Duayne Pearce argues the design-bid-build process is broken because architects and clients keep expanding designs, then blame builders for cost overruns. He says contractors should be involved early, paid for pre-construction planning, and allowed to turn down bad projects.
Chapters
I basically told them exactly what you just said. My theory is like the old fashioned way is that the homeowner goes to the designer or the architect, they give them a budget or a bit of what they want and everything's all good. Everyone has good intentions. The architect thinks they're going to design something to a budget, but throughout the design stage, they come to meetings and then the architect has ideas, the client has ideas, and before you know it, this thing's grown into this masterpiece. The client falls absolutely in love with it. And once it comes time to get prices on things, they give these prices come back that the client can't afford, and then builders get the bad name and the bad rap. I was trying to explain it like it just makes so much sense. Why wouldn't you have someone in your team from the very beginning that understands cost throughout the design stage can say, hang on a minute, that's going to blow your budget, let's do it this way, or why don't you do this? So that's what we've been doing for a couple of years now. It just works perfectly. And I think a lot of contractors feel like they need to quote everything that comes across their desk. They don't have any sort of questionnaire. They don't get rid of the jobs that don't suit them. They feel that if they're not quoting flat out and they're not busy, you have questionnaires, you get rid of all the time wasters. And that time, well, that time that we got back by doing that is what has allowed us to do other ventures because we qualify them so well. Through the beginning, we get involved in the early stages, we get paid a fee through the design stage. By the time it gets to building, you've got such a good relationship with the client, with the architect. Like, the jobs are just brilliant. They're great. You become friends. Yeah, that's the way it should be.
Hey, if this conversation hit home with you, then here's the big takeaway. Most builders are doing their most valuable work during pre construction and they're just giving it away for free. You see, the design bid build system, well, it trains contractors to price risk instead of managing it. But the builders who win are the ones who get involved very early. They're going to guide their clients through the design process, they're going to protect the budget and they're going to get paid for planning. So if you want to stop giving away free estimates and start charging for pre construction the right way, then you should join the built to Build Academy Community. When you enroll in our advisor level, you're going to get my paid for planning system totally for free, along with a bunch of other tools and resources. And you'll be able to connect with other contractors just like you who are putting these systems in place to grow their construction business. So check it out at built to build Academy.com.
