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Design-Build and Masonry Construction
Design-Build and Masonry Construction
While design-build (D/B) may be unfamiliar to some people, it’s not a
new concept. In fact, it’s quite old. Master builders in ancient
Greece used this system to design and construct some of their most
monumental structures that are still standing today.
Over time, other delivery systems for construction became common.
Today, design-build is not business-as-usual for a majority of North
American construction projects, although it is gaining popularity.
This article introduces D/B and its benefits, and touches on its
potential role for modern masonry construction.
According to the Design-Build
Institute of America (DBIA), the basic idea of design-build,
and its biggest claimed advantage, is having one entity with full
responsibility for taking a project from concept to completion.
Responsibility translates to accountability and brings with it the
power to control the whole job, including all the important aspects
like cost, schedule, and quality. The single-entity approach provides
the potential to reduce administrative burdens of the owner.
There are three usual approaches to administrative organization
of D/B:
- Integrated design-build firm, where architects, engineers, and
builders all work for the same company
- A prime contractor with a subcontractor, where both a design
firm (A/E for architect-engineer) and a building contractor are
involved, but either entity can be the lead
- A joint venture between an A/E and a contractor
DBIA indicates that design-build has been growing steadily for
the past thirty years. Since the mid-1990s, it has come on strong,
particularly for complex and unusual projects. That said, there
is no reason it can’t be used on any type of job. In fact,
DBIA estimates that over 50% of non-residential design and construction
will be via D/B by the year 2015.
The advantages of design-build apply to most, if not all, types
of construction. But masonry construction, in particular, provides
a good fit with design-build. Outlined below are several reasons
why the two are suited to each other.
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| A masonry wall can have various craftspeople
working on it at any given time. |
Coordination. D/B optimizes the teamwork approach.
In masonry, there are a number of different specialists working
on any given job. For structural masonry, masons lay units and mortar
but others may place reinforcement. Where another type of structural
backup is used, coordinating masonry infill or veneer work with
the other trades can require extensive scheduling. Timing these
activities may be better accomplished when there are complementary,
rather than competing, forces at work. D/B is well suited to this
coordination, because there is a clear hierarchy and a single person
or group with the right knowledge of (critical) activities.
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| A worker pumps grout into the cores of concrete
masonry units to embed the reinforcement and create strong walls. |
No lead time. It’s been said that masonry
follows a slower construction path because it is laid by hand, one
piece at a time. Whether this perception of timing is true or not
is a matter of debate, but what can be said is that a majority of
masonry walls are made from materials that are in stock and ready
for immediate delivery. Design-build, primarily because it allows
for the sharing of knowledge, uses this timing to the advantage
of the schedule. No long lead times (for off-site activities) equals
early starts and faster project completion.
Moderate building size. Especially for buildings
of a certain size, design-build offers the potential to optimize
the masonry construction process to arrive at a time-competitive
schedule. Smaller to medium size buildings—single-story “big-box”
buildings and structures up to four or five stories tall—are
quickly erected with masonry. And the marriage of material with
application is a good one. Many of the best attributes of masonry,
like fire resistance, thermal mass, and acoustic privacy, are captured
for these types of buildings, such as hotels, theaters, commercial
retailers, and multi-family housing (apartments, dorms).
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