Erin Margolius came to visit us and to discuss her work at CDM Smith. Margolius has had work as a civil engineer, environmental engineer and construction manager in her years in the construction division at CDM Smith. She has managed many construction projects and discussed with us traditional and alternative methods of project delivery.
Margolius first discussed traditional delivery this usually occurs in the steps that follow; an owner will have a need for a new building or other type of design project. The owner will higher an engineer or engineering firm to design this project or building for him. The engineer designs the whole project to completion and is liable for any flaws in the design. After the completion of the design an owner will then have to go about finding a general contractor for the project. The job can either be private or public where it is bid upon by various company’s one of which will win the bid. Once this happen the project begins to be constructed and normal is completed in about 32 weeks (from design to completion). This process can be more complicated than alternative because it involves cooperation between three parties both of which have to be hired and contracted by the owner. In environmental engineering most of the funds provided and the owner become the state or municipality. In MA there are a very particular set of rules governing project delivery and if there is a desire to use alternative delivery legislative approval is required making it a difficult process which can often me held up by various political issues.
Now alternative project delivery of construction project is fundamental different than traditional in one major way that is the project is given to a firm which designs and building the project from beginning to end. This makes the owners life easier because it only requires one contract oppossed to work with an engineer and contractor in traditional. Alternative project delivery can also me known as a design build since one company is in charge of both of these project. The alternative delivery is a more desirable form of construction because it can short the entire process by up to 10 months, saving the owner money. This process allows the building process to begin before the design is finished and allows for changes an owner might suggest while the building process is occuring. This process is very good for an owner because it creates one point of responsibility which is the design/build team, and place the risk on them as well. This process takes the owner off the ropes for any design flaws and a compressed schedule reduces cost across the board.
Alternative Construction delivery has several advantages compared to its traditional counterpart; its only a relationship and contract between two parties simplifying communcation along the entirety of the build. This process also takes significantly less time and saves lots of funds. Finally this process allows the owner to make changes during the construction since the design and construction process overlap. In conclusion alternative delivery method seems to be a method which municipality should consider in the future since it will save public funds and creates a single point of responsibility should there be any issues with the project upon completion.