The Function Point Method, estimation by analogy, and algorithmic modeling are three of the most commonly applied methods used to estimate the costs and worker hours neededfor a software development project. methods, however, require a deep and wide expertise in particular areas and may still result in unacceptable discrepancies between the estimated costs and the actual costs. Thispaper presents aframework for a top-down cost estimation method (TCE). The method is based on the assumption that different types of sojhvare have different intrinsic complexities. method will produce easier,faster, and more accurate estimations in the early stages of a software project. These We expect that this