Cost Efficiency in Buildings: An Ontological Perspective for Sustainable Life Cycle Management

Martina Signorini (), Chiara Gatto, Jacopo Cassandro, Alberto Pavan and Sonia Lupica Spagnolo
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Martina Signorini: Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Via G. Ponzio 31, 20133 Milan, Italy
Chiara Gatto: Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Via G. Ponzio 31, 20133 Milan, Italy
Jacopo Cassandro: Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Via G. Ponzio 31, 20133 Milan, Italy
Alberto Pavan: Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Via G. Ponzio 31, 20133 Milan, Italy
Sonia Lupica Spagnolo: Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Via G. Ponzio 31, 20133 Milan, Italy

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 13, 1-23

Abstract: The AECO (Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operation) sector is highly complex, involving multidisciplinary collaboration, extensive data management, and significant financial investments. Decisions in early phases significantly impact operational and maintenance costs, as well as the environmental and economic sustainability of a project over its lifecycle. Cost efficiency and sustainability are critical and interconnected goals across the sector, spanning all phases of a building’s lifecycle. Ontologies, as formal and structured representations of knowledge within a particular domain, have the potential to enhance cost efficiency by improving decision-making, reducing redundancies, and optimizing resource allocation. Despite their relevance, cost ontologies are still lacking in the AECO sector. This paper addresses this gap by presenting both a methodological and conceptual contribution: it outlines a structured and iterative methodology for developing a cost ontology, and it defines the core concepts required to semantically represent construction cost information. The methodology emphasizes stakeholder engagement and refinement cycles, while the ontological structure ensures machine-readability and interoperability. The approach involves a preliminary analysis of the necessary cost parameters for defining the ontology and a subsequent validation of a practical case study. The results show the development of a heterogeneous and standardized data structure designed to define a cost ontology, aimed at improving the updatability, transparency, and sustainability-oriented interpretation of construction cost data by both humans and machines.

Keywords: cost ontology; data structure; cost management; AECO (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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