Design-build is often described as simpler, faster or more certain. Parts of that can be true, but it's an incomplete description, and an owner is better served by an honest one.
Design-build doesn't remove uncertainty from a project. It changes how the team works through it.
What you can reasonably expect
- One coordinated process, not isolated phases
- Transparency about cost and about decisions
- Clarity about who is responsible for what
- Construction knowledge participating early
- Your involvement at the consequential decisions
- A clear method for documenting changes, allowances and evolving information
- That existing conditions won't surprise anyone once they're opened up
- That markets and supply won't change
- The outcome of jurisdictional review
- That your own decisions won't change
- That there will be no tradeoffs
What integration should change is how these things are identified, communicated, evaluated and resolved.
Continuity, not a slogan
The strongest reason to choose an integrated team isn't a promise of single-source simplicity. It's continuity: the people defining, designing, pricing, coordinating and building the project stay connected to the same information and the same objectives, which is the case made in what changes when architecture and construction work as one process. In practice, that should show up as an owner experiences it, in how questions get answered, how changes are explained and how cost is shown.
Your role doesn't disappear
Integration doesn't take decisions away from an owner. It brings them forward and makes them clearer. Priorities, tradeoffs and approvals still belong to you, and the timing of those decisions often drives the schedule. A good team will tell you what it needs from you, and when, and what the consequence is of deciding later.
How a changing project stays honest
Because projects do change, the method matters. It should be clear how a change is identified, what it affects, what it costs and how it is recorded. The use of allowances and contingency should be equally visible, as described in keeping a project budget meaningful. Being open about this isn't a sign that something has gone wrong. It's what lets a project that is changing remain trustworthy.
Questions to ask any design-build team
- How will cost be shown to me as the design develops?
- How are changes and allowances documented and explained?
- Who from construction takes part during design, and when?
- How do you handle conditions that can't be known in advance?
- What decisions will you need from me, and by when?