New Research Shows Design-Build Continues to Deliver Projects Most Efficiently

Washington, D.C. (November 14, 2018)—New research shows that America’s design-build projects continue to deliver faster and with greater reliability in cost and schedule performance than other construction delivery methods. It’s been 20 years since the seminal CII/Penn State research showed that design-build projects consistently delivered projects more efficiently. Over the decades, even as projects have evolved in complexity through many diverse economic cycles, design-build continues to provide improved value to communities.

“As our nation continues to struggle with the unmet needs of crumbling infrastructure and budgets stretched thin, it’s no surprise that most states have embraced design-build as a better way to deliver projects vital to our economic growth. Whether it’s a billion-dollar airport or small community library, this research confirms design-build continues to deliver innovative projects that save time and money. Design-build is clearly a better way to build,” said Lisa Washington, CAE, DBIA executive director/chief executive officer.

Research Highlights:

• Project Cost: On average, projects using the design-build (DB) method cost 1.9 percent less per square foot when compared to the construction manager (CRM) at risk method, and 0.3 percent less when compared to the design-bid-build (DBB) method. DB projects also average 2.4 percent less cost growth than a comparably scoped project using CMR and 3.8 percent less cost growth than a project using DBB.
• Project Schedule: DB was the best performing project delivery system in terms of schedule growth, delivery speed and construction speed. DB projects see 3.9 percent less schedule growth than CMR and 1.7 percent less than DBB. They’re also 13 percent faster than CMR during the construction phase and 36 percent faster than DBB. From design through completion, DB projects are delivered 61 percent faster than CMR and 102 percent faster than DBB.

The Revisiting Project Delivery Performance research summary is now available online.