Design-Bid-Build Construction Risks and How to Avoid Them
Design-Bid-Build Construction Risks and How to Avoid Them
The design-bid-build approach has been a foundation in commercial construction. It starts with completing building plans and then gathering competitive bids for construction. While it secures cost-efficiency, this method can pose certain risks due to its sequential structure.
Issues like increased costs, delays, quality control problems, and coordination issues between drawings can impact budgets and timelines. To mitigate these risks, experienced construction managers suggest proactive measures. This includes careful planning, transparent contracts, buyer safeguards, and using compatible technology to ensure smoother workflows.
In this blog, we will discuss important topics about the design-bid-build construction risks and how to avoid them:
Check out: The Complete Guide to Design-Bid-Build Construction Projects
Assessing Cost Risks in Design-Bid-Build Construction
As with any complex commercial development process, unforeseen challenges inevitably often cause budget issues. However, the design-bid-build method can sometimes make these problems worse.
Incomplete Plans and Specifications
Design-bid-build requires detailed plans before contractors bid. But rushing this process can leave out important details. When contractors ask for more info, it can lead to extra costs with changing orders.
Conservative Bidding
Builders estimate costs based only on these early plans. Since details might be missing, they play it safe by adding extra money for uncertainties. This cautious approach can lead to higher bids and more costs later.
Strategies to Control Costs
Even though some extra costs are usual, having an experienced manager to oversee bids can help manage these risks. They make sure designs match budgets before bidding and review proposals carefully. Having backup plans in contracts can also help handle unexpected expenses later on.
Minimizing Delays in Design-Bid-Build Projects
In traditional construction processes like design-bid-build, the separation between planning and building stages can lead to time problems. The way each group works in sequence can cause delays.
Design intricacies can slow down the bidding process, especially if plans aren’t finished yet. After getting bids, contractors might take a long time to organize subcontractors, materials, and approvals. Though delays are common, design-bid-build tends to make them worse.
Managing Quick Schedules
When businesses need their buildings finished fast, design-bid-build might struggle to keep up. Trying to speed up the design and permits to get contractors onboard quicker can backfire, causing stress for designers and shortening time for analyzing bids. Smart owners plan for extra time.
Cutting Down on Delays
While the step-by-step nature of design-bid-build can naturally slow things down, good management can help. Getting permits while still designing can avoid approval problems later. Splitting bid packages strategically can also speed up parts of the process, like getting foundations and materials early.
Improving Quality in Design-Bid-Build Projects
Apart from managing costs and schedules, design-bid-build methods also face challenges in ensuring quality and sticking to plans. Because contractors aren’t deeply involved in design, misunderstandings often arise during construction due to errors or missing information.
Clearer Design Details
To speed up project plans, traditional designs often lack detailed specifications. But when builders start work based on these incomplete details, differences between what’s planned and what's possible in reality cause problems. Mistakes lead to reworking and changes because of the missing information. This affects quality without strong coordination.
Better Input from Contractors
Builders usually have limited involvement in making plans during the design phase. This means they might end up using materials or methods that don’t match their usual way of working. Owners can improve this by discussing technical needs with the builders during design. This way, owners can benefit from the builders’ experience, leading to better construction.
Staying True to the Plan
When given incomplete drawings, contractors often make assumptions to keep working, rather than stopping for every small issue. Sometimes, approved plans don’t perfectly match the original drawings. So, checking the work against the original plans ensures it’s on track. Architects visiting the site regularly can make sure the work aligns with the initial plans.
Minimizing Design Conflicts in Construction Projects
In design-bid-build projects, where different consultants work separately before builders’ step in, there's often a problem with coordination among different parts of the building plans. This lack of coordination causes issues when the actual construction begins and requests for information reveal conflicts.
Optimizing Drawing Flow
Designers usually check for conflicts within their specific area, but full coordination between different parts often happens later. If owners prioritize checking and fixing these conflicts from the start, it reduces costly changes during construction. It might cost a bit more in design fees but saves money on rework later.
Using Digital Tools for Coordination
New technology allows real-time coordination of drawings as models develop. Online platforms track conflicts between different parts of the building, like structures and mechanical systems. Builders use these tools to plan and estimate costs, catching problems early and avoiding clashes in the field.
Why Choose Clipper Construction for Your Next Commercial Construction Project
After uncovering the challenges of design-bid-build, trust Clipper Construction to manage risks on your Baltimore commercial construction project. Our extensive project management experience allows us to oversee the entire design, procurement, and construction process, spotting and addressing uncertainties in costs, schedules, and quality upfront.
We form project teams skilled in writing detailed technical specifications during design to ensure clear plans for contractors. Our careful pre-qualification of builders helps reveal coordination issues early on. Additionally, we manage procurement in stages, enabling faster construction without compromising fairness.
Contact our commercial project experts at (443) 323-1880 or visit https://www.clipper.construction/ for a transparent discussion about reducing risks on your next Baltimore project using traditional methods. We're available from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm, Monday to Friday. At Clipper Construction, we prioritize on-time, on-budget, and high-quality project delivery through clear communication among builders, designers, and owners. Trust Clipper Construction for your next successful project!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- What is Design-Bid-Build Construction?
Design-Bid-Build (DBB) is a conventional method in commercial construction where an architect or engineer creates complete building plans, and contractors bid competitively for the construction work. This approach involves distinct phases: design, bidding, and construction. - What Risks Come with Design-Bid-Build Construction?
Despite its benefits, DBB poses certain risks including increased costs due to incomplete plans and conservative bidding, delays from its sequential nature, challenges in maintaining quality due to limited contractor involvement in design, and coordination issues across project aspects. - How Can Construction Managers Lower Risks in Design-Bid-Build?
Construction managers can mitigate DBB risks through proactive measures like thorough planning to avoid incomplete plans, clear contracts to address uncertainties, buyer safeguards for unexpected expenses, and technology usage to streamline workflows and reduce coordination issues. - Challenges in Costs with Design-Bid-Build Construction?
DBB faces cost challenges from incomplete plans leading to change orders, conservative bidding due to unclear project details, and unforeseen expenses during construction. Skilled managers can control costs by ensuring designs align with budgets before bidding and carefully reviewing proposals. - How Does Design-Bid-Build Handle Project Delays?
DBB often encounters delays due to the separation between planning and construction stages. To minimize delays, owners can plan extra time, ensure design complexities are resolved early, and divide bid packages to expedite processes like obtaining permits and materials. - Steps for Owners to Improve Quality in Design-Bid-Build?
Owners can enhance quality in DBB by demanding clearer design details, encouraging contractor input during design, ensuring strict adherence to plans, and involving architects to verify work aligns with initial plans. - Minimizing Design Conflicts in Construction Projects?
DBB projects face design conflicts from independent consultants. Owners can reduce these issues by detecting and resolving conflicts early, optimizing drawing flow, and using digital tools for real-time plan coordination, thereby reducing costly rework during construction. - Benefits of Digital Tools for Construction Coordination?
Digital tools in DBB aid in real-time drawing coordination, conflict tracking between building parts, better planning, and accurate cost estimation. They help builders identify clashes early, ensuring smoother project execution and site-related issues avoidance. - Can Engaging Contractors Early Help Lower Risks in Design-Bid-Build Construction?
Early contractor engagement in DBB allows input on technical needs, materials, and construction methods. This collaboration leads to better coordination, reduces contractor assumptions, and aligns the project more closely with builders’ expertise, thereby reducing risks. - Why Choose Clipper Construction for Baltimore Commercial Projects?
Clipper Construction manages DBB risks with extensive project management experience, detailed technical specifications during design, careful builder selection, and strategic procurement management. This ensures reduced uncertainties in costs, schedules, and quality for Baltimore commercial projects.
