Progressive Design-Build: Its Functions as a Contracting Method and the Four Pillars of Project Success

As a project delivery method, Design-Build (DB) has provided owner, architect, and contractor groups with a process of early design and rapid construction for the past three decades. Although there are many benefits to using standard DB, dissatisfaction has arisen due to limitations to innovate, limited owner involvement during design, and often lengthy procurement. Progressive Design-Build (PDB) has become an appealing alternative providing benefits not seen with standard DB. This paper investigates how PDB impacts a project and how it compares against standard DB; it also presents a proposed framework for evaluating the owner's responsibility and assessment of a project, which we named the "Four Pillars of Project Success". The four pillars are defined with respect to an owner's responsibility and assessment of a project, including project predictability, project risk, project schedule, and project cost. We conducted a literature review, examined several public project case studies, analyzed PDB project information collected by the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA), and held stakeholder interviews with owners, contractors, and architects who have used both PDB and standard DB. This paper offers insight into PDB's structure and outcomes so an owner group can make an informed decision when considering PDB as their next construction contracting method.