{"id":3217,"date":"2019-09-09T19:36:31","date_gmt":"2019-09-09T19:36:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.imegcorp.com\/?p=3217"},"modified":"2020-09-30T21:03:21","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T21:03:21","slug":"design-assist-engineering-reduces-risk-costs-and-schedule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/imegcorp.com\/insights\/blog\/design-assist-engineering-reduces-risk-costs-and-schedule\/","title":{"rendered":"Design-assist MEP engineering can help reduce project risk, cost, and schedule"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Mike Lawless<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Risk reduction, cost control, and time savings are paramount for owners facing large, complex, or fast-track design-build construction projects. In such situations, engaging the MEP consultant through a design-assist delivery model can be a particularly effective way to achieve these goals.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In a design-assist delivery, the MEP consultant begins involvement with the owner by developing initial project plans and specifications to be used during the selection of the subcontractors, who are engaged\u00a0<\/span>very early in design<\/span>. Once the subcontractors are in place, the design-build\/design assist team works collaboratively, with the MEP consultant leading the progression of the design and assisting in finding lower cost solutions, resolving issues that cross disciplines or subcontractors, and providing input on code interpretations. The MEP consultant remains as the engineer of record and advocates for the owner throughout construction, commissioning, and operation.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Design-assist shortens the project schedule by enabling the construction team to:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The main goal of the MEP design-assist model is to provide the best possible project for the best price with minimized overlapping efforts by the multiple parties involved. To be successful in this model, however, the owner and project team members must be committed to:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Clearly defined roles and collaboration:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Under the design-assist method it is critical the owner clearly define the roles and responsibilities at each phase of the project and reinforce the expectation that the team will work collaboratively. The collaboration and varying perspectives of the different team members can lead to the best ideas and a smooth project \u2013 and cost savings for the owner. For example, input from contractors helps the MEP consultant provide a constructible and maintainable design from the beginning and eliminate second guessing from contractors once documents are complete. The contractors in turn receive a design that is efficient with their installation methods and processes \u2013 mitigating issues during construction that can cause project delays and increased costs.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Team-based problem-solving:<\/span><\/b>\u00a0All team members need to be willing to ask for, as well as provide, assistance for the betterment of the project and be willing to listen and learn from the other team members to arrive at the best solution. (Teams that have worked together previously — and can bring their shared experiences and lessons learned to a new project \u2013 provide added value.) When problems do arise, the team is expected to focus on collaboration and creative solutions, not where to point the blame.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ingenuity and efficiency:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Well-defined performance specifications with supporting contractor selection documents that are not prescriptive allow the design-build subcontractor bidders to use their ingenuity to provide cost-effective and functional system proposals that might be outside prescribed parameters. The subcontractors can then continue to work collaboratively with the MEP designers to provide creative solutions throughout the completion of construction documents.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Early coordination of space planning:<\/span><\/b>\u00a0The MEP consultant\u2019s experience and input on space planning results in few system-level changes in plumbing, electrical, fire protection, etc. \u2013 and is critical for schedule and cost-efficiency. Early planning also allows for a range of HVAC systems (which can provide the biggest performance impact and allow for the greatest creativity) with the understanding that once the contractors are selected there may need to be changes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Accountability:<\/span><\/b>\u00a0It is also important to have a mechanism to review team member performance and make changes if necessary. Release clauses related to performance or cost control should be included for the consultant; releases for the design-build contractors should be in place in the event they do not perform consistent with expectations for collaboration, cost control, quality control, or schedule compliance.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Given the ever-increasing utilization of design-build delivery, owners have many opportunities to consider using design-assist to engage a consulting engineer throughout the life of their project. When done correctly and under the right circumstances, such collaboration is an effective way to merge the expertise of the MEP consultant and the design-build professionals to receive an efficient, cost-effective, and timely project.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Risk reduction, cost control, and time savings are paramount for owners facing large, complex, or fast-track design-build construction projects. In such situations, engaging the MEP consultant through a design-assist delivery model can be a particularly effective way to achieve these goals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3218,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3,152],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogs","category-design-assist"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
\nBasic steps of MEP design-assist delivery:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n
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