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What is Design-Build?

Defining Design Build

Design build means that your home’s architect, designer, and construction team work together as one team from your home’s earliest design through its complete construction process. 

Integrating the design and build teams enables projects to be done more efficiently and often quicker and at lower cost. 

What is design-build?

Why is Design-Build Better Than the Old Custom Home Building Process? 

With design-build, a project manager works with a team that includes architects, builders, and contractors. This team works together on the project from design to finished building. 

Traditionally, custom homes were built through design-bid-build, a process that starts with the architect designing the building, contractors bidding on the design, and then building based on the constraints of the site and the architect’s drawings. This is usually a fraught process that makes getting the work done more challenging for the team and ends up taking longer and being more frustrating for clients.

Why doesn’t it work? Architects do not prioritize budgets. Their role does not include pricing out the cost of materials and construction.

With design-bid-build, rather than give a price, you are encouraged to have several contractors bid on your project.  Having multiple contractors bid on your project can take weeks and those bids are only going to be as accurate as the drawings they were given.

Those drawings likely don’t include mechanicals or other practical considerations that substantially impact pricing. Once a contractor successfully bids on a project, they may have to make significant design changes based on the realities of the location and material availability. An architect doesn’t know what materials are out of stock and could design something that uses materials with delivery timelines that may delay the whole project.

As a client, you may find yourself having paid thousands of dollars for a preliminary design that exceeds your budget. You could also face delays in materials and construction caused by disagreements between teams. Not having a clear line of communication could lead you to make costly mistakes that ultimately delay your project and cause you more stress.


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What Are The Advantages of Design-Build?

Having in-house architects that work in close coordination with our project managers allows us to save our clients time, money, and stress.

With no disconnect between the architect and builder, the architect understands what’s “buildable” and possible with materials in the client’s budget Builders know what materials are available and what will take longer to come in and cause costly delays. The project manager working with the builder and architect can help them keep the client from making costly mistakes that could happen with the traditional design-bid-build process.

With one team, design-build firms can also avoid delays due to zoning laws, material shortages, permit issues, and involved designs that could require hiring specialty contractors. Clear communication between all teams at all stages leads to fewer delays and helps homeowners understand every stage so the process is less frustrating.

Design-build teams also make construction projects less stressful for the team and client. One source of accountability means there’s only one source the client has to go to with questions. Teams can’t blame each other and are responsible for all aspects of the project. Working as one leads to much clearer communication and the ability to solve problems effectively and quickly.

Why We Think Guerilla's Design-Build Program Is Even Better

We’ve got the ability to facilitate every aspect of your building process. 

In addition to architects, project managers, and carpenters, we also have in-house real estate professionals that can assist with land acquisition and introductions to qualified lenders.

Want to know if you should remodel or sell? We can illustrate both scenarios. And, you can check out our article explaining how to decide here.

Have more questions about our process? Get in touch today.