Bridging the Gap Between the Design Team and Contractors

The traditional design-bid-build process is structured to minimize the need for collaboration. Designing a building requires numerous discipline-specific subject matter experts that contribute to a complex interwoven system. Efficiencies are gained when we untangle the collaboration to provide each discipline a silo to complete work packages followed by defined periods of looking up to see what each other is doing. But efficiency is not the goal, maximizing owner value is. This presentation will discuss the contributions of Designers and Contractors and how each is incentivized based on how each’s performance is judged. These different incentives reinforce different behaviors and lead to different recommended solutions when problems arise. The two can seem on opposing sides. Thus, stereotypes arise that engineers over-design and lack common sense and contractors just want to cut corners. The silo between design team and contractor is not just cultural but codified in contractually defined scopes. The contractual intent is to compartmentalize responsibilities. As convenient as it is to compartmentalize responsibilities, the panel will give examples of how owner value is maximized when designers and contractors work with a collaborative mindset instead of a liability mindset.