What's design/build? A single source for efficient and cost-effective construction.

• Author: Mayer, Kathy
• Position: REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION

HERE'S A DREAM COME true: tell one person what you need in a building project and that person will see you all the way through to your first day of business in your new or remodeled spot. No haggling with architects, contractors and suppliers. No pointing fingers when things go wrong. No getting stuck with a building that isn't right with nobody willing to take responsibility for the problem.

Even better, you're likely to save money, time and risks.

Such an option exists. It's called design/build, and it might be the right choice for your business, as it is for about half of the nation's nonresidential construction each year.

Across the state, single-source design/build firms are taking on projects large and small, leaving owners free to concentrate on running their own businesses rather than managing or having to be closely involved in construction. At the same time, owners are reaping benefits that don't come with traditional construction methods, these design/build firms report.

But first, what is design/ build?

"Under its purest definition, design/build is a single contract for design and construction," says Jeffrey Deig, vice president of engineering and director of business development for Evansville-based Industrial Contractors Inc. The company has handled design/build projects right from its beginning in 1964, and for the last three years Deig has taught a three-day professional development seminar on the method for the Office of Executive Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

The truth be told, there's a lot of wiggle room in the definition, says Andy Shiel, co-owner and chief executive officer of Indianapolis-based Shiel Sexton Co., where about 30 percent of the work is design/build.

"There are lots of different ways to go about it," Shiel says. "Every project is different, every owner is different, so it gets set up different ways. Flexibility is its biggest advantage. It gives an owner a single point of contact."

At South Bend's Indiana regional office for Downer's Grove, Ill.-based Wight & Co., senior project manager Robert Farkas explains design/build this way: "We are not an architect trying to do construction or a constructor trying to do design. We're two separate entities teamed together."

Under traditional construction methods, the design stage would be completed first, then bid packages prepared for the construction, Farkas explains. The functions and responsibilities are separate, as are the owner's...