Water Design-Build Council Blog

Primarily due to efficiencies with schedules and the overall work process for both utility owners and municipalities during the past five years, the use of design-build and CMAR delivery for water and wastewater projects has increased. As the WDBC’s recent research report revealed, the use of collaborative delivery methods is continuing to gain significant momentum in the water sector because of the education process. The other good news is that WDBC’s research data shows that external impediments – such as legislative and regulatory requirements - are decreasing and progress continues within the states on that specific challenge.

Achieving a successful design-build project requires a collaborative environment that begins with the owner’s commitment to be the leader of internal preparations. Before initiating the procurement process or identifying the delivery method to be used, key decisions need to be made by the owner.

A nationally-recognized expert on project delivery systems and author of several books on the subject, Michael has worked on some of the country’s most complex public sector design-build projects in the transportation and water/wastewater sectors. Some of his notable engagements include DC Water’s Clean River and Biosolids programs, the City of Houston’s Northeast Water Purification Plant Expansion Project, and Metropolitan Wastewater District’s Northeast Treatment Plant.

“How do you successfully effectuate a design-build project? Our city has done several design build construction projects which have resulted in delays, lawsuits, and other problems. Clearly, we are not doing something correctly!”

One of the frequent questions occurring in the Water Design-Build Council's education session is understanding how to apply the terms – prescriptive and performance – in a “fixed-price” design-build project. 

In this last of our series of blog recaps, we highlight three projects that are prime examples of how the design-build process works, and how these collaborative approaches helped bring these projects online faster than a traditional design-bid-build contract - within or significantly under budget - and with numerous obstacles overcome through proper risk management.

The Water Design-Build Council’s namesake is at the center of this week’s blog recap. Design-build is a delivery method in which an owner enters into a single contract with a design-builder to design, permit, construct, test, and commission a project.

This week’s blog recap focuses on construction management at-risk. If you’re not familiar with this collaborative delivery method, or afraid that it might not work for your projects, take some time to explore these blogs, as well as others on the WDBC website, and see for yourself how this delivery method can be to your benefit. 

Achieving a successful collaborative project for the water and wastewater infrastructure – for both owners and industry members, is the underlying value of the Water Design-Build Council.

An interview with Ryan Adler of Crossland Heavy Construction.