In Design/Build an owner or CM/GC engages us for both design and construction under a single contract agreement. For MEP-intensive projects, we may be the prime contracting entity with the owner, or we may be engaged by a CM/GC or Design/Build prime contractor.
In Design/Assist an owner or CM/GC selects us at the start of or at some point during the design phase, also known as pre-construction. During pre-construction, we are compensated to provide design, cost, schedule and logistical planning services to help maintain the established budget and complete design and drawings on time.
With IPD, all key players on the owner's team (architect, consulting engineer, certain specialty contractors) are selected prior to the start of project definition and design.
Plan & Spec. Plan & Spec has two subsets: Price-Only and Best-Value. Price-Only means that the only criteria for selection is price. Best-Value means that price is one of many criteria for selection. Other criteria may include people & their experience, execution plan/schedule, track record/references, workload and price.