What fits in the budget, once access is counted?
The Priority Workbench says where to look. It does not say what you can afford to reach. On insulated pipe the published figures, most of them from vendors, say the larger cost is getting to the steel: scaffold, rope teams, stripped insulation. NDT crew time is usually the smaller line.
This planner takes the same 48 ranked circuits, adds length, elevation and access type, and picks a campaign for a crew-day budget and an access budget. One scaffold serves its neighbours; rope access replaces scaffold where you allow it; insulation comes off only where PEC cannot read.
The workbench ranking, plus per-circuit length, elevation, access type and a scaffold-group map from the access coordinator.
A plan grouped by access: which scaffolds go up, which circuits ride on them, which go by rope, the method for each, and the cost split.
Same budget, three plans. The access-aware plan is compared with taking the list top-down and with the time-since-inspection order.
PlanSet the two budgets, and the planner picks what to reach and how.
Crew-days cover NDT labour. The access budget covers scaffold, rope teams and insulation removal. Every control re-plans immediately.
Budget
The full unit needs about … crew-days if every circuit is reached, and far more access money than any campaign gets.
What is available
Scope freeze
| Circuit | Method | Crew-days | Cost | Why it is in |
|---|
CompareSame budget, three ways to spend it.
Expected findings are the workbench scores added up: a circuit at 79 counts as 0.79 of a finding. The share is against all 48 circuits.
Share of expected findings reached, by crew-day budget, at the access budget set above
Hover for values. The two baselines use rope access where it is allowed but never share a scaffold: each scaffold circuit pays its own set-up, because they were built from a list, not from an access map. The marked line is the crew-day budget set above.
Where the money goes
Total cost of each plan at the current budgets, split three ways.
The public numbers point the same way, even where they are vendor numbers.
We looked for figures on what CUI inspection actually costs and who publishes them. Most are vendor claims. They are shown here with that caveat, because the direction is consistent: reaching the steel costs more than testing it.
Up to 70% of project cost
Erecting and dismantling scaffold to reach insulated pipe and vessels, regardless of what the inspection finds.
Vendor claim, uncited (Subtera, a rope-access screening vendor)About 20% of direct field labour
Scaffold installation labour alone, on large projects, as stated by a scaffolding contractor writing in BIC Magazine.
AMECO in BIC Magazine, 2023About CAD 18,000 saved per location
Drone-mounted PEC at a Suncor site avoided scaffold, insulation removal and manual UT. The figure is the saving, about 90% of the typical cost, so the conventional job was on the order of CAD 20,000 per location.
Voliro case study; single site; done by another contractor (Osprey Integrity with Voliro)30–70% of budget saved
A rope-access contractor's published guide (Acuren). MHT Group reports 65% and 45% savings on two CUI tower jobs, with 32 versus 75 days and 7 versus 21 days.
Contractor claims: Acuren's own guide (uncited); MHT Group's two reported jobs, no dollar figures$500–1,500 per unit per day, 3–5 days to set up
The scaffold-group costs in the plan above are drawn from this range, plus two days to dismantle and rental while the crew works. Gulf Coast scaffold labour is quoted at $65–75 per hour.
Vendor benchmarks, US (Struction Solutions, ARIX)Typically about 30% less
With an access coordinator and an alternatives playbook: ladders, lifts, rope, drones. Occasionally 50%. That coordinator role is what the group map in this planner assumes exists.
Becht, consultant experiencePEC array 155–210 m per crew-day
Against 25 m per day for single-sensor PEC, all at a $5,000 crew-day. A published field test screened 24.3 m of 200 mm pipe in 0.8–1.2 h with an array versus 3.5–7.5 h single-sensor.
Eddyfi table and paper; vendor figuresAbout US$1,200 per metre
To remove and reinstate insulation to assess CUI. The planner uses it for strip-and-UT circuits, scaled by the API 570 Table 2 extent for the piping class.
Eddyfi blog; uncited vendor estimate23% average growth, 8% top quartile
Scope growth on large downstream turnarounds, as a share of direct labour and material cost. Scope is challenged and frozen about 12 months out; changes after that carry an escalating hurdle rate.
The Chemical Engineer, turnaround scope control featureSources: Subtera, rope-access STAR screening (70% claim) · AMECO in BIC Magazine, 2023 (20% of field labour) · Voliro, Suncor CUI PEC case study · Acuren, rope access vs scaffolding · MHT Group cost comparisons · Struction Solutions, scaffold benchmarks · ARIX, refinery scaffold spend · Becht, scaffolding on a turnaround · Eddyfi, CUI method cost table · Eddyfi, PEC array paper (NDE India 2018) · NDTIntel, NDT rate guide 2026 (US day rates) · The Chemical Engineer, turnaround scope control · API 570, 4th ed. (Table 2 CUI examination extent)
How the planner chooses, and what it does not claim.
The planner is a greedy selection with scaffold groups treated as bundles. It is fast, deterministic and explainable. It is not guaranteed to find the best possible plan, and it says so.
Each circuit is worth its workbench score
Score 79 counts as 0.79 expected findings. The ranking, weights and consequence factor are the workbench defaults, so the two pages agree circuit for circuit.
Crew-days and access dollars, normalised
A circuit's cost is its crew-days as a share of the crew-day budget plus its dollars as a share of the access budget. The planner repeatedly takes the candidate with the most value per unit of that cost.
A scaffold group is one candidate
Set-up and dismantle are paid once and unlock every circuit on it. The bundle is scored with its best affordable members; once it is up, the remaining members compete as cheap singles.
Fastest method that can read the steel
PEC array where allowed, single-sensor PEC otherwise. Stainless circuits and prior CUI under a poor jacket go to strip-and-UT over the API 570 Table 2 extent for the class (75/50/25% at damaged insulation, 50/33/10% elsewhere).
Two plans a planner would make without an access map
Top by score walks the ranked list and takes each circuit that still fits. Time since inspection does the same in date order. Both use rope access where it is allowed, but neither shares a scaffold: each scaffold circuit pays its own set-up.
Greedy, not optimal
Two budgets and shared set-ups make this a knapsack-type problem. Greedy plans can miss a better combination, so the planner runs several passes, the two baselines included, and keeps the one with the most expected findings; it also keeps a smaller budget's plan when a larger budget would otherwise do worse. A pilot would check the plan against an exact solver on your unit and report the gap.
- STEP 1You · about an hourSend one ranked list with access fields
The workbench export plus length, elevation, access type and any scaffold-group map the coordinator already keeps. Costs can be bands, not invoices.
- STEP 2Clear Anvil · one weekRe-plan a past campaign
Rebuild the plan for the budget you actually had, using your rates. Compare it with what was done and with what was found.
- STEP 3Clear Anvil · a few daysWritten comparison
Findings reached per dollar, scaffolds avoided, and where the planner would have been wrong. Rates and assumptions listed next to each number.
- STEP 4Both · your callOne live campaign, or stop
If it earns its place: run it alongside the planners on one unit's next campaign, with the access coordinator in the loop.
Send one export.
Get a written scorecard back.
Reply to the thread or write to the address below. No meetings needed unless you want one.
jamil@clearanvil.com