Kpex v2.3

Release Notes

Every improvement we ship to the Kpex platform — newest first. What changed, and what it means for your estimates.

21 Aug 2026 CAF Cost Index goes regional — Europe (Euro Area) now live alongside Americas
  • The CAF Cost Index now has a page per region. Europe (Euro Area) joins Americas, built on the exact same Laspeyres method, the same family tree and the same weights — only the underlying source series change, sourced from Eurostat producer prices, construction labour and services.
  • Every part of the page now announces which region you are viewing: the historical-chart title, the "latest values" snapshot, the monthly-values table and the source-series browser all name the active region, so Europe shows European data and Americas shows US data throughout.
  • The source-series browser is now populated for Europe too — the Eurostat producer-price nodes (by NACE) and the labour, buildings and engineering series that compose each sub-index, month by month, the same way the US page shows its BLS series.
  • First European reading: the CAF Plant Cost Index for the Euro Area sits below the Americas index, reflecting materially lower equipment-price inflation since 2010, partly offset by higher construction-labour growth.
18 Aug 2026 Module A catalog — prices auto-current with the CAF Cost Index, and metric input
  • Every Module A component estimator now shows prices current to the latest CAF Cost Index month, escalated automatically from the 2024 Q4 basis — a green line in each estimator confirms the date and the applied factor.
  • A Metric (SI) ⇄ Imperial (US) switch now sits right inside the component estimator, so you can enter and read every input in your own unit system — pressures, temperatures, diameters, lengths, flows and more — while the underlying validated model is untouched.
18 Aug 2026 Cost Index snapshot — compare any two periods for escalation
  • The Cost Index "Latest values" snapshot can now compare the latest figure against any month you pick — choose a year and a month and a second column appears alongside the latest one.
  • When you compare, each index also shows its escalation factor (latest value ÷ chosen-period value) — apply it directly to escalate a cost from that period to today. The PDF and Excel exports include both columns and the factor.
17 Aug 2026 CAF Cost Index — quarterly view and a printable latest-values snapshot
  • The Cost Index chart can now be viewed by quarter (Q1–Q4 averages), alongside the existing monthly and annual views.
  • New "Latest values — all indices" button opens a snapshot table with the most recent figure for every cost index, switchable between the latest month and the latest quarter (incomplete quarters are shown as preliminary).
  • That snapshot can be saved as a formatted PDF or Excel workbook in the Kpex brand, straight from the preview.
17 Aug 2026 Field Estimator — a graphical Module C composer
  • New Field Estimator · Module C composer (administrators): build a Class 4–5 estimate visually — browse the full Module C reference tree (C.1–C.6) down to each facility’s CBS, drag its elements onto the canvas, and drop the ones that do not apply. Set the facility’s primary capacity once at the top and it flows to every element that depends on it, while any element can still be sized individually.
  • Every element is priced from its validated reference curve by its capacity, escalated live on the CAF Cost Index. Double-click an element to set its secondary cost drivers — discrete choices (material, pressure rating, service, specification grade…) and continuous physical drivers where a second dimension matters (line diameter, exchanger area, pressure ratio) — each adjusting the cost by a factor.
  • The right-hand panel is the live estimate — direct cost, location factor (LFI), indirects, contingency and Total Installed Cost — exportable as a professional PDF report with an in-app preview, or saved to a formatted Excel workbook.
16 Aug 2026 Marketplace vendor tools, an AI component builder, and a calmer interface
  • Expandable sections across Kpex now open collapsed by default, and each group has an "Expand all / Collapse all" control — so long pages (the ABEX estimators, the PDRI assessment, the Module A palette, the WBS trees and the benchmark library) start as a clean index you open only where you need it.
  • Vendor marketplace: editing a product now reliably saves its photos and specifications, removing a photo works as expected, and the delete action moved to a clearly separated area that asks you to type the product name first — so nothing is removed by accident.
  • New ISBL Component Author (administrators): build an Inside-Battery-Limit component by picking its Module A node, uploading a P&ID or schematic that the AI reads to propose the material take-off, and pricing each line from the validated catalogs — with an installed-cost roll-up.
  • New Vendor Pipeline (administrators): a working list to manage manufacturer and partner outreach — contacts, invitation status and follow-up — alongside a reference-vendor catalogue whose indicative prices derive from the validated cost curves.
  • The Knowledge dossiers now share one refined, consistent look — cleaner typography and layout, a one-click "Back to Library", and Save-as-PDF on every dossier.
13 Aug 2026 Offshore platform types & a new heat-pump cost model
  • The Offshore Oil & Gas estimator now offers the full platform taxonomy, grouped as Fixed (Multi-Purpose and Wellhead platforms, plus concept variants), Floating (FPSO, TLP, Semi-submersible, SPAR, FSO, FPU) and Subsea — so you pick the actual structure type instead of a single generic platform.
  • Offshore cost curves now escalate live on the CAF Cost Index, per cost family, the same way the rest of the platform does — so an offshore estimate reflects current costs rather than a fixed historical basis.
  • New Module C.4 renewable technology — Large Heat Pump Plants for district heating: costed on the German DIN 276 cost breakdown (Kostengruppen 200–700), driven by thermal capacity (MWth) with a heat-source selector, and calibrated to reference projects. Includes an operating-cost (LCOH) view.
12 Aug 2026 Account management & an internal review workspace
  • Administrators can now reliably bring an account back: reactivating a suspended user, and restoring one that was removed, work as expected — and editing a user no longer errors out, so status changes take effect cleanly.
  • New "Audits" chapter in the Knowledge Library (administrators): a set of internal review dossiers — platform readiness, cost-model consistency and coverage — kept inside Kpex so they are available from any device.
  • The pre-launch readiness checklist now saves its progress on the server instead of in a single browser, so the team sees the same status from any laptop or office.
11 Aug 2026 A friendlier "upgrade to unlock" page
  • Opening a feature above your plan now shows a branded "Upgrade required" page with a direct link to the plans — instead of a bare "403" — so it is clear what unlocks it and how.
10 Aug 2026 Consistent equipment icons across every Module A view
  • Reliability: the Inside-Battery-Limit (ISBL) equipment picker now falls back to the same neutral placeholder the Module A catalog uses when an illustration can't load, instead of leaving a blank card — so a missing or slow-loading icon degrades gracefully rather than disappearing.
  • Every Module A surface — the component catalog, the WBS browser, the equipment builder and the ISBL picker — now draws equipment icons from the same validated master set, so a given piece of equipment shows the same illustration everywhere instead of a different one per screen.
  • The WBS component browser (Module A) now costs each component with the validated CAF Cost Database model — the same reviewed, per-component engine used by the Module A catalog — instead of a generic parametric curve, so a given component returns one consistent, traceable price across the platform.
  • The ISBL (Inside Battery Limit) estimator now honours the Material of Construction: a new material selector scales the equipment cost by the same factor as the Module A catalog, so choosing an alloy (stainless, Hastelloy, titanium…) no longer prices the equipment as carbon steel.
08 Aug 2026 ISBL bulk on purchased equipment · Metric viewer · Sharper pipelines
  • Add ISBL bulk materials to any equipment priced from a purchase order or imported from Excel: the new "+ Add bulk" button applies the Kpex-ISBL-Allowance across all ten disciplines by equipment sub-family — civil / foundations, structural, piping, electrical, instruments, telecoms, insulation, painting, temporary installation and fireproofing — with a P10 / P50 / P90 selector. An "Adjust by discipline" panel lets you fine-tune each discipline's percentage for a specific item; your edits are saved on that estimate only and never change the governed allowance base.
  • Collapsible WBS tree in the equipment builder: large project trees now open collapsed, showing only the top-level nodes — click any container node to reveal its sub-levels, so a hundreds-of-nodes structure stays navigable. Expand all / Collapse all at the top of the view switch the whole tree at once.
  • Metric / Imperial unit toggle in the Module A component (MTO) viewer: switch the operating envelope, size sliders and take-off between US units and SI on the fly (pipe sizes shown as DN, drivers as kW / m³·h⁻¹ / m, etc.) — the cost data stays canonical.
  • Pipeline estimator (Infrastructure): line-pipe material now scales with diameter² (Barlow steel tonnage) instead of linearly, correcting the pipe cost on large-diameter lines while keeping the overall $/inch-mile total unchanged; plus an itemized crossings builder — enter the count of road, river (open-cut / HDD) and rail crossings and get a costed take-off in place of a single density factor.
  • Reliability: statistical ISBL bulk added to purchase-order or Excel-priced equipment now flows through to the estimate view and the printed / PDF report — the per-item and per-area bulk, the Installed totals and any per-discipline overrides you set are all reflected, matching the cost summary.
  • The printed / PDF report now shows the full equipment list and WBS breakdown for Class 3 and Class 2 estimates built in the equipment builder — previously this detailed section appeared only on Class 4, leaving Budget and Control estimates without their area tree.
  • Excel export upgraded to the full ten-discipline Kpex-ISBL-Allowance matrix: the Equipment List tab spreads each item's bulk (statistical and real) across only the disciplines that carry value — dynamic columns rather than the previous fixed four — and the ISBL Bulk by Discipline tab and charts follow suit.
  • New "Other / General Equipment" catch-all sub-family for the "+ Add bulk" tool — a median profile across the twenty-two catalogued sub-families, so equipment without a specific match (for example wellheads) can still take a defensible bulk allowance.
03 Aug 2026 Module C upgraded · Share estimates · Build your own WBS
  • Module C — Facilities Cost Models has been upgraded to a more detailed model: every facility now opens one level deeper, from its capacity curve down to the individual cost elements of each CBS account. You gain a per-account P10 / P50 / P90 accuracy selector, multi-driver project configuration (voltage, terrain, metallurgy, service, specification grade and more), live CAF Cost Index escalation per cost family, a metric / imperial unit toggle, and an estimate-name field on the PDF and Excel — replacing the previous curve-only view.
  • Share an estimate with a colleague on your licence for real-time co-editing — you stay in control: sharing is opt-in per estimate and can be revoked at any time.
  • Build your own Work Breakdown Structure in the equipment builder: nest Project → Subproject → Area → Subarea → Section to the depth your project needs, name every level freely, and assign equipment at the deepest nodes — the hierarchy now carries through to the estimate view, the printed / PDF report and the Excel export.
03 Aug 2026 Real bulk materials & Excel reporting
  • Class 4/3/2 estimates can now separate equipment price from real bulk materials — the Inside-Battery-Limit (ISBL) library feeds installed bulk by discipline (concrete & foundations, piping & valves, electrical, instrumentation), so a package or purchase-order price is never mistaken for the installed cost.
  • One-click Excel export on every AACE estimate report (Class 5/4/3/2): a pivot-ready bulk-by-discipline matrix, pie and bar charts, and the full MTO / bulk detail — with the ISBL bulk also shown in the builder, the estimate view and the printed / PDF report.
  • Reliability: bulk materials are no longer lost when an estimate is re-edited, and an empty save can no longer wipe a populated estimate.
28 Jul 2026 Cost Index & Benchmark Intelligence
  • Cost curves now escalate on the live CAF Cost Index — estimates reflect this month's index, not a figure published a quarter ago.
  • Every cost curve now declares its cost scope (full EPC / Total Installed Cost vs. a narrower basis), so a curve is never mistaken for a project total.
  • Benchmark calibration refresh: superseded 1989-vintage curves retired, and the PEM electrolyser recalibrated to fully-installed EPC cost.
  • New confidential dossiers in the Knowledge Library: CAF Cost Index methodology, the Module B benchmark catalogue, and Kpex Auto-Escalation.
25 Jul 2026 Always-current escalation
  • The 2021 benchmark cost curves now re-escalate automatically the month the CAF Cost Index refreshes — always current to the latest published data.
18 Jul 2026 Deeper parametric estimating
  • Multi-driver cost models: ten infrastructure and process models now price on their real cost drivers — voltage, terrain, metallurgy, service — not capacity alone.
  • Every parametric estimator gained a cost summary in its print / PDF report and a one-click Excel export (Summary, CBS, Basis and OPEX/ABEX sheets).
  • Knowledge Library document viewer — read reference PDFs inline without downloading.
16 Jul 2026 Estimate workflow & decommissioning
  • A clear "Continue Estimate" flow plus unsaved-changes warnings across every estimate builder.
  • HV Transmission Line: a full multi-driver model (voltage, circuits, conductor, terrain, towers and foundations).
  • Module E — ABEX (Abandonment & Decommissioning) cost models: all six sector catalogues live.
13 Jul 2026 Access, pricing & registration
  • Membership access control applied across the platform.
  • Database-driven pricing, and a registration flow with email verification and subscription.
  • Confidentiality hardening: estimates and projects are private by default.
09 Jul 2026 Water & Wastewater
  • New Water / Wastewater Treatment parametric estimator — four facility types (potable, wastewater, advanced MBR, seawater RO), benchmark-anchored.
21 Jun 2026 Module C — facility cost models
  • Parametric estimators for Onshore & Offshore Oil & Gas, Refineries and LNG (onshore and offshore).
  • Facility cost models extended across Chemicals, Power, Renewable Energy (11 technologies), Buildings (20 types), Mining, Nuclear and Infrastructure — completing Module C.
  • Percentile selection (P10 / P50 / P90) with an adopted TIC on every Module C estimator.
01 May 2026 Foundations
  • Cost Curves — benchmark capacity-cost curves with full data provenance.
  • CAF Cost Index (Z.5) — a plant cost index computed monthly from BLS and FRED.
  • Multi-currency support — historical FX from the ECB, resolved by each estimate's date and frozen per estimate.
  • ISBL / MTO take-off tool, Location Factor Index (Z.4), Cost Adjustment Index (Z.5) and the Assessment Tools suite (Z.6).
CAF Corporation — Kpex Project Cost Database · kpex · Prices and indices update automatically with the CAF Cost Index each month.