California Women in Design and Construction will hold a moderated discussion on IPD and Collaboration Through Design-Build for Public and Private Projects Thursday, October 3, 2013, 2pm to 4pm, at Hanson Bridgett LLP in San Francisco, Calif. The interactive discussion will be followed by a networking reception from 4pm to 6pm.
Moderator is Lisa Dal Gallo, Partner at Hanson Bridgett, LLP, specializing in assisting clients in determining the best project delivery method to achieve the teams’ goals, developing creative deal structures that encourage use of collaborative and integrated delivery processes and drafting contracts in business English.
Registration link here: California Women in Design + Construction - IPD and Collaboration Through Design-Build For Public and Private Projects.
Showing posts with label Design-Build. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Design-Build. Show all posts
Friday, September 27, 2013
Friday, May 24, 2013
AIA 1st VP Seeks Federal Reforms of Design-Build Contracting to Help Small Firms
From Building Design and Construction, May 23:
Testifying before the House of Representatives Small Business Committee, AIA First Vice President Helene Combs Dreiling, FAIA, called for reform of the design-build contracting process so that design and architectural firms can bid on federal contracts without fear of bankrupting themselves in the process.Read the article for Dreiling's testimony on risks small firms face now in competing for federal contracts.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Alternative Delivery: The Small Firm Challenge
Man! What a tough crowd. I had 50 minutes to impart "wisdom of the ages" (that's a lot of years) on the subject of business development best practices. While the feedback was largely positive, one person wrote in saying I didn’t spend enough time addressing business development and alternative project delivery. Ok!
Alternative Delivery, let me count the ways:
Group One
Each one of these methods requires a slightly different business development strategy. For simplicity, we're going to put them into two groups, as shown above. Now, let's talk strategy.
In traditional design-bid-build pursuits, architects pursue client and try to develop design teams to fulfill client facility needs. The game changes, to say the least, when the delivery method changes. Clients who seek to deliver projects through any of the methods in Group One shift the architects’ pursuit from the client to the contractor who is likely to lead the pursuit. As a result, architects need to develop strategic relationships with general contractors adept at delivering various building types from student services buildings to parking structures. Further, it becomes incumbent upon the architect to demonstrate (to the contractor) some previous design-build experience or some previous experience with the contractor in order to be able to have a seat at the table. No small order.
This is made even more complicated by end-user clients who seek to deliver buildings via LEAN or IPD. LEAN and IPD delivery require not only early involvement of the entire team, but collective versus individual responsibility for the design and construction of the project. Moreover, they use technology and tools such as BIM or Rivet to model the input and generate everything from schedules, to materials schedules, to costs (over-simplified, but you get the point). Talk about a BD game changer!
Under the latter scenario, architects must be able to accept the collective risk (and reward) and demonstrate their ability to utilize BIM or Rivet. For a mid-sized to large firm this is easy. For a small practice, it's an unacceptable risk.
So what do you do? Andy Warhol said, “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”
Finally, if IPD or LEAN are in your future, learn the technologies and manage your collective risk accordingly. This is no longer about just your firm, it is about the delivery team.
Got more questions? Send them along to me at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com. And for more information, see the AIA PMKC webinar Wisdom of the Ages: Best Practices in Business Development Part 2. This popular series and other resources are available on A3K Consulting's "Inform" webpage.
Alternative Delivery, let me count the ways:
Group One
- Design-Build
- Design-Build-Operate
- Design-Build-Operate and Maintain
- Lease-Leaseback
- LEAN Construction
- Integrated Project Delivery (IPD)
Each one of these methods requires a slightly different business development strategy. For simplicity, we're going to put them into two groups, as shown above. Now, let's talk strategy.
In traditional design-bid-build pursuits, architects pursue client and try to develop design teams to fulfill client facility needs. The game changes, to say the least, when the delivery method changes. Clients who seek to deliver projects through any of the methods in Group One shift the architects’ pursuit from the client to the contractor who is likely to lead the pursuit. As a result, architects need to develop strategic relationships with general contractors adept at delivering various building types from student services buildings to parking structures. Further, it becomes incumbent upon the architect to demonstrate (to the contractor) some previous design-build experience or some previous experience with the contractor in order to be able to have a seat at the table. No small order.
This is made even more complicated by end-user clients who seek to deliver buildings via LEAN or IPD. LEAN and IPD delivery require not only early involvement of the entire team, but collective versus individual responsibility for the design and construction of the project. Moreover, they use technology and tools such as BIM or Rivet to model the input and generate everything from schedules, to materials schedules, to costs (over-simplified, but you get the point). Talk about a BD game changer!
Under the latter scenario, architects must be able to accept the collective risk (and reward) and demonstrate their ability to utilize BIM or Rivet. For a mid-sized to large firm this is easy. For a small practice, it's an unacceptable risk.
So what do you do? Andy Warhol said, “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”
- First, define the type(s) of clients that you want to work with and understand their preference in delivery methods.
- Second, adapt your business development strategy to who will be leading the effort. You may find that you now have to market to GCs as much as you do to your end user client.
- Third, know your value proposition. If you've never done a design-build project and don’t have a "story to tell" with a contractor, adjust your expectations and your messaging to focus on your strengths.
Finally, if IPD or LEAN are in your future, learn the technologies and manage your collective risk accordingly. This is no longer about just your firm, it is about the delivery team.
Got more questions? Send them along to me at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com. And for more information, see the AIA PMKC webinar Wisdom of the Ages: Best Practices in Business Development Part 2. This popular series and other resources are available on A3K Consulting's "Inform" webpage.
Karen Compton, CPSM. Karen Compton is principal of A3K Consulting
(Glendale, CA), a business development and strategic planning firm specializing
in the architecture, engineering and construction industries. Ms. Compton is also
the founder of Industry Speaks™, a web-based business-to-business portal that connects AEC firms with experienced consultants, provides peer reviews of consultants, reports on key industry trends, and publishes expert reviews of professional courses and books. Contact her at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Up in Arms Over Design Build
I love responding to questions. It is a great way to check the pulse of the industry, and diagnose where "pain points" are developing. No month offered more evidence of this than April (following the webinar!) Design-build questions seemed to be left, right and center. Here are some of the toughest questions, and some of my simplest answers.
Your assumed definition of design-build is too narrow and short changes the potential opportunities that it can bring to design firms. Have you never seen design-build done in a way that actually serves the design community's interest?
I didn't have enough time to cover all design-build methods (in our webinar) so I started with the most basic definition, which is narrow. Perhaps DB-BD could be a topic for a future course, but let me answer your question. I have seen design-build serve the community interest, when the client and the contractor are on the same page. In design-build, the driver isn't (typically) the architect, it is largely the GC. This is where I believe IPD or LEAN make it more interesting, because the interests of the project not the individuals are put forth from the beginning--sacrificing nothing.
Notwithstanding design-build, what can you tell us about the integrated project delivery as a market?
I am a curmudgeon! Integrated project delivery isn't a market, it's a vehicle by which projects are delivered. There are client types that prefer IPD--healthcare, higher education for example. But, it isn't a market sector per say. That said, if that is your interest, you are likely in pursuit of a more sophisticated, collaborative client with resources and the desire to utilize technology as a means of delivering their facility. These transcend a market type.
Got more questions? Send them along to me at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com. And for more information, see the AIA PMKC webinar Wisdom of the Ages: Best Practices in Business Development Part 2. This popular series and other resources are available on A3K Consulting's "Inform" webpage.
Your assumed definition of design-build is too narrow and short changes the potential opportunities that it can bring to design firms. Have you never seen design-build done in a way that actually serves the design community's interest?
I didn't have enough time to cover all design-build methods (in our webinar) so I started with the most basic definition, which is narrow. Perhaps DB-BD could be a topic for a future course, but let me answer your question. I have seen design-build serve the community interest, when the client and the contractor are on the same page. In design-build, the driver isn't (typically) the architect, it is largely the GC. This is where I believe IPD or LEAN make it more interesting, because the interests of the project not the individuals are put forth from the beginning--sacrificing nothing.
Notwithstanding design-build, what can you tell us about the integrated project delivery as a market?
I am a curmudgeon! Integrated project delivery isn't a market, it's a vehicle by which projects are delivered. There are client types that prefer IPD--healthcare, higher education for example. But, it isn't a market sector per say. That said, if that is your interest, you are likely in pursuit of a more sophisticated, collaborative client with resources and the desire to utilize technology as a means of delivering their facility. These transcend a market type.
Got more questions? Send them along to me at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com. And for more information, see the AIA PMKC webinar Wisdom of the Ages: Best Practices in Business Development Part 2. This popular series and other resources are available on A3K Consulting's "Inform" webpage.
Karen Compton, CPSM. Karen Compton is principal of A3K Consulting
(Glendale, CA), a business development and strategic planning firm specializing
in the architecture, engineering and construction industries. Ms. Compton is also
the founder of Industry Speaks™, a web-based business-to-business portal that connects AEC firms with experienced consultants, provides peer reviews of consultants, reports on key industry trends, and publishes expert reviews of professional courses and books. Contact her at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)