Hiring architects (designers) separately from your real estate development project manager creates room for significant bottlenecks. There's often a damaging disconnect between the two separate entities, which can potentially cause costly project delays. You can minimize these issues during your new commercial real estate construction or renovation project by adopting the design-build approach. It's a more efficient method that puts all aspects of your project, including design and construction, under a single managing entity.
It's a lot easier to keep the owner updated every step of the way when one team manages all aspects of the project. When you hire a competent design-build firm, you'll receive timely and regular progress reports. These consistent engagements create multiple avenues for input and feedback on an ongoing basis. If you adopt this approach, the project is more likely to meet your expectations.
Design-build also helps eliminate many unforeseeable drawbacks since the interdisciplinary team is constantly collaborating on the design and its viability (buildability). At the outset, the architects and builders approve the project's feasibility and costs. These insightful engagements and consultations continue throughout the project, helping fix problems promptly. Unnecessary paperwork and delays are avoided.
The traditional approach where designers and contractors come onboard as separate entities makes it impossible to detect project components with prohibitive costs on time. These details are often discovered late after the design is done and put through bidding. Design-build addresses this since architects design to a budget instead of "budgeting a design." This way, designers can promptly deliver creative solutions with fewer tweaks needed, if any.
This method allows you, the real estate investor, to prevent wastage of resources due to construction management inefficiencies, change orders, and project delays. Your design-build team accomplishes this by discussing and streamlining the budget early during project design. The constant sharing of information keeps all team members up-to-date on the cost implications of each project decision made.
With the traditional real estate construction approach, the design is completed, and bidding takes place. Then, the winning contractor begins work on a design they didn't participate in creating. Design-build helps eliminate many bottlenecks associated with the traditional method and allows teams to complete projects faster. There are many opportunities to substantially reduce the construction project delivery time with this approach, including:
Most real estate owners recognize faster project completion times and innovation possibilities as the key benefits of design-build. Design-build continues to gather momentum as it's the only model that gets the property developer, architect, and construction management to work as a team toward a common goal.
At Parkwest General Contractors, we can expertly execute and complete your commercial construction or remodeling project within your budget and on time. Contact us today to get started.
