A Better Way to Achieve Construction Project Objectives
Ondra-Huyett Associates was founded on the principles of collaboration and win-win relationships and has a long history of delivering projects on a collaborative basis. In the vast majority of our over $300 million in construction projects over the past 14 years we have been involved throughout the project design phase and have completed the construction under the open book Guaranteed Maximum Price approach. Surveys have shown that Owners find our approach provides accurate and reliable budgets; minimizes claims and change orders; maximizes aesthetic, functional and operational quality; and achieves project schedules.
In recent years the value of this collaborative approach to project delivery has become recognized throughout the construction industry. The AIA has codified the principles and procedures in their 2007 Integrated Project Delivery: A Guide and in 2008 published the accompanying set of contract documents. Likewise, ConsensusDocs has published their own Standard Form of Tri-Party Agreement for Collaborative Project Delivery, an agreement between Owner, Designer, and Constructor that formalizes the relationships and responsibilities and commits all three parties to achieving the project objectives.
AIA’s Integrated Project Delivery: A Guide (available for free on the internet) lays out, “a better way to deliver projects on a path to transform the status quo of fragmented processes yielding outcomes below expectations to a collaborative, value-base process delivering high-outcome results to the entire building team.”
Traditional Project Delivery
Integrated Project Delivery
Fragmented, assembled on “just-as-needed” or “minimum-necessary” basis, strongly hierarchical, controlled
Teams
An integrated team entity composed of key project stakeholders, assembled early in the process, open, collaborative
Linear, distinct, segregated; knowledge gathered “just-as-needed” information hoarded’ silos of knowledge and expertise
Process
Concurrent and multi-level; early contributions of knowledge and expertise; information openly shared; stakeholder trust and respect
Individually managed, transferred to the greatest extent possible
Risk
Collectively managed, appropriately shared
Individually pursued; minimum effort for maximum return; (usually) first cost based
Compensation/ reward
Team success tied to project success; value-based
Paper-based, 2 dimensional, analog
Communications/ technology
Digitally based, virtual; Building Information Modeling (3, 4,and 5 dimensional)
Encourage unilateral effort; allocate and transfer risk; no sharing
Agreements
Encourage, foster, promote and support multi-lateral open sharing and collaboration; risk sharing
Results and Benefits
Ondra-Huyett Associates has embraced the values of Integrated Project Delivery since our founding and has developed the people, processes and systems to realize the benefits of the collaborative approach for the project and its owner. Through our early involvement in the preconstruction process we contribute our talents, experience and insights to optimize project results, increase value to the owner, reduce waste, and maximize efficiency through all phases of design, fabrication, and construction.
Key to achieving better, faster, less costly and less adversarial construction projects is the shifting of cost, schedule, and quality decisions to earlier in the design process. It is here when the ability to impact cost and functional capabilities are highest and the cost are lowest. This phenomenon, while intuitive, is represented by what is known as the MacLeamy Curve. Curve 1 represents the diminishing ability to impact project outcomes as time passes. Curve 2 represents the increasing cost of making design changes as a project proceeds.Curve 3 represents the traditional timing of design integration, the pulling together of all the elements and taking a hard look at cost and schedule. And curve 4 represents the opportunity to shift more fully informed decision making to earlier in the process when it can have the most positive impact at the least cost.
We have found that our involvement early in the project helps owners to effectively balance project options to meet their business goals. We provide cost control and alternatives, maintain focus on schedule, make recommendations on constructability and operational functionality. These efforts increase the likelihood that project goals including schedule, life cycle cost, quality and sustainability will be achieved. Or as one of our clients summarized, “Having the CM involved early in the process, working with the architect, saved me money and improved the quality of my project.”
7584 Morris Court, Suite 210 • Allentown, PA 18106
610-366-1709
