Whole life costing (WLC) has been described in local government as; ‘a nebulous concept that falls on deaf ears.’ This paper describes research to develop a user-friendly approach using a generic IT tool accompanied by a framework document designed specially to assist in WLC analyses.

The research project was commissioned by the Society of Construction Quantity Surveyors (SCQS) in mid 2004 and to date has involved the development of a framework document and WLC IT tool which has been piloted by local government. The project will be complete by February 2005 and training on WLC and use of the developed IT tool will commence thereafter. The aim of the project is to develop a framework document and IT tool for use in local government to enable quantity surveyors and others with enough knowledge to produce a life cycle costing analysis with the minimum of effort. The research involved the production of user friendly input to a model which has application at outline business case, final business case and post completion audit and monitoring.