ABSTRACT
This chapter is dedicated to the delicate art of using cost engineering to achieve a business aim. From the point of view of innovation the conceptual estimate is the most important estimate, since its result may unjustly kill a good idea and deprive us of its benefit. From a rather down-to-earth point of view, the most important estimate is the commitment estimate: the one estimate that triggers the signing of a binding commitment to spend the estimated money. The federal government not only does things differently, it also does things that private sources will never do, in particular research. The construction industry is the largest single economic category in the United States, and in most countries. It mirrors the health of the economy, and society at large.
