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historical-cost-analyzer

Analyze historical construction costs for benchmarking, trend analysis, and estimating calibration. Compare projects, track escalation, identify patterns.

Install / Use

npx skills add datadrivenconstruction/DDC_Skills_for_AI_Agents_in_Construction --skill historical-cost-analyzer

Installs into whichever agent you are using.

About this skill
📄

SKILL.md

Installable skill definition

Quality Score

89/100

Supported Platforms

Universal

Our assessment of historical-cost-analyzer

historical-cost-analyzer scores 89/100 on our quality scale, 1790th of 4,663 Development & Engineering skills we index (top 39%).

Its SKILL.md is 16 KB long, well organised into 13 sections with 3 code examples: a thorough specification that gives an agent plenty to work with.

It has 333 GitHub stars, a meaningful sign that others use it.

Substance
30/30
Structure
18/20
Description
15/15
Adoption
11/20
Freshness
15/15

Maintenance, license and trust

  • The repository was last updated about 2 months ago, so historical-cost-analyzer is actively maintained.
  • It is released under the MIT license, a permissive license that allows use, modification and commercial use with attribution.
  • Its trust signals score 100/100, with no cautions. These come from repository metadata, not a code audit — read the skill file before letting an agent act on it.

historical-cost-analyzer compared with similar skills

All 4 of these similar skills score higher than historical-cost-analyzer; compare them before choosing.

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Frequently asked questions

How do I install historical-cost-analyzer?
Run npx skills add datadrivenconstruction/DDC_Skills_for_AI_Agents_in_Construction --skill historical-cost-analyzer. The install tabs above show the steps for each supported agent.
Which AI agents does historical-cost-analyzer work with?
It is written for Universal, as a SKILL.md file. Other agents that read the same format can often use it too.
Is historical-cost-analyzer safe to use?
It is MIT-licensed and scores 100/100 on trust signals. Skills are instructions an agent will follow, so read the file before installing it and do not approve commands you do not understand.
Is historical-cost-analyzer still maintained?
The repository was last updated about 2 months ago, so historical-cost-analyzer is actively maintained.

name: "historical-cost-analyzer" description: "Analyze historical construction costs for benchmarking, trend analysis, and estimating calibration. Compare projects, track escalation, identify patterns." homepage: "https://datadrivenconstruction.io" metadata: {"openclaw":{"emoji":"📈","os":["darwin","linux","win32"],"homepage":"https://datadrivenconstruction.io","requires":{"bins":["python3"]}}}

Historical Cost Analyzer for Construction

Overview

Analyze historical construction cost data for benchmarking, escalation tracking, and estimating calibration. Compare similar projects, identify cost drivers, and improve future estimates.

Business Case

Historical cost analysis enables:

  • Benchmarking: Compare current estimates to past projects
  • Calibration: Improve estimating accuracy using actual data
  • Trends: Track cost escalation and market changes
  • Risk Assessment: Identify cost drivers and overrun patterns

Technical Implementation

from dataclasses import dataclass, field
from typing import List, Dict, Any, Optional, Tuple
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
from datetime import datetime
from scipy import stats

@dataclass
class CostBenchmark:
    metric_name: str
    value: float
    unit: str
    percentile_25: float
    percentile_50: float
    percentile_75: float
    sample_size: int
    project_types: List[str]

@dataclass
class EscalationAnalysis:
    from_year: int
    to_year: int
    annual_rate: float
    total_change: float
    category: str
    confidence: float

@dataclass
class CostDriver:
    factor: str
    impact_percentage: float
    correlation: float
    description: str

class HistoricalCostAnalyzer:
    """Analyze historical construction costs."""

    # RSMeans City Cost Indexes (sample - would be loaded from database)
    LOCATION_FACTORS = {
        'New York': 1.32, 'San Francisco': 1.28, 'Los Angeles': 1.15,
        'Chicago': 1.12, 'Houston': 0.92, 'Dallas': 0.89,
        'Phoenix': 0.93, 'Atlanta': 0.91, 'Denver': 1.02,
        'Seattle': 1.08, 'National Average': 1.00
    }

    # Historical cost indices by year
    COST_INDICES = {
        2015: 100.0, 2016: 102.1, 2017: 105.3, 2018: 109.2,
        2019: 112.5, 2020: 114.8, 2021: 121.4, 2022: 135.6,
        2023: 142.3, 2024: 148.7, 2025: 154.2, 2026: 160.0
    }

    def __init__(self, historical_data: pd.DataFrame = None):
        self.data = historical_data
        self.benchmarks: Dict[str, CostBenchmark] = {}

    def load_data(self, data: pd.DataFrame):
        """Load historical project data."""
        self.data = data.copy()

        # Normalize data
        if 'completion_year' not in self.data.columns and 'completion_date' in self.data.columns:
            self.data['completion_year'] = pd.to_datetime(self.data['completion_date']).dt.year

        # Calculate key metrics
        if 'gross_area' in self.data.columns and 'final_cost' in self.data.columns:
            self.data['cost_per_sf'] = self.data['final_cost'] / self.data['gross_area']

        if 'original_estimate' in self.data.columns and 'final_cost' in self.data.columns:
            self.data['overrun_pct'] = ((self.data['final_cost'] - self.data['original_estimate'])
                                         / self.data['original_estimate'] * 100)

    def normalize_to_year(self, costs: pd.Series, from_years: pd.Series,
                          to_year: int = 2026) -> pd.Series:
        """Normalize costs to a common year using cost indices."""
        normalized = costs.copy()

        for i, (cost, year) in enumerate(zip(costs, from_years)):
            if pd.notna(cost) and pd.notna(year):
                year = int(year)
                if year in self.COST_INDICES and to_year in self.COST_INDICES:
                    factor = self.COST_INDICES[to_year] / self.COST_INDICES[year]
                    normalized.iloc[i] = cost * factor

        return normalized

    def normalize_to_location(self, costs: pd.Series, locations: pd.Series,
                               to_location: str = 'National Average') -> pd.Series:
        """Normalize costs to a common location."""
        normalized = costs.copy()
        to_factor = self.LOCATION_FACTORS.get(to_location, 1.0)

        for i, (cost, loc) in enumerate(zip(costs, locations)):
            if pd.notna(cost) and loc in self.LOCATION_FACTORS:
                from_factor = self.LOCATION_FACTORS[loc]
                normalized.iloc[i] = cost * (to_factor / from_factor)

        return normalized

    def calculate_benchmarks(self, project_type: str = None,
                              year_range: Tuple[int, int] = None) -> Dict[str, CostBenchmark]:
        """Calculate cost benchmarks from historical data."""
        df = self.data.copy()

        # Filter by project type
        if project_type and 'project_type' in df.columns:
            df = df[df['project_type'] == project_type]

        # Filter by year range
        if year_range and 'completion_year' in df.columns:
            df = df[(df['completion_year'] >= year_range[0]) &
                    (df['completion_year'] <= year_range[1])]

        benchmarks = {}

        # Cost per SF
        if 'cost_per_sf' in df.columns:
            values = df['cost_per_sf'].dropna()
            if len(values) > 0:
                benchmarks['cost_per_sf'] = CostBenchmark(
                    metric_name='Cost per SF',
                    value=values.median(),
                    unit='$/SF',
                    percentile_25=values.quantile(0.25),
                    percentile_50=values.quantile(0.50),
                    percentile_75=values.quantile(0.75),
                    sample_size=len(values),
                    project_types=[project_type] if project_type else df['project_type'].unique().tolist()
                )

        # Overrun percentage
        if 'overrun_pct' in df.columns:
            values = df['overrun_pct'].dropna()
            if len(values) > 0:
                benchmarks['overrun_pct'] = CostBenchmark(
                    metric_name='Cost Overrun',
                    value=values.median(),
                    unit='%',
                    percentile_25=values.quantile(0.25),
                    percentile_50=values.quantile(0.50),
                    percentile_75=values.quantile(0.75),
                    sample_size=len(values),
                    project_types=[project_type] if project_type else df['project_type'].unique().tolist()
                )

        self.benchmarks.update(benchmarks)
        return benchmarks

    def calculate_escalation(self, category: str = 'overall',
                              from_year: int = 2020,
                              to_year: int = 2026) -> EscalationAnalysis:
        """Calculate cost escalation between years."""
        if from_year in self.COST_INDICES and to_year in self.COST_INDICES:
            from_index = self.COST_INDICES[from_year]
            to_index = self.COST_INDICES[to_year]

            total_change = (to_index - from_index) / from_index
            years = to_year - from_year
            annual_rate = (to_index / from_index) ** (1 / years) - 1 if years > 0 else 0

            return EscalationAnalysis(
                from_year=from_year,
                to_year=to_year,
                annual_rate=annual_rate,
                total_change=total_change,
                category=category,
                confidence=0.95
            )

        return None

    def identify_cost_drivers(self, target_col: str = 'cost_per_sf') -> List[CostDriver]:
        """Identify factors that drive costs."""
        if self.data is None or target_col not in self.data.columns:
            return []

        drivers = []
        target = self.data[target_col].dropna()

        # Analyze numeric columns
        numeric_cols = self.data.select_dtypes(include=[np.number]).columns
        exclude = [target_col, 'final_cost', 'original_estimate']

        for col in numeric_cols:
            if col not in exclude:
                valid_mask = self.data[col].notna() & self.data[target_col].notna()
                if valid_mask.sum() > 10:
                    corr, p_value = stats.pearsonr(
                        self.data.loc[valid_mask, col],
                        self.data.loc[valid_mask, target_col]
                    )

                    if abs(corr) > 0.3 and p_value < 0.05:
                        impact = corr * self.data[col].std() / target.std() * 100

                        drivers.append(CostDriver(
                            factor=col,
                            impact_percentage=abs(impact),
                            correlation=corr,
                            description=f"{'Positive' if corr > 0 else 'Negative'} correlation with {target_col}"
                        ))

        # Analyze categorical columns
        categorical_cols = self.data.select_dtypes(include=['object', 'category']).columns

        for col in categorical_cols:
            if col not in ['project_id', 'project_name']:
                groups = self.data.groupby(col)[target_col].mean()
                if len(groups) > 1:
                    variance = groups.var()
                    overall_var = target.var()

                    if variance / overall_var > 0.1:
                        drivers.append(CostDriver(
                            factor=col,
                            impact_percentage=variance / overall_var * 100,
                            correlation=0,
                            description=f"Categorical factor with significant cost variation"
                        ))

        return sorted(drivers, key=lambda x: -x.impact_percentage)

    def compare_to_benchmark(self, estimate: Dict, project_type: str = None) -> Dict:
        """Compare an estimate to historical benchmarks."""
        if project_type:
            self.calculate_benchmarks(project_type)

        comparison = {}

        # Cost per SF comparison
        if 'cost_per_sf' in estimate and 'cost_per_sf' in self.benchmarks:
            benchmark = self.benchmarks['cost_per_sf']
            value = estimate['cost_per_sf']

            percentile = stats.percentileofscore(
                self.data['cost_per_sf'].dropna(), value
            )

            comparison['cost_per_sf'] = {
                'estimate': value,
                'benchmark_median': benchmark.value,
                'benchmark_range': (benchmark.percentile_25, benchmark.percentile_75),
                'percentile': percentile,
                'status': 'within_range' if benchmark.percentile_25 <= value <= benchmark.percentile_75 else 'outside_range'
            }

        return comparison

    def find_similar_projects(self, criteria: Dict, n: int = 10) -> pd.DataFrame:
        """Find similar historical projects."""
        df = self.data.copy()

        # Filter by criteria
        if 'project_type' in criteria:
            df = df[df['project_type'] == criteria['project_type']]

        if 'gross_area' in criteria:
            target = criteria['gross_area']
            tolerance = criteria.get('area_tolerance', 0.3)
            df = df[(df['gross_area'] >= target * (1 - tolerance)) &
                    (df['gross_area'] <= target * (1 + tolerance))]

        if 'location' in criteria and 'location' in df.columns:
            df = df[df['location'] == criteria['location']]

        if 'year_range' in criteria:
            df = df[(df['completion_year'] >= criteria['year_range'][0]) &
                    (df['completion_year'] <= criteria['year_range'][1])]

        # Sort by similarity (simple: by area difference)
        if 'gross_area' in criteria and 'gross_area' in df.columns:
            df['similarity'] = 1 - abs(df['gross_area'] - criteria['gross_area']) / criteria['gross_area']
            df = df.sort_values('similarity', ascending=False)

        return df.head(n)

    def analyze_overrun_patterns(self) -> Dict:
        """Analyze pa

Truncated for display — read the full file on GitHub.

Related Skills

View on GitHub
GitHub Stars333
CategoryDevelopment
Updated2mo ago
Forks82

Languages

Python

Trust signals

100/100

From repository metadata: license, adoption, age and documentation. Not a code audit — see the Safety scan above for what the skill file itself contains.

No cautions