I think pontifex could really be interesting (not that it isnt already) if it had the capability of doing cost based on unit volume of the type of material used. With this, the ability to change diameter, cross section type (i.e. I beam vs Hollow vs Solid etc) and have an associated cost with each. The ability to put in real-world type values and also be able to see the stress in each beam would be incredibly useful, even if not completely accurate. On a side note, i think it would also be great if the first beam to break got highlited as soon as you enter edit mode after a test.
Kurt Baldwin