Wolgast Blog - Construction Trends, Tips and Information

1. Fast track construction
2. Less risk for the owner
3. Single point of responsibility
4. Guaranteed schedule & budget
5. Team collaboration
6. Quality construction for better value
7. More bids collected by one entity to narrow down the lowest price

As business owners become more aware of the benefits of Design-Build Construction, the delivery method continues to chisel a bigger piece of market share throughout the U.S. and is expected to reach 47% usage rate by 2025, according to FMI¹, a 5% increase from just 2 years ago.  In their DBIA Design-Build Utilization Update - September 2021, they evaluated the United States Census Bureau, stakeholder surveys, industry reports, associations, and government agency databases, and determined the usage of delivery methods within the construction industry and found that the East North Central Midwest region will experience a 6.0% growth in Progressive Design-Build projects by 2025.  Also, highway/street, educational, and manufacturing will have the highest compound annual growth rate (CAGR) adopting Design-Build project delivery. 

Less Risk for the Owner + the Right People Collaborating + Competitive Bids + Adequate Time

Business leaders have to make so many diverse decisions every day.  Some decisions are within their area of expertise, others are an educated guess, while even more require an outside source to help direct them. 

What Is Constructability Review?

The construction process starts with an Architect designing plans based on the requested scope from the building owner, mixed with regulations mandated by the government and the creative expertise of the designer. The Architect is responsible for knowing the performance, quality, longevity and size of limitless amounts of construction materials/product options and their real world application even though they aren’t responsible for the physical installation or erection of these materials. While they do know a lot about a lot of materials and have vast experiences from which to draw, a second set of eyes on the drawings by those who do the erection and installation have been known to save considerable time and more importantly money for building owners. This collaboration is known as constructability review.

There are so many decisions to make as schools get back to in-person learning and doing everything they can to make school safer, catch students up from remote learning, and expand mental health accommodations, among other needs. School leaders, administrators, and teachers have so much on their plates, oh, and are also dealing with volatile views from parents about how to handle it all.

When searching for commercial property you can and should rely on your realtor for many key details and features of the site that will benefit your business. That being said, there are details that only a Design-Build partner can help you make a more complete, educated decision. With the Architect and Contractor on the same team, they will review the site together and determine obstacles and costs quickly. Specifically, Design-Build contractors are looking for infrastructure, constructability, and challenges of a site that could potentially add cost to a construction budget or schedule.

Light Commercial Construction includes, but isn't limited to, medical practices, dental practices, office buildings, restaurants, banks, auto dealerships, and generally any building that is 25,000 s.f. or less and used for commercial business.

Light Industrial Construction includes, but isn't limited to, (as defined by National Institute of Building Sciences -11/5/19), “space types used for assembly, disassembly, fabricating, finishing, manufacturing, packaging, and repairing or processing of various types of materials…spaces for printing, commercial laundry, film processing, vehicle repair, building maintenance shops, metal work , millwork, cabinetry work” and warehousing. Also the light industrial buildings are typically not over 2 stories tall.