Design-build provides benefits for both owners and practitioners. It gives the owner the ability to contract with a single entity which bears the full responsibility for the design, quality, construction and commissioning of a project.

Having engineers and construction professionals on the same team provides the owner with a single point of accountability, allows for construction-related input in every stage of the design and enables the use of construction best practices. Dealing with a single entity also decreases an owner's administrative burdens, allowing them to focus on the project, rather than managing separate contracts.

New research performed by the Water Design-Build Council on why owners like design-build contracting further demonstrates the benefits of using a design-build approach. Research concludes that integrating engineers and construction professionals will foster collaboration and trust in the working environment, with all parties sharing common objectives and working as a team to identify the most innovative and best-value solutions for the owner. 

Practitioners generally benefit from a fair profit, since an integrated team is fully and equally committed to controlling costs and project risks are shared appropriately and managed collaboratively. Like owners, the design-builder benefits from a decreased administrative burden because the communication among all parties is streamlined.

The Design Build Institute of America have identified the following benefits:

Owner and Agency Benefits

• Faster Delivery
  Collaborative project management means work is completed faster with fewer problems.
• Cost Savings
  An integrated team is geared toward efficiency and innovation.
• Better Quality
  Design-builders meet performance needs, not minimum design requirements, often developing innovations to deliver a better project than initially imagined.
• Singular Responsibility
  One entity is held accountable for cost, schedule and performance.
• Decreased Administrative Burden
  Owners can focus on the project rather than managing disparate contracts.
• Reduced Risk
  The design-build team assumes additional risk.
• Reduced Litigation Claims
  By closing warranty gaps, owners virtually eliminate litigation claims.

Practitioner Benefits

• Decreased Administrative Burden
  Design-build streamlines communication between designers and builders.
• Reduced Litigation
  A Victor O. Schinnerer benchmarking and claims study shows that from 1995-2004, only 1.3 percent of claims against A/E firms were made by design-build contractors.
• Increased Market Share
  More and more owners choose design-build as their delivery approach.
• Fair Profit
  An integrated team is fully and equally committed to controlling costs and managing risk collaboratively.

Additional guidance and educational documents that describe the benefits to design-build delivery can be found on the Water Design-Build Council’s Knowledge Center.