5 Ways to Prepare for a Design-Build Project

By Joe Putnam

Imagine this: You’re finishing up a successful project, and your vice president walks in with a new opportunity. This one will use Design-Build – your first with that delivery method.

How do you prepare for it? Is it any different, or is all that fuss just for the preconstruction teams to hammer out?

Design-Build doesn’t change your role as a superintendent, but it does affect how you go about working with your team and other contractors on a jobsite. Here are five ways to prepare for that Design-Build job.

1. Input is important, especially early

Every time you see those same plan-spec drawings, you let out a sigh. The project could be so much better if someone had just asked you about that one system you’ve dealt with on nearly every project in your career. If that system were shifted to a new location, it would increase the system’s efficiency, become easier to install, reduce labor and increase the hallway’s functionable space. You’ve told your project manager a few times about it. He passed it up the chain, but the design team wasn’t interested in changing the drawings so late in the process.

The problem is clear: There’s a cost in implementing your suggestion, and it’s more than the value your change provides. On a Design-Build project, early collaboration and open drawings are critical, but suggestions from contractors are, too. Make sure yours, either in person or by proxy, is being heard.

2. Creativity can be implemented later

With today’s technology, designing doesn’t end when the slab is poured. The same is true for value addition and the creativity required to find it. While common, repeatable issues can be addressed during preconstruction, some challenges – opportunities, really – reveal themselves while you are walking around on your lunch break. Your experience lets you filter these ideas and self-analyze the domino effects of any change, so any suggestions you bring forward are likely solid. Don’t let that go to waste.

On a traditional build, you run into the same red tape listed above, but on Design-Build, the plans aren’t final yet, so your additions can still be discussed, and possibly implemented. For instance, we recently met with engineers, the general contractor and architect after our combined teams came up with an idea for a filter box in a break room. In our discussion, we found a great solution to stack multiple systems in one box. Not one party had the full answer; it involved all of us to come up with it. The result was a product that worked for our manufacturing shop, was an easy installation and was aesthetically pleasing. It took a lot of effort from everyone on the team, but the result was a better solution for the owner.

So, if the building is still under construction, don’t turn off your light bulb.

3. Thinking about teamwork differently

One of the toughest changes is your relationship with other contractors. On traditional projects, your team is responsible for your work, another contractor for theirs and so on. While responsibilities don’t change on Design-Build jobs, the entire team needs to think about the success of the whole project, not just your scope. Using Lean planning, you can identify ways to shift your schedule to better benefit other contractors’ schedules.

Still, it requires a change in mindset. The easiest way for me is to continually ask myself and my team different questions.

• Why do we do this process this way? Can it be done differently? Would the change be beneficial to the owner or the project team as a whole?
• Where is there inefficiency between contractors? How can we solve this next time? What can we do now?
• Will this choice affect the project positively, or just my team?

Challenge yourself to think beyond your team.

4. Build trust through communication

Stephen M.R. Covey coined the phrase “at the speed of trust,” which is a great metaphor for a Design-Build project. Better trust between companies means faster schedules. Start with the basics – do what you say, start/finish on time, prove your value – but make sure your teams are staying in the good graces of everyone on the project.

Communication is critical: Five contractors can read the same sentence and have five different understandings of what is required from them. Make sure everyone is on the same page, even if you fear annoying other companies. The follow-up contract with the owner will be worth it.

When misunderstandings occur – and trust me, they will – make sure to correct the problem right away. On a past project, the mechanical and plumbing teams asked an electrical team to provide load calculations for one room. The electrical team misunderstood and sent the load for a single piece of equipment. Once activated, the owner had a major issue. The MEP team jumped to solve the issue at their own cost, but was able to re-establish trust within the overall team relatively quickly. While the lost income stung, it was a great lesson to communicate effectively.

When you build “at the speed of trust,” you can produce a high-quality project safely and grow your relationship with the general contractor, owner and architect.

5. Upfront planning pays off

Early collaboration means a front-loaded schedule on projects. Delivery lead times are advanced and work schedules are condensed, so expect to spend much more time in the preconstruction phase than you would expect on a traditional build.

Every second you spend will pay off, though. Early decision making means vendors, manufacturers and suppliers aren’t rushed, hence higher quality products. You have better control over your own installation schedule and labor efficiency. Best of all, you won’t be stuck in your trailer ordering supplies; you’ll be able to actually walk the jobsite, looking for quality improvements and reducing unsafe work activities.

What else could you do with an extra 3-4 hours on the jobsite? Make yourself a list, and that alone should be enough to convince you to try out this Design-Build concept.

Joe Putnam is a senior superintendent with TDIndustries, a mechanical contractor based in Dallas with offices throughout Texas and Arizona.