A Look Back at Alternative Delivery: Evolution, Expansion and Integration

Insight
A Look Back at Alternative Delivery: Evolution, Expansion and Integration
Tom mcneice  Senior Vice president, cdm construc­tors Inc.
Alternative delivery, at CDM Smith and in the industry in general, was born out of a client need. Today, it's a valuable option for owners looking for a single point of project responsibility.

Orig­i­nally, we started doing “al­ter­na­tive delivery” at CDM Smith because our private sector clients were looking for a single source of re­spon­si­bil­ity on projects. We didn’t have a name or frame­work for it yet; we were just re­spond­ing to our clients’ needs to drive efficiency into the project delivery process. The com­pa­nies we were working with were focused on their business goals and weren’t in­ter­ested in the tra­di­tional, some­times cum­ber­some, en­gi­neer­ing and con­struc­tion routine. But thanks to a big push from private com­pa­nies– and the en­gi­neer­ing and con­struc­tion industry as whole – we were soon able to innovate and rev­o­lu­tion­ize architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) delivery.

We took the time to invest in design-build in its infancy and set up a group dedicated to supporting clients with a single point of responsibility from design through construction.
Tom mcneice, senior vice President of CDM COnstruc­tors Inc.

Collab­o­ra­tion, Confidence and Commu­ni­ca­tion
Over the years, al­ter­na­tive delivery has pro­gressed and now federal and mu­nic­i­pal gov­ern­ments are also em­brac­ing the design-build delivery method as a proven and ef­fec­tive way to save time and money. Any owner can be suc­cess­ful using design-build, as long as they set up a simple frame­work to com­mu­ni­cate goals, ob­jec­tives and stan­dards. I’ve been asked the secret to design-build success. The answer is simple: trust. All in­fra­struc­ture projects will have conflict; it’s the nature of the work. But if the owner and design-builder trust each other, they can navigate changes and un­fore­seen issues con­struc­tively and in a way that benefits the project outcome and the needs of all members of the team.

I’m very lucky to be part of an in­te­grated team of design-builders at CDM Smith. The company took the time to invest in design-build in its infancy and set up a group ded­i­cated to sup­port­ing clients with a single point of re­spon­si­bil­ity from design through con­struc­tion. We were in­stru­men­tal in helping write the early contract forms and agree­ments. That in­vest­ment has blos­somed into a business model that has been ex­tremely suc­cess­ful for us. We’re one of the few true design-builders in the market. We have an in­te­grated team of en­gi­neers and con­struc­tion pro­fes­sion­als who all have the same goal: project success. Our clients know they can trust us to deliver because our project team is mutually in­cen­tivized to deliver the whole project, not just a piece of the final outcome.

From Business Risk to Industry Standard
Today, al­ter­na­tive delivery is an es­tab­lished method, with an abundant amount of great re­sources avail­able for owners in­ter­ested in elim­i­nat­ing the trans­ac­tional waste that results in the more tra­di­tional design-bid-build scenario. Thanks to great or­ga­ni­za­tions, like the Design-Build In­sti­tute of America (DBIA) and the Water Design-Build Council (WDBC), there are industry stan­dards, hand­books and sample con­tracts for everyone to use. And in­de­pen­dent studies have proven the tech­nique is ef­fec­tive. In 2012, two pro­fes­sors from the Uni­ver­sity of Nevada, Las Vegas con­ducted a survey of owners and reported that, across the board, design-build resulted in greater efficiency, fewer claims and more innovation on projects.

Looking Towards a Rev­o­lu­tion
When I think about the future, I’m excited about the po­ten­tial for industry in­no­va­tion. As our global pop­u­la­tion grows, we are facing real resource con­straints. Using al­ter­na­tive delivery methods, in com­bi­na­tion with the new suite of tech­nolo­gies that are now avail­able – from BIM and VDC to mixed reality holo­grams – we can expedite the creation of new in­fra­struc­ture. And as thought leaders and industry in­no­va­tors, we have a re­spon­si­bil­ity to foster the next gen­er­a­tion of design-build pro­fes­sion­als. 

The AEC industry has come a long way since the days when the en­gi­neers drew up the blue­prints and the con­trac­tors built them; we must continue to push the bound­aries to bring the most value for our clients.

 

Thomas McNeice Thomas McNeice
We must continue to push the boundaries to bring the most value for our clients.
Related Capabilities

Related Projects and Insights