Design Build vs. Traditional Construction: Which is Right for You?

Every house owner has a vision for their house. The thought of living in your own house with every aspect personalised according to your ideas and preferences must have crossed your mind sometimes. However, one of the most challenging parts of housebuilding is choosing between the designer build or the traditional construction method. While both choices have distinct value propositions, selecting the appropriate option is very important to suit your purpose. The design-build method is relatively more streamlined as the entire project is managed by one contractor. Traditional construction requires you to hire multiple contractors for different sets of operations. You can have a great deal of control in both ways, but your choice can significantly alter the results.

Design-build

From designing the plan of the house to the construction process, everything is supervised by a single firm. Design-build construction requires you to choose one real estate contractor who takes on the entire task of building the house. It ensures one-point accountability and hence promotes sustainable architectural practices.

By eliminating potential points of conflict between parties, this approach promotes stakeholder collaboration and ensures smooth workflow. This method maximises owner participation while minimising redundant costs and risk factors. Due to most of the responsibilities managed by the contractor, this method assures a relaxed flow of work with fast timelines because it does not require the participation of multiple sub-contractors. 

The owners, however, need to be extremely cautious while selecting the contractor or the construction firm. Once the project has begun, it's very complex to incorporate changes and make edits. Homeowners need to do a thorough background check of the firms to make sound choices before finalising. This is extremely important as the execution of the process is entirely dependent on the firm's capabilities.

Traditional Construction 

The traditional construction method requires homeowners to be more present and involved in the construction process. This method ideally employs separate major contractors for the designing process and the actual construction. The owner should consult an architectural firm specialising in designing houses and chalk out the entire design plan. This gives the owner a more personalised feel to the design process as this process allows more customisation. It is fundamental to communicate your vision to the designer. 

After the entire house plan is decided, the party turns to a different construction contractor who takes on building the house. These contractors often hire sub-contractors who are delegated the responsibilities of various verticals. The homeowner supervises the collective efforts of the parties involved and ensures a smooth correlation between them. The involvement of multiple parties can often cause delays in the timeline and lead to extra unforeseen costs. The budget management for this approach is much more difficult. However, this approach allows much more personalisation to the budget as the owner controls whom to hire for what task. 

Conclusion

While design-build and traditional methods have their respective advantages, every homeowner must know what they want to ensure optimal results. Hiring a design build companycan be very cost effective and less stressful as a single contractor is responsible for the entire process of designing and building, making the process hassle-free and streamlined. In the case of traditional methods, the homeowner appoints various contractors to perform the different tasks of the house building. This method gives more control to the owner over the project, but can also be very lengthy and risky.