When is it good to use the Design-Build Method on Construction Projects?

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The Design-build method on your construction project versus the traditional Design, bid, build method.

Project: Huntsman Chemical Computer Building Addition, Conroe, Texas 

I met Huntsman in mid-August and reviewed their completed drawings for the project.  They required that their project be complete by December 1st.

Their design showed a 44’ x 40’ painted block addition, one story along with bar joists and a structural steel deck with poured concrete and a gable steel frame roof with metal roof panels. 







Bar Joist with metal deck and poured concrete

                               Bar joists with metal deck and poured concrete deck.


METAL BAR JOISTS SCHEDULE PROBLEM

Bar joists require a 10–12-week delivery after the shop drawing review. This puts the delivery in early December. Their design is a 7-month schedule project, not the 3 months that they desired.


REDESIGN OF THE PROJECT TO A STRUCTURAL STEEL FRAMING

I discussed with them that they would have to change the design to a structural steel beam design instead of the bar joist design/


                                               Structural Steel Frame

If they changed the design to a structural steel beam design, then dozens of structural steel Manufacturers around Houston could meet their schedule. I found one structural Steel fabrication shop that could fabricate the steel beams and deliver them in three and a half weeks.

Huntsman agreed with the redesign; however, it added two weeks to their overall schedule of completion.


CRITICAL PATH SCHEDULE

The most critical path of this project was the structural steel shop drawings, approval, and fabrication and erection.

                       As-Built Schedule of the construction of their addition


The project was completed in three and half months, which was the second week of December. I had a one-week delay in mid-November from a two-day rain. The rain held up our interior finishes from being completed. I was able to give the computer people their room in early December. They took seven working days to install their flooring and computer mainframes.  

Had they brought in a Design-Build Construction firm with the proper experience in the planning of this project, then they could have met their intended schedule.   

DESIGN-BUILD EXAMPLE

I had a Design-Build account with Perdue Chicken in Bridgewater, Virginia.

They would need my help on several small projects throughout the plant during any one year. I would provide them with preliminary drawings and pricing for a particular project. They would then put this into their budget for the following year. Some projects were immediate, and I would draw up the project, provide them pricing, and then schedule the work.

I was their trusted partner in the design and construction of their projects.

Find a trusted Design-Build firm that can come into the project early and provide preliminary drawings, schedule durations, and prices.

 

 Shettig Construction Management provides Professional Design-Build Construction Management services from the inception of your project through completion. www.shettig.com mshettig@gmail.com

 





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