Much of the focus of construction cost planning goes to the first cost of a project, and budgets are often judged on their short term performance against capital funds, rather than the long term quality and performance of the project. Life Cycle Cost Analysis provides a holistic view of both the financial and non-financial impacts of specific design measures within a building. This takes into account not only first costs, but everything else that can be quantified, from other utility-related costs to replacement costs.  By combining Life Cycle Cost Analysis with in-house energy modeling capability, second and third order analysis is now possible. 

This is accomplished by examining five major cost or savings inputs; First, Utility, Operations and Maintenance, Periodic and Other (to capture gains from productivity, emissions, etc) and producing three outputs which are then utilized to determine whether a design measure should be incorporated within the project. These outputs include Simple Payback, Internal Rate of Return and most importantly Net Present Value, a metric that is the most holistic, taking into account both the time-value of money and the discount rate of the institution.

This typically occurs first at the Schematic Design stage when major systems information (i.e. mechanical, electrical) has been developed, making assumptions when information is not available. At the Design Development stage, the process is repeated, challenging any assumptions that were made previously and providing updates when information has changed or has been further developed.