The Top Project Delivery Firms

Legislative authorizations for the use of alternative project delivery, and particularly for design-build, continue to grow across the country. Washington notes several recent significant wins for design-build: For example, on April 1, New York renewed for another two years its legislation authorizing the use of design-build by several state agencies. DBIA now is working to pass legislation to allow the New York City Dept. of Transportation to use design-build.

In addition, California's SB 785 standardized and made consistent various design-build laws to make the delivery method easier to use and extended authority to use design-build for the next decade. In Texas, the state Legislature in late May passed two bills that would eliminate the sunset date on design-build for the Texas Dept. of Transportation.

Many firms complain that the bidding wars for design-build projects have become as competitive as the hard-bid projects during the recession. Unless dealing with a straight qualifications-based selection, it can be expensive to bid on price-based or best-value competitions, says Kinsley. He says many design-build firms will shy away from competitions in which there are five of more bidders.

Some firms are expanding their use of alternative project delivery into new markets. "Burns & McDonnell has always had a strong focus on industrial construction and has been performing design-build in that market sector for more than 20 years," says Greg Carlson, vice president and head of Burns & McDonnell's commercial construction and design-build efforts. "We realized we could apply these same delivery processes to our commercial work."

Burns & McDonnell is practicing what it preaches, designing and building the expansion of its world headquarters in Kansas City, Mo. The 310,000 sq ft of space in the four-story building will increase the size of the Burns & McDonnell headquarters campus by 74%. "We broke ground on the project in 2014, and we'll move into the building in April 2016," Carlson says. It is the largest commercial design-build project the firm has undertaken.

Integrated Project Delivery

Some firms say true multiparty contractual IPD projects remain rare outside of a few health-care clients. A lot of so-called IPD projects do not have multi-party contracts and simply try to mimic the collaborative principles embodied in IPDs. Some contractors call such projects "IPD-lite."

But for some contractors, IPD project delivery does foster a strong incentive to be creative in delivering the best value for the money. For example, Tim Steigerwald, senior vice president at Messer Construction Co., says, "Messer's use of integrated project delivery has continued to develop into a differentiator." Later this year, Messer will complete its second IPD project, the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center's (CCHMC) $200-million clinical sciences building.

Steigerwald says that, through analysis and collaboration, the IPD team has produced savings for CCHMC that cut costs both during construction and over the life of the facility. "For example, the Messer team executed a life-cycle analysis to choose an air-handler unit that costs $250,000 more up front than other units but will save CCHMC about $70,000 per year in operating costs."

Further, Steigerwald says that, through collaboration and ultimately a tweak in design, the IPD team on the CCHMC project also saved about 20% on glass cost and installation, "a critical area, considering the building's mostly glass exterior."

Messer's successful use of IPD has caught the attention of owners and created opportunity for new projects, according to Steigerwald. "This year, Eli Lilly chose Messer, based on its expertise with IPD, to complete its lab-expansion project in Indianapolis." Messer also used IPD on its Simon Family Tower project at IU Health's Riley Hospital for Children, Indianapolis, which was completed in 2014, he says.

For Turner Construction, the determining factor that dictates the process is not the delivery method but the owner's requirements. "IPD is interpreted in a lot of different ways, so we have to position ourselves to react to the owner's needs, rather than to follow a strict project delivery formula," says Pat Di Filippo, executive vice president. "Regardless of what the method is called, owners are looking for a more collaborative way of delivering their project."

Gary J. Tulacz has been, since 1993, senior editor in charge of ENR's Top Lists, which bring structure to the huge global construction industry through annual surveys and market analysis of its key segments and major players. The array of surveys rank companies, based both in the U.S. and outside, which perform general contracting, specialty contracting, engineering, architecture and environmental services, among other specialties.

The rankings, based on annual revenue from work at home and abroad, are further divided into specific market categories. Click here for descriptions and schedules of ENR Top List surveys and access to information on current and past listed firms.

Gary also created the ENR Top 100 Green Contractors and Design Firms rankings and the ENR quarterly Construction Industry Confidence Index that measures firm executives' market outlook.

This survey data is used by industry firms and other businesses, government agencies and academics also to gauge the health of the global construction market.

A graduate of Fordham College in New York City and the Fordham University School of Law, Gary previously wrote extensively on employee relations in such areas as labor and immigration law and employee drug testing.

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