TABLE OF CONTENTS The valuable and specialized skills of facility planners, programmers, specifiers, cost estimators, and other professionals are crucial in the complex and demanding process of design-build. As projects are conceptualized, and alternative facility elements and systems are considered, the knowledge of these individuals brings a discipline to design and a verisimilitude to cost.
The challenging process of cost estimating for a design-build project is a skill and an art that is mastered by those with the right aptitude, temperament, and experience. Because most owners have fiscal restraints that affect their capital facilities investments, there is heavy dependence on the work of the cost estimator to develop accurate cost forecasts at every stage of the project. A capable design-build cost estimator has a comprehensive understanding of the costs of labor, materials and equipment, and means and methods of both design and construction. In addition, the design-build cost estimator should understand facility programming and formulation of an owner s overall budget for a project. Because the owner s overall budget can be significantly higher than the estimated design and construction costs due to such items as land acquisition, financing, or furnishings costs, it is essential that the estimator be able to distinguish between the hard and soft costs for the entire project.
The estimator s ability to analyze the productivity of the design and construction consortium when applied to the difficulties and risks of the particular project will determine the long-term success of the design-build team. With the application of efficiency and productivity measures,...
