Tempe, AZ — Following the 2005 Professional Design-Build Conference, my formal duties on the Board of Directors have ended. It was a privilege to serve as your Chair in 2004, and I have particularly enjoyed my time on the Board this year as I witnessed the strong leadership of the 2005 Board.
As I make my transition, I thought it would be useful to look at some of the seminal changes that are taking place within our industry. We still have too many owners, both public and private, with legislative, cultural and/or intellectual hurdles that prevent them from fully embracing design-build. But the tide is changing, and there is no turning back. I would point to three powerful trends that are shaping our industry.
Education is Fundamental. The only way that our industry can compete effectively is to have access to a diverse array of delivery options. We have learned that you do not become comfortable and agile with these options overnight. Barb Jackson, one of our leading design-build instructors and author of the "First Principles" column in DATELINE, constantly stresses that design-build is fundamentally different from traditional delivery approaches. You can’t just wake up one day and decide you are going to “do” design-build. Rather, embracing and understanding the implications of an integrated approach requires significant training and committed experience.
Education is the key to success for enhancement of team performance. At Sundt, for example, we currently have over 70 employees earning LEED™certification or working towards a Certified Professional Construction (CPC) degree, others getting their P.E. registration, or pursuing their Designated Design-Build Professional™ status. We expect to have over a dozen Sundt employees to complete their DBIA requirements within the next two years. We are not that far away from the day when LEED™and Designated Design-Build Professionals™will number in the thousands. Owners will then choose project teams on the basis of their training and practical experience, rather than focus on price. Those “old school” practitioners without the appropriate credentials will be left behind. Qualifications-based selection (QBS) will create an emphasis on quality and value fueled by education. That is why it has been especially gratifying to see the explosion of courses, workshops, seminars, and other educational options offered by DBIA and other imaginative organizations.
Collaboration is Essential. In a constantly changing yet interdependent world, we will not exert our rightful influence unless we imaginatively and creatively foster collaboration with like-minded organizations. It is gratifying to hear of the formation of such groups as the AIA Design-Build Knowledge Community, representing over 13,000 AIA members who have identified design-build or construction management at risk as an area of interest and commitment. AIA and DBIA have jointly sponsored our recent annual professional design-build conference, and I anticipate continued collaboration in the years to come. We have also made real inroads with such organizations as the American Public Works Association (APWA), Construction Management Association of America (CMAA), Construction User Round Table (CURT), Society of American Military Engineers (SAME), Associated General Contractors (AGC), Associated Builders & Contractors (ABC), Canadian Design-Build Institute (CDBI), and American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC). We are clearly much stronger as an industry when we work creatively together!
Industry Standard Contract Forms are Inevitable. It is just unacceptable that an owner or practitioner, perhaps using design-build or CM@R for the first time, has to wade through competing collections of contract forms developed by DBIA, AGC, AIA, EJCDC, and others. We send confusing messages to the design and construction community with so many variants. Several industry organizations (owners, designers, builders, etc.) are meeting to jointly develop and publish industry standard agreements with fair distribution of risk. It is not an easy task. We have had some candid and vigorous exchanges of opinion. But the direction is clear. Some form of commonality is inevitable; we have a ways to go, but are making significant progress. It will be a significant industry achievement reflecting a commitment to work together for the betterment of everyone.
Thank you for your strong support and guidance over the past years!
Sincerely,
David S. Crawford, P.E., DBIA
2004 DBIA Chairman