Morris Group AEC - Architecture, Engineering, Construction

Design/build is a form of project delivery in which owners contract with a single entity, the design-builder, to provide both design and construction services. The design-build entity may be a single firm, a group of experts, or a joint venture. Typically, the team includes an architect and a contractor, who may be partners in the undertaking or one subcontractor to the other or the architect may also be a licensed contractor.

Principal advantages of a design/build contract are the single point of responsibility and the potential to collapse otherwise independent phases and therefore save valuable time & money.

A design/build procurement method provides single-source responsibility to a client with all the benefits of proven design, engineering, and construction experience to provide the most cost-effective structure to meet the design, cost control, and quality requirements of any program.

Design-Build allows for better control of budgets which saves money; streamlined construction which saves time, and a single point of responsibility which makes for better communication. Design-Build can result in a more enjoyable construction process - we eliminate the inevitable adversarial relationship between the builder and architect, and put everyone on the same team.

By the year 2005, the Design-Build Institute of America projects that most of the commercial work here in the U.S. will also use Design-Build as its form of project delivery. A recent survey conducted by the Construction Industry Institute clearly indicated that, when appropriate, Design-Build should be the project delivery of choice. It showed that Design-Build provides better results through lower costs, quicker schedules and more satisfied Clients. Results have been published by the Construction Industry Institute in a report entitled, "Project Delivery Systems: CM at Risk, Design-Build, Design-Bid-Build."