General Contracting
Historically, most building projects have followed a more traditional process in which an owner hires an architect to begin the process of developing a design and preparing the necessary documents to build it. An owner typically hires a general contractor under a separate contract to construct the facility. The architect and general contractor are hired to act in the owner's best interest. The architect is paid a fee for the services he provides, and the contractor's compensation is included in the cost of construction. Design-Bid-Build is the most common option, with Negotiated Select Team as an additional option. This alternative has the same contractual relationship as Design-Bid-Build, but the general contractor is involved much earlier in the process to assist in determining costs, scheduling and constructability issues to enhance project performance.

Design-Bid-Build
Although this method is the most common method of project delivery, it has recently been subject to more scrutiny. This form of delivery has three phases: (1) The owner engages an architect to design and prepare construction documents for the project to be used to bid the job; (2) a contractor is selected, and submits a cost commitment; (3) the contractor is hired to build the project. This method is generally used in the public sector when selecting the "low-bid" contractor is mandated. Because no communication exists between the architect and contractor during the design phase, this method can be quite time-consuming, and can result in multiple change orders and an increase in claims, unlike other delivery methods.

Negotiated Team Members
This delivery method is similar to the Design-Bid-Build method in which separate contracts exist for design and construction, but utilizes our design-assist services. At the inception of a project, the owner selects an architect and a contractor, typically based on qualifications, with whom fees for services are negotiated. The owner, architect and contractor work closely together as a team from commencement of the design process. The contractor assists the architect in the design and documentation process by providing scheduling, estimating, phasing and building systems evaluation. When the project design is complete, the final construction costs are negotiated through bids from subcontractors, and construction begins. This method is widely used in the private sector, and experienced owners, and those owners, architects and contractors who team up together frequently. The most significant advantages are the cooperative team approach to the process and the accessibility of construction expertise during the design phase of the project. This team approach also tends to eliminate the inherent adversarial relationships which often occur between design and construction, and lessen the potential for litigation. The primary disadvantage is perceived to be the lack of competitive bidding, and an owner's questioning whether he has the most economical construction cost. Competitive bidding, however, comes from the subcontractor, supplier, and vendor marketplace, and the "open book" approach used by Lytle Construction Services, which assures the lowest possible cost for the right project scope.

Design-Build
Design-Build project delivery is another form of contracting that has been most widely received by private owners.

Under the Design-Build format, the owner contracts with a single entity, the design-builder, to provide both design and construction services. The Design-Build entity may be a single firm or a joint-venture. The team typically includes an architect and a contractor, where the architect is a subcontractor of the contractor. The principal advantages of Design-Build are the single point of responsibility, and the potential to remove otherwise independent phases, thereby streamlining the process, advancing the design and construction schedules, and saving valuable time.

The Design-Build team is responsible for both the design and construction under one contract. There are two primary players: the owner and the design-builder. This method is the most commonly used form of design-build, although other forms exist. Once pre-selection materials have been prepared, the typical Design-Build process primarily involves the design and construction of the project. Design is completed by the architect who is part of the LCS Design-Build team.

A preliminary cost commitment generally is made during the design phase in the form of a guaranteed maximum price (GMP). This method is common for projects that need to move quickly, and is most effective when the project is clearly defined at inception, but may require extensive coordination of consultants and subcontractors.

The principal advantages are that the single point of responsibility minimizes the owner's risk, reduces the opportunity for change orders, and reduces potential construction delays.

Construction Manager as Constructor
Under this delivery method, a CM is hired prior to the completion of the design phase to act as the project coordinator and general contractor. This method is structurally and contractually similar to Design-Bid-Build, has the advisory benefits of CM-Advisor, and involves the early cost commitment characteristics of Design-Build. The CM-constructor may be hired by bid to deliver the building for a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) or by creating multiple bid packages. In either case, the CM assumes all the liability and responsibility of the general contractor. The reasoning behind this method is often referred to as "CM-at-Risk". This method involves the owner, architect and construction manager.

The process has three phases: The owner first hires an architect to design the project. When design is approximately 30% complete, scope-of-work documents are prepared; the project is then bid, based on those documents, in order to select the CM-constructor. The owner hires the CM-constructor to advise during pre-construction, and to build the project. Upon completion of construction documents, the CM-constructor generally will rebid some or all of the construction to multi-prime contractors or other subcontractors. This method is best utilized for projects that need to be fast-tracked, or for an owner for whom cost, schedule, or construction implementation would be difficult to manage. The primary advantage is the initial focus on design issues and the provision of construction advice during design, while providing careful oversight of costs, schedule, and constructability. For some owners, the most important advantage is early cost definition and schedule guarantees. Disadvantages include the potential for adversarial relationships and change orders/claims from low bidding prime or trade contractors.

Design-Assist
All design and construction delivery options afford the owners in both the public and private sectors the correct methodology, depending on the specific goals of the project. These goals can range from simply being an extension of the owner's staff to monitoring and providing oversight of either simple or complex design and construction, to providing early cost, schedule, and quality guarantees of those same projects. The key to the success of all of the delivery methods is early involvement in the programming and design by a qualified contracting partner, or what we call Design-Assist services.

These services include verification of program intent to meet site selection needs and to validate the project's feasibility to meet early cost targets and schedule milestones. It also includes preliminary budgetary services in both line item cost estimation and building systems analyses to provide a value-check of the project's ability to meet funding requirements and anticipated duration. Other services during the pre-construction phase of the project are value-management exercises to ensure the optimum amount of dollars spent for the desired scope of the project, in-depth scheduling analyses to both identify long lead-time items critical to meeting established dates, and to evaluate opportunities for possible schedule improvement by overlapping certain elements of the work for early start and fast-track capability. We also examine the project materials and methods to determine if assumptions made during preliminary design can, in fact, be built economically in the field.

This constructability review is performed by bringing in staff from the proposed on-site building team to work in tandem with the design and estimating staff and obtain "buy in" of all decisions before the project hits the site. Our Design-Assist services combine the latest in technological application to lessons learned in the field. We apply common sense thinking and planning to what can seem like an overwhelming task when considering the design and construction of a project.