Design-Build:
How Do I Know I’m Not Overpaying?
Many people believe that if they don’t
put everything out for bid, they’ll over-pay. This applies
equally to
staples, structures and everything in-between.
Few would argue that bidding is a prudent strategy
for purchasing commodities. Applied to complex
projects such as the design and construction of a building,
it is, for contractor and customer alike, a costly
and wasteful exercise. What’s worse, after what is always
hundreds of man-hours, no one has anything
tangible to show for their considerable efforts. There’s
an expensive trail of paper, and a calendar showing
that from 12-20 weeks have expired. And that’s about
it.
Hundreds of building owners who have used the
design-build option, recognize that simplicity
– and simple
common sense – suggest a better way.
If you’re a business owner, ask around,
check credentials, and identify a builder you can work with
and trust.
Together, discuss your requirements, and quality standards
for similar projects. Add-in the special
features you want.
Simply put, the cost that a credible builder
will calculate will be very close to the cost for structures
that
are similar in nature and use. You can
make the process more complicated than this – but it’s
really not
necessary! Some of the finest buildings in the Miami
Valley were designed and built with this simple,
practical, waste-eliminating philosophy! And, in many notable
instances, when, 20-25 years later,
renovations were needed, the owners repeated the successful
design-build process, with similar success.
Industry Trends,
and What's Driving Them
Twenty years ago, Design-Build comprised 3%
of the US construction market. The consensus of the US
Dept. of Commerce, the F.W. Dodge division of McGraw Hill,
the Associated General Contractors, and the
American Institute of Architects is that Design-Build will
represent 51% of all US construction by 2005.
Notably, the Midwest leads the nation in its
enthusiasm for this project delivery option. One of the major
reasons appears to be leaner corporate staffs: with fewer
people available to manage unbundled services,
the “one-stop shopping” of Design-Build is widely
regarded as a cost and labor-saving alternative.
From Private to
Public Sector
Design/Build began in the US in the private
sector, and many of the nation’s highest-profile corporate
headquarters, retirement communities and industrial buildings
have been built this way.
High-visibility projects such as Grand Circus
Park, the hub for Detroit’s theater district and urban
revitalization,
the Mercedes Benz plant in Alabama, and Disney’s $1.4
billion theme park are also design-build.
Now, the last bastion of “bid everything!”
– the public works sector of the economy – has
come to understand
that a low-bid process can be replaced by a design-to-the-budget
process with exceptional results. Today,
city planners and others across America recognize that Design-Build
canbe a powerful tool for saving
taxpayer dollars and reducing delays.
Underscoring the time value advantage of design-build
for public works, the $3.3 billion Central Texas
Turnpike was also a design-build project, Seattle Public Utilities’
$100 million Cedar River Treatment Plant.
Interstate 76, a 9.5 mile highway and bridge
rehabilitation north of Denver, was also created using
Design-Build – and was completed a full year ahead of
schedule. Its success will be hard to beat, but that
$30 million job was only a prelude to the state’s largest
design-build project ever – the $1.6 billion
Southeast Corridor expansion of I-25 in Denver.
Boeing Company, long a proponent of design-build,
has invested $3 billion on new facilities in the past
decade and chose this practical delivery option for its headquarters
in Chicago.
NEXT
DESIGN-BUILD ARTICLE >> |
