Cost model · Updated September 6, 2026
What would conventional development cost?
A refreshed version of the earlier code-volume model, covering MPRD, ZenoDEX, and Formal Methods Philosophy. Other portfolio projects and unpublished work are outside this estimate.
Legacy pooled model · USD
$52.1M–$152.5M
Illustrative conventional rebuild-cost scenarios. These are model outputs, not a quote, measured savings, or my market value. The range is not a confidence interval.
The latest public commits contain 909,096 selected nonblank lines across 4,175 files, up 14.0% from 797,416 in June. The count includes comments, tests, proofs, and examples within selected source files; it is a size proxy rather than physical source lines of code or verified authorship.
Scroll the table horizontally to see each estimate.
Per-repository cost scenarios
| Repository / pinned commit | Nonblank lines | Cost scenarios |
| MPRDf1a7e9d02e36 | 149,110 | $7.8M–$20.1M |
| ZenoDEXee9f81a3164b | 702,843 | $39.8M–$114.3M |
| Formal Methods Philosophyebe66495c746 | 57,143 | $2.9M–$6.9M |
| Sum of separate estimates | 909,096 | $50.5M–$141.3M |
The headline retains the earlier method of pooling all three repositories before applying the formula. That produces a larger number than adding three separate estimates because effort scales nonlinearly. The original June pooled result was $44.5M–$129.7M under the older wage inputs.
Assumptions, sensitivity, and what the estimate can establish
Inputs and calculation
Let K be selected nonblank lines divided by 1,000. The retained Basic COCOMO equations produce person-months: 2.4 × K1.05 for the lower scenario and 3.0 × K1.12 for the higher scenario. Cost equals person-months ÷ 12 × annual wage × labor multiplier. Formula reference.
The BLS May 2025 wage data, checked September 6, 2026, supplies $135,980 at the median and $214,670 at the 90th-percentile threshold. The respective labor multipliers remain 1.50 and 1.38, giving assumed annual labor costs of $203,970 and $296,245. These multipliers are assumptions, not measured employer costs. No inflation forecast is added.
How much the size assumption matters
- 25% of the counted size: $12.2M–$32.3M
- 50% of the counted size: $25.2M–$70.2M
- 100% of the counted size: $52.1M–$152.5M
The smaller-size cases are arbitrary sensitivity checks. They are not measured AI productivity discounts or estimates of how much work a rebuild would actually require.
Limits of this model
These older equations are extrapolated from a nonblank-line proxy and have not been calibrated for my repositories, AI-assisted development, formal proofs, or research artifacts. They do not establish equivalent human engineering years, production readiness, or the cost of reproducing the same functionality with a different design.
The collector retains the June source extensions and path exclusions for comparability. Known vendor, generated, data, internal, and specified derived-runtime paths are excluded; path filters cannot establish that every third-party or generated file is absent. Exact duplicate files remain in this comparison and are reported in the data. There is no semantic deduplication or authorship audit. Tests and proofs are counted within the footprint, without adding a second labor charge.
External audits, legal fees, deployment, and ongoing operations are not separately priced. A useful project quote would require a defined scope, acceptance criteria, a reuse plan, and measured delivery rates.