When embarking on large, complex building projects, whether it is a bustling international airport terminal, an advanced manufacturing facility, or a state-of-the-art commercial development, owners are looking for one essential guarantee: certainty of outcome. 

In our latest video feature, Tahir Edwards, Design Manager, licensed architect, and certified DBIA professional at The Weitz Company, breaks down how bridging the gap between design and construction transforms project delivery and how choosing the right collaborative delivery method sets the stage for reduced risk and long-term success. 

The Power of Alignment 

Designing and constructing a major facility requires an integrated team working closely to align project goals. At the start of collaborative projects, holding an upfront partner meeting aligns the owner, stakeholders, designers, construction managers, and trade specialists around core project goals and priorities. 

Early collaboration provides measurable benefits across every stage of development: 

• Continuous Checks and Balances: Reviewing concepts at conceptual, schematic, and design development phases ensures that what is drawn on paper matches scope intent and stays aligned with the client’s budget before setting pencil to final construction documents. 
• Protecting Ongoing Operations: In environments such as active airports and industrial manufacturing plants, business continuity is paramount. Conducting early preconstruction investigations, such as soil evaluations and subsurface utility mapping, identifies operational constraints upfront, preventing unexpected utility strikes and costly disruptions. 
• Constructability and Trade Input: Incorporating superintendents and trade partners into design reviews brings real-world installation knowledge to the table. Nailing down sizing, sequencing, and material specifications upfront means designers only have to design once, and trades only have to install once. 

Navigating Collaborative Delivery Methods 

Unlike traditional Design-Bid-Build, which brings the builder on after design documents are complete, collaborative delivery models incorporate construction expertise during design, when it can have the greatest impact. 

Here is how the primary collaborative delivery models compare: 

1. Construction Manager at Risk (CMaR / CMR) 
   • Contract Structure: The owner holds separate contracts with the design team and the construction manager. 
   • Collaboration Dynamic: The construction manager is brought on board during design to provide cost estimating, constructability feedback, scheduling input, and procurement input alongside the architect. 

2. Design-Build (DB) 
   • Contract Structure: The owner holds a single contract with the design-builder, which is responsible for delivering both design and construction. 
   • Key Characteristic: The design-builder assumes responsibility for integrating design and construction, with pricing established through the procurement and design process based on the owner’s requirements. 
   • Advantage: Enables overlapping design and construction packages (fast-tracking) to significantly compress project schedules. 

3. Progressive Design-Build (PDB) 
   • Contract Structure: The owner contracts with a single design-build entity from day one, working collaboratively through a step-by-step, transparent process. 
   • Key Characteristic: The GMP is not established at the start. Instead, the owner, builder, and designer collaborate through concept, schematic design, and/or design development to define scope, mitigate risks, and progressively develop the budget before establishing a GMP. 
   • Advantage: Provides greater cost transparency and flexibility to optimize scope, design, and risk before establishing the final price. 

Offsite Prefabrication 

When design and trade expertise merge early, creative solutions naturally follow. During the Kansas City International Airport project, The Weitz Company collaborated early with MEP trade partners to engineer and prefabricate thousands of feet of underground electrical conduit offsite. 

By assembling complex runs in a controlled environment before field installation, the project achieved higher installation quality, minimized onsite labor congestion, eliminated rework, and accelerated the overall construction schedule. 

Start Early to Maximize Your Influence 

Your greatest opportunity to influence the cost, schedule, and quality of a project is at the very beginning, not at the end. 

Watch the full video below to hear directly from Tahir Edwards on how early collaboration, transparent delivery methods, and integrated teams build predictability into every phase of construction.