Skip to main content
Orion Five Engineering

10 Jalan Kilang #04-05, Singapore 159410
+65 6100 5505

Book a scoping call

Resources · Tool

Integration Scope Estimator

Answer six questions to get a complexity band and a range of engineering weeks. The estimator gives no price, because six answers are not enough to support one. Instead, it ranks the factors that drive your cost. It also shows which of them you can still change before a vendor sees your brief.

Precision vernier calipers closing on the corner of a heavy machined metal block, a red line painted across the face of the block where the jaws meet it.
Takes
4 minutes
You get
A complexity band, ranked drivers and a weeks-of-engineering range
Cost
Free, no sign-up

This tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent to us, stored or logged. Closing the tab deletes it.

Factor 1

UNIT 01
How many distinct kinds of equipment are in scope?

Count kinds, not units. Twenty identical pumps are one kind. A pump, a weighbridge and a barrier are three.

Result

UNIT 07
ANSWER ALL 6 QUESTIONS TO SEE YOUR ESTIMATE

How it is calculated

UNIT 08
Complexity bands and estimate spreadA horizontal scale divided into three bands. Contained runs from zero to seventeen complexity points and supports a fixed scope and a fixed date. Substantial runs from eighteen to thirty-three points and calls for a paid discovery phase before quoting. Programme is thirty-four points and above, and should be broken into phases rather than priced as one project. Beneath, three brackets show the estimate spread widening across the bands, from roughly plus or minus twenty per cent at the contained end to minus twenty-five and plus eighty per cent at the programme end.Contained0–17 pointsFixed scope, fixed dateSubstantial18–33 pointsBuy discovery firstProgramme34+ pointsPrice it in phasesEstimate spread widens with the band−15% / +25%−20% / +50%−25% / +80%A contained build finishes near its estimate, but a programme does not.The same range for both would understate the risk of a programme.
The estimator adds points together and does not multiply them, so it understates the worst combinations. We set the band boundaries low to correct for this.

Each answer adds complexity points and a number of engineering weeks. The estimator adds the points together and does not multiply them, so it understates the worst combinations. For example, a regulated build across several sites with no drawings is worse than the sum of three bad answers. To correct for this, we set the band boundaries low.

The duration range widens as the band rises. It is ±20% for a contained project and −25% to +80% for a programme. A contained build usually finishes close to its estimate, but a programme does not. Using the same range for both would understate the risk of the larger one.

Engineering weeks do not include your procurement, your site access windows or your own approvals. On a live plant, these often take longer than the engineering. They also do not include the time the owner spends making decisions. Integration schedules underestimate this time more often than any other item.

Technical references

UNIT 09

These are the sources for the reasoning on this page. We mark standards that you must pay to read. Where a free document covers the same subject better, we list it first.

Links open in a new tab, so you do not lose anything you have entered on this page. We checked every link when we built the page. If a link no longer works, please tell us and we will remove it.

Each of these tools is a short version of a conversation with one of our engineers. If your result raised a question you want to discuss, book a scoping call and bring your result with you.

Ask an engineer to review your scope

More resources