We recognize that investing in people and technology takes its toll on the bottom line in the short term. But now is the ideal time to invest in the future. The alternative is to have no future. For many owners, design-build is a simple solution to their capital budget needs. For others, it creates a quagmire of ill will when too many firms compete for too little a prize.
Owners are the key to having design-build succeed.
Absent some sort of agreement with the owner, that up-front investment is lost for all losing bidders. And there may just be too many competing teams. This is a hardship that many firms are not eager to repeat. Many Top 500 design firms say that they have been burned in the past and have learned that is may be in their interest to walk away from proposals that would require them to ante up a huge amount of free design work to get in the game. But design firms may have to live with the method and maybe try and change the rules if they want certain kinds of assignments.