CREJ

Making Place design-build model should also help alleviate the late scramble of value engineering and schedule shifting and pushing. Design-build additionally would assist in minimizing the challenges of our industry in product lead times, permitting timelines, la- bor resources, overall construction schedule and price uncertainty. As those who have been part of a team within a design-build process can attest, it tends to result in a much stron- ger, more authentic sense of partnership. The model provides time for proactive measures and creates an environment where we are able to overcome challenges together before there are issues during construction. There is a com- mon goal that all parties are working together to achieve. • Embracing new possibilities. Is design-build the ideal method for every project? Unlikely, but why has our mar- ket not embraced this method more frequently? Many of the benefits outlined above can be accomplished with- out a true design-build contract, as long as the project team is brought on board early and has alignment in the goals and vision for the project. In our estimation, fear of “getting burned” on pricing across many layers, as well as a lack of trust to negotiate work, leads to pressing the easy button of bidding work in the traditional way. The design-bid-build model is easy; it’s what we know. It’s what makes us feel we’re getting a fair deal, and provides a process that allows us to compare pricing, often award- ing to the lowest qualified bid. The problem is that this method is often less collaborative and results in unfore- seen costs and coordination challenges. Bidding does not ensure fairness of pricing, and it certainly does not ensure you get the highest quality solutions and skilled labor. • Creating transparency and trust. Lack of trust, and specifically a lack of trust in pricing, is another reason why design-build is not more commonplace in our mar- ket. We commonly hear owners ask, “If I bring in a team early, how will I know I’m getting the best pricing for my spend?” If the budget is established and communicated early and all parties represented in the project agree to transparent and open-book pricing, we can put the lack of trust among owners and project stakeholders to bed. Fi- nancial benchmarks and incentives within a design-build process also can be put into place to ensure all parties are “rowing the boat” together and are incentivized to work collaboratively to overcome project challenges. FMI Consulting’s research forecasts that spending for design-build construction put in place will grow at a com- pound annual rate of 7.6% over the years 2021 through 2025, and hit $406.7 billion in 2025, or 47% of the total con- struction spending that year, vs. 42% of the total in 2021. The winds of change will continue to modi- fy how we design and build. Within an indus- try typically resistant to change, many factors are pushing this industry – traditionally slow to adapt – to truly consider new approaches. New opportunities to infuse technology into the process, in combination with new genera- tions and demographics entering the industry, will all be catalysts for improvement. This not change for the sake of change. This is about be- ing more open to shifting our perspective on the construction process because it just might solve or at least alleviate our current inabili- ty to control costs, schedules, quality and risk. What if our community considered a better way to build, a better method, a better model? Our people would benefit, our clients would bene- fit, and we might even have a more rewarding team experience along the way.\\ Canvas Credit Union: Prefab solutions include insulated, prefinished solid walls with embedded technology; glass walls with branding/graphics; sliding barn doors; and swing doors.