Portfolio cost benchmarking · Advisory · Canada
Know what your capital projects should cost, before you approve the next one.
We turn your project history into a benchmark your teams can use: normalized unit costs, ranges and cost drivers for every type of project you deliver, from fit-outs to roofs, chillers and generators.
For asset managers, real-estate leaders, facility managers and engineers, and CFOs responsible for hundreds of buildings.
The situation
Does this sound familiar?
A $1.2M chiller replacement is approved. Nobody can say if it was a good price.
Next year’s capital plan starts from this year’s, plus a percentage.
A single-source quote comes in, and there is no reference to challenge it.
Two regions estimate the same work and land far apart.
Cost data sits in finance. Drawings and contracts sit with projects. Nobody connects them.
Overruns are explained after the fact, never seen coming.
The problem
Your data records what you spent. It cannot tell you how well.
Large organizations track capital spending closely. But a total answers a finance question, not a capital management one.
A finance number
$1.2M
What you spent on a chiller replacement. It tells you how much, not whether it was a good price.
A capital management number
$6,000 per ton
What that 200-ton air-cooled chiller cost per ton. You can compare it with your other chiller projects, with last year, with another region.
Why projects cannot be compared as paid
Different dates
A 2018 project and a 2025 project are paid in different dollars.
Different places
Labour and access cost more or less from one region to the next.
Different scopes
A roof replaced with new insulation is not the same project as one replaced without.
Different sizes or capacities
A 50-ton chiller and a 500-ton chiller do not cost the same per ton.
Averaging them anyway gives a number that looks precise, and misleads.
The outcome
What changes with a benchmark
The same decisions, made with a reference point.
| Decision | Today | With a benchmark |
|---|---|---|
| Project budgets | The last similar project, or a contractor’s number | A unit cost range for this project type, size and region |
| Capital plan | Last year’s plan, plus a percentage | Targets built from your own normalized costs |
| Single-source prices | Accepted, or negotiated by feel | Checked against your own reference range |
| Approvals | A total to approve or reject | A total, its range and the drivers behind it |
| Portfolio view | Regions and teams measured differently | One scale across regions, years and teams |
| Lessons learned | Lost when the project closes | Every project feeds the next benchmark |
Our approach · 1
First, make projects comparable
Every project goes through the same adjustments, in the same order.
As paid
The final cost, from your financial data.
Same date
Escalated to today’s dollars.
Same place
Adjusted for location.
Same scope
Classified by type, size and cost drivers. Items that are not comparable are set aside.
Comparable unit cost
Per square foot, per ton, per kW: ready to compare.
Our approach · 2
Classify every project the same way
Each category is split by project type and by the cost drivers that move its price, then compared on its own unit.
Fit-outs
$/sq ft · $/employeeRoofing and envelope
$/sq ftHVAC and refrigeration
$/tonElectrical
$/kWFire protection
$/sq ft servedPlumbing
$/fixtureElevators
$/stopSite work
$/sq ft pavedExample · how a roof is classified
Each project is also tagged by why it was done:
Lifecycle
Systems and equipment at the end of their useful life.
Strategic
Work that serves a business need: growth, consolidation, a new way of working.
Risk reduction
Work that prevents a failure and a disruption to operations.
Regulatory
Work required by a code, a standard or an authority.
See every category and its cost drivers
| Category | Typical projects | Classified by | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fit-outs and interior works | Office fit-outs, interior renovations | Scope level, area, density (employees per area), quality level, base building condition | Square foot, employee |
| Roofing and building envelope | Roof replacement, envelope replacement | Roof system (asphalt shingle, modified bitumen, single-ply membrane), insulation added or not, building height and access, rooftop equipment and penetrations, layers removed | Square foot of roof or wall |
| HVAC and refrigeration | RTU, AHU, CRAC and CRAH units, chillers, DDC and controls | Equipment type and capacity, air- or water-cooled, rooftop or mechanical room, crane lift, controls integration | Ton of cooling, unit |
| Electrical systems | Generator, UPS and battery replacement | Capacity, indoor or outdoor, fuel type, transfer switches, battery type, redundancy | kW, kVA |
| Fire protection | Fire alarm upgrades, sprinkler systems | System type (wet, dry, pre-action), area covered, number of devices, occupied building | Square foot served, device |
| Plumbing | Plumbing system replacement | Piping replaced, number of fixtures, building height | Fixture, square foot |
| Elevators | Elevator replacement | Hydraulic or traction, number of stops, capacity | Elevator, stop |
| Site work | Asphalt repaving | Mill and overlay or full reconstruction, base repairs, drainage | Area paved |
Our approach · 3
Then analyze. Don’t just average.
A benchmark your teams can rely on needs real analysis behind it, and a method anyone can check.
Data validation
Every project is checked against its actual costs and construction documents before it enters the sample.
Outlier identification
Unusual projects are flagged and explained, never silently removed or kept.
Cost-driver analysis
We measure which factors move the unit cost, and by how much.
Sensitivity analysis
We show how results change when key assumptions change, such as escalation, location or size.
Stated ranges, not single numbers
Each benchmark comes with its sample size and its spread, so you know how far to trust it.
A method that can be proven wrong
Assumptions and data are written down. Each new project tests the benchmark, and the benchmark is corrected when it fails.
Our approach · 4
Turn it into information people use
Samples of what the report shows. Figures are indicative only. Yours is built from your own projects.
Roof replacement: cost per sq ft
Indicative ranges, before location adjustment. Same system, different city, different cost.
Outliers, flagged and explained
What drives the cost
Estimate against final cost
Implementation
From your files to a working benchmark
We set up the benchmark in your organization, then keep it current, so it keeps paying off after the first report.
- 01
Collect
Final costs, invoices and construction documents from your systems.
- 02
Classify
By type, cost drivers and reason, so like is compared with like.
- 03
Normalize
Same date, same place, same scope, with validated data.
- 04
Analyze
Outliers, cost drivers and sensitivity, against your history, regions and peers.
- 05
Report
Unit cost ranges and targets your teams can use in the next budget.
- 06
Embed
A classification standard, a data template and a yearly update.
What you receive
- A clean, classified and normalized cost record of your past projects.
- Unit cost ranges for each project type: per square foot, per ton, per kW and more.
- The cost drivers behind your unit costs, and the outliers, explained.
- Target ranges for capital planning, project budgets and single-source price reviews.
- A classification standard and a data template for future projects.
- A short summary for your finance team and your board.
What we need
Your financial data and construction documents.
Project costs and invoices, plus drawings, specifications and contracts. Your organization already holds them. Nothing else to start.
Why Xenofan
Why we can help
building benchmark reports for a publicly listed organization
projects a year in that portfolio
in projects a year
Over six years, our principal developed benchmark reports for a publicly listed organization delivering thousands of projects a year, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Those reports became the reference point for capital planning, project budgeting and validating single-source pricing.
Three disciplines, one team
Cost engineering
To measure: unit costs, ranges and the drivers behind them.
Building engineering
To understand the systems and conditions behind each cost.
Construction management
To know how projects are really delivered, and what that costs.
One project. One role. Never both.
We are paid by our clients only. If we benchmark or advise on a project, we never bid on it, build it or manage it. Your numbers are measured by someone with nothing to sell you.
You cannot improve what you have never compared.
Martial Youadjeu, Principal, XenofanNext step
Start with the projects you already have.
Tell us how many projects you deliver a year, and in which categories.
- A call to understand your portfolio and your decisions.
- A first look at a sample of your data.
- A written proposal before anything starts.