee of the Construction Economists. Regarding the analysis of maintenance costs of HVAC systems, this is based on standard values from EN 15459:2018, which provides yearly maintenance costs for each element, including operation, repair, and service, as a percentage of the initial construction cost. Lifespan for system replacement is also provided by the norm. The ISO 15686-5:2017 groups the costs: the LCC analysis includes the processes from point 2 to 5, and it deals with the activities connected with the design, construction and operation of the building. End-of-life costs (process 6 in the table) have not been implemented in the tool yet. The Whole Life Cost (WLC) includes also the process 1, with the non-construction cost (e.g. cost of land, enabling activities) and the needed fees for allowing the set-up of the building from the technical and administrative point of view. |
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GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF LCC TOOL SECTIONSThe LCC tool is composed by 6 sheets “Project information”, “WLC”, “Construction cost”, “Calc maintenance”, “Results” and “Charts. The first 4 sheets are devoted to receive input values, the last 2 display the results of the calculation. |
PROJECT INFORMATION - Part IIn this first input sheet general data about the analyzed building is collected, together with those boundary conditions needed for the LCC calculation. In the first section data about surfaces and volumes need to be provided. Following, data from the energy calculation is required. First, a reference area must be provided. The definition of “Treated floor area” comes from PHPP, the energy calculation tool used during the data collection campaign. If another tool is used for the energy calculation, the net floor area should be provided instead. The input parameters from “Average U-value opaque components” to “ PV installed capacity” are not essential for the LCC calculation, since they are used to calculate indicators. A section, which provides a check on the building construction costs, was also integrated to support the data collection. In this way it is possible to verify the correctness of data inserted in the “Construction cost” sheet comparing the sum of those values with the total cost (design + construction) inserted manually (if already available from a separate calculation). |
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PROJECT INFORMATION - Part IIEconomic boundary conditions are collected in this section (Figure 5). This permits the calculation of actualized energy and maintenance costs over the building life span. Essential for the calculation are interest rate, the fuel prices and their average annual price increase.Finally, data about energy consumption (kWh/m2) and production in (kWh) must be provided, in order to determine operational cost. |
PROJECT INFORMATION - Part III (Variants)Variants can be investigated. Two buttons, also present in the other sheets, permit to display up to 2 variants. In this way different input values can be compared. |
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WHOLE LIFE COST (WLC) - Part I
In this sheet non-construction cost and costs related to building design process are collected. This data, together with the construction cost collected in the next sheet “Construction cost” and the calculated O&M costs, build the WLC.
In the first section non-construction costs such as cost of land, enabling costs and planning fees can be provided. Two columns are available to split the costs and to maintain a better overview, if required by the specific cost structure.
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WHOLE LIFE COST (WLC) - Part IIIn the second section of the WLC sheet, design costs should be provided, divided in preliminary, definitive and executive design. Standard cost typologies are displayed, nevertheless if required, other costs can be added starting from line 27. Building site management costs are also included in this sheet. These are costs for the general building site management, in terms of supervision of the activities, organization and cost for the general equipment (e.g. crane, scaffolding, etc.). Please, insert here the cost of the equipment when it deals with the general building site operation, while insert in the sheet “Construction cost”, in the cells related to “Other Costs” when it deals with a particular building element (e.g. use of a special crane for mounting a prefabricated element). In the same way as in the previous sheet, also here it is possible to display up to 2 variants to be analyzed. |
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CONSTRUCTION COSTIn this section a detailed breakdown of construction costs is required. On the left side a brief description of the single layer and the corresponding area can be inserted (arrow n.1). Cost of the materials, labor costs and other costs can be provide. In the case of material costs, either aggregated costs or unitary price can be provided (arrow n.2). If a breakdown of material and labor costs is not available, the global cost (construction cost) must be inserted in the yellow section “Materials”. |
RESULTSIn this sheet the results of the LCC calculation are provided. The results have been divided summarizing building elements, building services, whole life costs, construction and operation. |
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RESULTSFinally, in the sheet “Charts” the numerical results can be displayed in graphical way. |
Download the LCC - Tool here |