I am also currious how other people handle cost escallation / location factors when using models.

Thanks.

I think factor tables would be worth exploring. While not in the context of a model, applying a factor table to an estimate is a great way to manage pricing adjustments globally without having to change line item pricing or create a bunch of duplicates in the database.

Location factors can also be handled with factor tables. Time-based escalation is a bit more complicated. One method is to create a WBS code for year/quarter/month then create associated addons that calculate over items in the estimate with the corresponding WBS values (e.g. 2027, 2028, Q1-2027, Q2-2027, etc.).

Thank this is a great idea and I think will work perfectly. The only issue I can see is once I move past the conceptual estimating phase I would have to cognicent that a factor has been applied and needs to be removed as it moves into difinitive estimating.

You can turn on the category productivity factor columns on a spreadsheet sequence of your choosing to see if the factor is above or below 1.0 for further manipulation at anytime.