We provide clients with a variety of building services backed by our trusted name and decades of experience.
Committed to Excellence
Our building services group offers general maintenance, emergency service and light construction work, unit pricing, time-and-material open books and yearly service contracts, all with competitive pricing and the flexibility to execute projects with minimal disruption to occupied spaces. We’ve earned the trust of corporations and property managers to be the maintenance and service provider they rely on year after year. Our skilled in-house tradespeople have the specialized knowledge, equipment and products to expertly complete projects ranging from quick repairs and regular maintenance to troubleshooting computer-controlled systems.
​
Single Point of Responsibility
Our design-build contracts combine design and construction into a single
point of responsibility, avoiding potential adversarial relationships that could arise under traditional, design-bid-build contracts.
​
Improved Project Quality
The architects’ and contractor’s cross coordination on the project allows the owner to focus on general decision making in the project’s scope as a whole. This leads to a higher quality project that better suits the owner's needs.
​
Earlier Knowledge of Guaranteed Costs
The contractor establishes a guaranteed cost early on in the design phase, allowing the owner to make changes, request additional value engineering, or add scope to a project before completion of the design.
​
Cost Savings
Value engineering and construct-ability review are enhanced and utilized continuously throughout the project duration. An early involvement of the design-build team is essential in maximizing the full potential of the design-build delivery system. Decisions that can be made during the programming, concept and design phases will impact the schedule and costs of the project more than any other phase of construction.
​
Time Savings
With our design-build projects, design and construction for a project easily overlap, allowing for fast track construction. The owner benefits from this shortened time frame.
​
Improved Risk Management
Because the design-build team resumes full responsibility of developing drawings and specifications along with constructing a fully functioning facility, change orders for errors and omissions are virtually eliminated. Each stakeholder on the design-build team is responsible for the risks that they are best positioned to manage.
​
​
Advantages
​
Master contract is between the owner and contractor
Contractor is the single point of responsibility
Owner has a single point of contact for both design and construction
Design-Build has been proven to be much quicker than Design-Bid-Build
Long lead items can be identified and ordered prior to the start of construction
Value engineering and construct-ability reviews are enhanced due to the integration of the design and construction process
Changes, disputes, claims and other delays occur less frequently
The contractor is responsible for the completion of construction documents
Inconsistencies or scope gaps are the responsibility of the contractor
Considerations
3-4 month team selection process prior to beginning design
The selection of an experienced Design-Build team is essential
An early understanding of the owner's scope requirement must be reached
The design is controlled by the predetermined budget
Alignment of program to proforma is difficult
Alignment of functional space program to end-user needs is difficult
The 5 Phases of the Design-Build Process
1. Team Selection
The first step of the design-build process is for the owner to choose a design-build team. Owners carefully vet potential candidates, and often choose the contractor-architect team with the most design-build experience and that best understands the company’s vision, needs and budget.
​
Though cost is an important factor to consider, it is not (nor should it be) the ONLY factor that influences the final decision. While it may be tempting for owners to choose the lowest price, a smart owner will understand the value of working with a qualified design-builder, and will often choose based primarily on the experience and skills the design-builder offers.
​
Understanding the value of the design-build method is beneficial to everyone involved—designers, contractors and owners—since designers and contractors can compete based on their skill level and owners can expect to receive a better quality project from start to finish. Often times, the design-builder selection process overlaps with the next phase, the pre-construction phase, as the design-builder team selected will likely have already done a significant amount of research and analysis of the building site.
2. Pre-construction
Though it may seem like a short phase, the pre-construction step is just as important, if not more so, than any other part of the process. Attention to detail during this phase is critical, as this is when the design-builder will learn about the owner’s business, including its goals, challenges, budget, and overall vision for the project. It’s a time for asking as many questions as necessary, so as to get a solid picture of what is expected to be delivered.
​
During this phase, architects, engineers, contractors and other consultants will work together to assess current structures, electrical systems, and more, in order to determine what needs to be done before construction can begin. These assessments allow for a thorough analysis of the construction site, which helps the design-build team to maximize efficiency throughout the project.
3. Architectural Design
Once the project parameters have been clearly defined, including the timeline, budget and location, the architectural design phase can begin. At this point, some of the initial design strategy work may have already begun during the pre-construction phase. From here, all project team members will work together to develop the best possible design to help the project succeed.
​
The design-build team will assess areas for cost savings and optimized productivity, while also meeting functional requirements and style preferences. The overall project vision is established during this phase, and preliminary drawings are presented to the owner. Pricing estimates can be established during this phase as well, and a final budget is provided to the owner.
​
In addition, the project schedule is set, and initial building drawings are presented during this phase of the project. All expectations for the project are established at this point, and the project can begin upon agreement. Since the designer and contractor are working together, there are no additional bids to be set, and the project can begin even more quickly.
4. Construction
If the design-build team has not already begun initial construction during the design phase, then it can begin immediately after. However, it is common during design-build projects for there to be some overlap between the design and construction phase, which can speed up the project considerably. Communication is simplified throughout the construction process, as there is typically just one point of contact for the project.
​
Accountability is also established, as all workers are on the same team, moving toward the same goals and deadlines, and therefore any issues or concerns are often resolved quickly and efficiently. Due to the collaborative nature of the design-build delivery system, change orders are minimal and sometimes non-existent.
5. Post-construction
Upon completion of the project, the design-build team provides an overview of the project deliverables, as well as various O&M training materials, such as instructional videos, documented procedures, and in-person training sessions for applicable personnel. Because all of the work is done by a single entity, the post-construction process is often much more streamlined than when the designers and contractors are working separately.
