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.
One of the biggest investment decisions an owner can make is building, remodeling, or expanding their facility. If the owner is an expert in construction, he may want to take on the risk of the project himself, but if that presents too many decisions that will distract him from his day-to-day operations, he can make one phone call to a Design-Builder who will be his advocate and take on the risk of design and construction. This is also known as Single-Source Responsibility Construction.
To explain, the business leader can work with one collaborative team that is an expert in buildings. On one team, the architect and contractor work together with the owner to define the project, develop the design, and construct the building. This happens through a three-phased approach. Starting with Phase I, the owner will receive a preliminary design and a budgetary price, so he or she can quickly make an easy decision whether the project is worth the investment. If the answer is yes, then Phase II includes the full design documents with engineering and construction review, a low bid price obtained from many qualified contractors, and an achievable schedule (among other things). Once these are agreed upon, Phase III includes the construction and the owner can be involved as much as they’re able to be.
Also in Phase III, the Design/Builder, or Single-Source Responsibility Contractor, takes on full responsibility for the design, budget, schedule, construction, performance, and outcome, while making decisions easier, so the owner can stay focused on his or her business.
The Single-Source Responsibility Contractor is able to take on the risk because they’ve collaborated with the architect on the plans for constructability, engaged many qualified subcontractors to collect all the bids with the best value, and developed a workable schedule that they can guarantee. This is a much different delivery than General Contracting and results in a high quality building, at a competitive price, with a lot less stress on the building owner.
