California Skateparks, Inc. offers Design-Build Services. With this unique, distinctive project delivery process our company combines the best aspects of project management, professional skateboard park design and construction integrity. This comprehensive method of delivery assures our clients that the intended result is achieved, but not restrictive in a way that would inhibit the greatest benefits of Design-Build: sound planning, systematic project costing and creative solutions. The benefits to be gained in establishing a well designed and managed Design-Build process includes the following:
Singular Responsibility
With project management, skatepark design and construction in the hands of a single entity, there is a single point of responsibility for quality, cost and schedule adherence. The Owner is able to focus on scope/needs definition and timely decision making.
Cost Savings
Design and construction personnel, working and communicating as a team, evaluate alternative materials and methods efficiently and accurately. Value engineering and constructability are utilized more effectively when both the designers and contractors work as one team during the design and construction process.
Time Savings
Because design and construction overlap, and because bidding periods and exhaustive redesign time are minimized, total design/construction time can be significantly reduced. Under this method, preliminary construction work is allowed to begin in advance before the working drawings are fully completed. The time savings translates into lower costs and earlier utilization of the completed facility.
Reduced Administrative Responsibility
Under a streamlined procurement process, the potential exists for Design-Build to reduce the Owner’s administrative burden. Initially, preparing RFP’s and conducting evaluations can be resource intensive; however, this effort should lessen after an early learning curve. After award of the Design-Build contract, the Owner will not have to invest time and money coordinating and arbitrating between separate design and construction contracts. Change orders due to drawing and specifications errors are eliminated because the correction of such issues is the responsibility of the Design-Builder, not the Owner.
Knowledge of Firm Costs
Because the entity responsible for design is simultaneously estimating construction costs and can accurately conceptualize the completed project at an early stage, guaranteed construction costs are known far sooner than is otherwise possible. This permits early establishment of financing, reduces exposure to cost escalation, and avoids the possibility of committing substantial time and money for design, only to learn that the cost of the project is prohibitive.
Best Value
By giving credit in the award mechanism for design quality, functional efficiency, team experience and other factors in addition to price, an Owner can select a proposal that reflects the greatest value and not simply the lowest first cost.
Conclusion
The success of the Design-Build process is greatly enhanced by the Owner’s willingness to take advantage of an innovative process for designing and constructing facilities of high quality and competitive cost, while bringing projects on-line quickly and absent the typical disputes or change orders. By knowledgeably pursuing design quality, and by effectively controlling costs and schedule, a design-builder makes certain that concept to completion is more than idle discourse, it is a reality shaped in concrete.