metriqueBeta

Documentation

metrique calculates a building project from the parcel to the yield. All modules share the same project data: what you enter once, every module uses.

How metrique works

A project is the starting point for all calculations.

  • Create a project on the start page. Without an account it stays in your browser; with Pro it is also saved in your account and on all your devices.
  • Switch between the modules on the left. Every change applies to all modules at once.
  • Fields marked “Pro” need a Pro subscription: cadastre, ÖREB, building regulations, volume study, potential & risks, sunlight and PDF export.

Overview

The project as a whole: where it stands, what it rests on, and the report. Every project opens here.

  • Roadmap: the six phases site, building law, volume, economics, energy & surroundings and report with their state – open, on assumptions, done or changed since the last PDF – and the one next step. Only a suggestion: every module stays open. The sidebar groups the modules by the same phases.
  • On the phone the bar at the top shows the module and names the current phase; at the bottom ‹ and › lead to the previous and next module, between them the key result with the others in a second line.
  • Assumptions: every value the results still rest on without anyone having set it – defaults, cantonal averages, estimates – with its source and a link to the field. In the modules they have a dotted underline.
  • Notes: fixed checks on the project’s figures – land value against the affordable price, rent below the cost rent, unused or exceeded floor area, densification, railway noise, radon, earthquake zone, heating network – each with a link to the place.
  • AI assessment (Pro): Claude rates the project from its figures – building law, economics, site, energy and data – with a summary, chances, risks, open questions and ideas for variants. On request, from the monthly AI credit; when the project changes it is marked out of date. Only figures are sent, without name and address.
  • Report: the project as a PDF (Pro), with a choice of its parts.

Project data

The building's basic data and an overview of all results.

  • Plot area, full storeys, building height, floor area or building mass ratio, and land value.
  • Exterior walls in the floor area ratio: counted, not counted or partly – walls not counted are added to floor area, volume and costs.
  • Roof storey and basement in the floor area ratio: counted, not counted or a share – preset from the regulations, else not counted. What they count is taken from the full storeys.
  • Calculated values: storey height, floor area, building volume, construction costs and building efficiency (KF/GF).
  • Module results at a glance: fee, yield, rental income, cost rent and minimum income.
  • Take over the parcel from the cadastre (Pro) and export the project as PDF (Pro) – choosing its parts, from parcel plan and ÖREB to potential & risks and the shadow diagram; the parcel’s LV95 coordinates are in the header.
  • Edit the project name right in the title; the pencil next to it puts the cursor there.

Site analysisPro

Everything that applies to the plot – from the official sources.

  • Parcel with number, E-GRID and area from the official survey; the land register area from the ÖREB extract takes precedence.
  • ÖREB cadastre: land-use zone, building lines, noise sensitivity and other restrictions with their documents.
  • Building regulations: AI reads the municipality's regulations and shows the zone's values by topic – use, heights, roof, distances – with article and page. One click applies them to the project.
  • Boundary distances: each boundary gets its kind (small, large, street, path, building line) and distance, with the reason and the regulations' wording. Each can be adjusted; together they form the buildable area.
  • Streets and paths are recognised from swissTLM3D, building lines from the ÖREB cadastre.
  • Check against the neighbouring houses: how far the houses around stand from their side, rear and street boundaries – compared with the regulations' distances. In the plan as blue dimension lines that can be switched off.
  • Square site plan with neighbouring parcels and buildings; the extent (parcel, neighbourhood, quarter) also applies to the volume study. New projects start at “parcel”.

Volume studyPro

How much can be built on the parcel – in 3D on the real terrain.

  • Envelope from buildable area and height; building with the footprint allowed by the floor area ratio and storeys.
  • Terrain from swissALTI3D with contour lines (0.1, 0.5 or 1 m). Height measured from the terrain at every point or from its mean; on slopes the building steps down.
  • Small hollows such as stairs down to a basement or garage ramps can be evened out for measuring the height (up to 3 or 6 m wide).
  • Neighbouring buildings from the official survey with their height from the surface model.
  • Roof: flat, pitched with dormers, or attic with setback – with roof volume and roof floor area.
  • Exterior walls in the floor area ratio and the wall thickness decide how large the footprint may be.
  • The same extent as the site plan; the sun and shadows are in the sunlight module.

Potential & risksPro

What the federal offices know about the site – looked up for the parcel.

  • Densification potential: today’s buildings on the parcel from the register of buildings (GWR) with year, storeys, dwellings and heating; their floor area and volume compared with what is allowed and with the project.
  • Earthquake zone to SIA 261 (Z1a to Z3b) and, where a microzonation exists, the ground class (FOEN).
  • Radon: probability that a building at this place exceeds the reference value of 300 Bq/m³ (FOPH).
  • Wind: mean wind speed 50 m above ground from the Swiss wind atlas (SFOE).
  • Railway noise: day and night level at the nearest determination point within 100 m, with the sensitivity level (FOT).
  • Solar potential: today’s roofs on the parcel by facing, with area, yield per m² and in total (sonnendach.ch) – and an estimate for the project’s roof from the volume study (flat roof, attic roof or the two slopes of a pitched roof) from sonnendach.ch’s values for this site: own roofs facing the same way, else the neighbours’ roofs, else the SFOE irradiation map.
  • Maps of surface runoff and road noise (day and night) with the parcel and the legend.
  • The information is retrieved once and saved with the project; “Retrieve again” fetches it anew. If a service is down, the value says so.

SunlightPro

How the project and its surroundings shade the parcel over the day.

  • Any date, or with one click the equinoxes and the summer and winter solstice.
  • Shadows of the project with the neighbouring buildings – or of the buildings as they stand.
  • Hours overlaid: the shadows of every full hour on top of each other, the darker the longer in shadow; one hour can be highlighted.
  • Shadow diagram: the building's shadow at every full hour with the time and in green the 2-hour shadow – the ground in shadow for at least two hours in a row.
  • Share of the parcel in shadow per hour, hours of sun averaged over the open ground and the sun's elevation at noon.
  • Plus the sun position in 3D. Calculated on level ground, without terrain, trees or the mountains' horizon.

Construction costs

Construction costs by the price per cubic metre.

  • Building volume from the ratios or from the volume study (Pro) – both side by side with the difference.
  • Shares for attic and basement, price per m³ for new build and renovation, share of renovation.
  • The construction costs can be overridden; all modules then use your value.

Fee

Architect's fee by the time-based model of SIA 102.

  • Construction costs from the cost module, base factors Z1 and Z2 by year.
  • Degree of difficulty, share of work per phase, adjustment factor and hourly rate.
  • Result: hours and total fee. The hourly rate applies to all projects.

Yield

Gross and net yield when letting.

  • Usable area from SIA 416 or typed in, rent per m² and year – or the canton's average rent in existing tenancies from the FSO structural survey, updated yearly – and vacancy.
  • Gross yield: rental income relative to the investment from construction costs and land value.
  • Net yield: after operation and management – a list of items (e.g. administration, maintenance, vacancy, insurance, renewal fund), each in % of the rent, the investment or construction costs, per m² or as a fixed amount; with a template for apartment buildings.
  • Full investment: construction costs, reserve, construction interest on the construction loan, land value and other costs.
  • Return on equity: with borrowed capital, net income after interest relative to equity. Costs and financing also apply to the cost rent.
  • What may the land cost? The residual value works back from a target net yield: net income ÷ target yield gives the affordable investment; less all costs except land, what remains is the affordable land price – in total and per m² of parcel, compared with the land value entered and with a table for ±1 % yield.

Cost rent

Which rent covers the costs.

  • Interest on equity and debt, depreciation and risk premium.
  • The same investment and the same list of operating costs as the yield; costs in % of the rent are a share of the cost rent itself.
  • Result: cost rent per year and per m², split by cost type.

Mortgage

Financing and affordability – of a home or a rental property.

  • Own home: own funds, interest rate, additional costs and amortisation; result: mortgage, yearly costs and minimum income.
  • Rental property: loan-to-value or several mortgage tranches with their own rate and term; amortisation above two thirds of the investment.
  • Calculatory affordability as banks check it: rent less operating costs, calculatory interest and amortisation – with surplus or shortfall – and the actual net cash flow.

SIA 416

Areas and volumes by SIA 416.

  • From the floor area: construction, net, usable, circulation and service area by adjustable shares.
  • Plot, building footprint and surrounding area; the floor area can also be typed in.
  • The KF/GF ratio shows the building's efficiency.
  • Usable area split into main and secondary usable area (HNF/NNF) by an adjustable share.
  • Energy reference area (EBF) by SIA 416/1: the floor area of the heated storeys to the outer dimensions, optionally with a heated share of the basement or typed in – no flat deduction from the GFA.

Energy

Energy demand, heating systems and photovoltaics – a first estimate from assumptions.

  • Demand from the energy reference area: space heating at the SIA 380/1 limit (13 + 15 · Ath/AE) for the law, Minergie or Minergie-P, hot water and household electricity by SIA standard use; the envelope from the volume study.
  • Four heating systems compared – air-to-water and ground-source heat pump, district heating, wood pellets: final energy, energy and maintenance costs, rough investment, CO₂ and cost over 25 years with price rises.
  • With Pro the municipality's electricity tariff (ElCom) and thermal networks at the parcel (SFOE); prices, SPF and price rise can be adjusted.
  • Photovoltaics: yield of the project roof from the volume study; self-consumption and the feed-in tariff give the savings.

Variants

Compare the variants of a project side by side.

  • A variant is a full copy of the project; anything can be changed in it without touching the original.
  • The comparison shows storeys, GFA, MUA, ERA, volume, construction and total investment costs, rental income, yield, affordable land price and cost rent – the most favourable variant per figure is marked green.

Account, Pro and data

What an account and Pro offer.

  • Sign in without a password through a link in an e-mail.
  • Pro saves projects in your account, keeps them in sync across devices and unlocks cadastre, ÖREB, building regulations, volume study, potential & risks, sunlight and PDF export.
  • AI credit: reading new building regulations has a monthly credit; regulations read before are free. See its state under “Account”.
  • Feedback: with Pro you reach us directly through “Feedback” at the top right.
  • You can delete your account with all its data at any time under “Account”. More in the privacy policy.