I have been working on a design for a deck with a metal structure that we’ll cover with a canvas tent. My wife and I recently bought some land and are building a temporary campsite while we design the cabin. As I’ve been working on the design, I keep looking up parts that I’ll buy and use for the project. I model them and put them into my project. I’m able to group them which is great but I would love to assign a value to the group so I know what the total cost of my build will be at the end. For example: If I only have a budget of $4000 for my deck and I got a quote from a fabricator to weld up support brackets at $500/piece and I need 4 of them, then I have $2000 for wood and screws. This helps me design within the parameters of my budget.
I would also use this feature all the time when designing products. I could get quotes along the way and have the info in my model and essentially have a cost sheet at the end.