CBRefurb: case-based cost estimation

This paper describes the design of a case-based expert system that estimates the cost of refurbishing houses. Several expert systems for the construction industry have been developed at the University of Salford´s Department of Surveying. Under the ALVEY Community Club Programme it was the first to develop a commercially available expert system for the construction industry. The ELSIE system provides strategic budget estimates for commercial office development. Whilst developing these systems our user community frequently asked if we could develop an expert system for estimating the cost of building refurbishment. However, our experience led us to believe that the highly interrelated nature of the knowledge required to solve this problem would make it extremely difficult to develop a successful system. This paper investigates the applicability of case based reasoning to the estimation of refurbishment costs and shows that whilst CBR is effective it is not entirely without pain.