A/E/C Firm Executives Anticipate Rise in Design/Build Work

About 80% of architecture, engineering, construction, and integrated design/build firm leaders who responded to a recent survey expect an increase in the use of design/build over the next five years. ZweigWhite, a Natick, Mass.-based management consulting firm, surveyed 150 construction industry executives for its 2004 Design/Build Survey of Construction Firms and found that design/build often occurs in four different ways — a single firm has in-house design and construction capabilities, the designer and contractor forge a joint venture, a contractor leads the project team, or a designer leads the project team. Lower costs and a single point of responsibility are considered design/build's biggest advantages, and a higher level of risk is considered its primary disadvantage. Since many contracting firms already have bonding capacity and are able to assume greater risks, they're more likely to dominate the design/build relationship, according to the report.