Formed in 1993, The Design/Build Institute of America (DBIA) is an organization that defines, teaches and promotes sound practices in Design/Build (DB). DBIA promotes the value of DB project delivery and teaches the effective integration of design and construction services to ensure success for owners and design and construction practitioners. It also advocates for and enhances the proper utilization of the Design/Build method of procurement and contracting. The organization’s membership is composed of design and construction industry professionals, as well as project owners.
Design/Build is a method of project delivery in which one entity – the Design/Build team – works under a single contract with the project owner to provide design and construction services. One entity, one contract, one unified flow of work from initial concept through completion – thereby re-integrating the roles of designer and constructor. Design/Build is an alternative to the traditional design-bid-build project delivery method. Under the latter approach, design and construction services are split into separate entities, separate contracts, separate work.
Over the past 15 years, the use of Design/Build has rapidly accelerated in the United States, making this delivery method one of the most significant trends in design and construction today. When contractors use the design build process they save valuable time and money by working smarter, not harder. Design/Build lets us deliver a top-quality installation that is specifically tailored to the owner’s requirements, replacing the traditional plan and spec method of construction. The efficiencies created by this process reduce cost by up to 12% and total project delivery time is reduced by as much as 33%.
Design Build Versus Traditional Methods
Traditional construction and installation methods tend to rely on cookie-cutter solutions that have been used in the past. New buildings are simply outfitted with old solutions instead of being optimized with customized solutions. The result is a functional system that has been installed with little regard to cost or efficiency. While the HVAC system may heat and cool when necessary, it won’t provide the same level of performance that can be achieved through the design and build approach.
In some ways, design-build construction is simply a commonsense approach to designing, fabricating and installing a sophisticated HVAC system that will cost less than traditional methods. Our engineers use building information modeling (BIM) and 3D modeling to make accurate plans that take into account the exact specifications and requirements of each building when designing an HVAC system. Investing time in this planning process eliminates any problems during the construction process and avoids mistakes that can result in extra, unexpected costs.