Senior housing construction in the plans?

Here’s how design-build boosts speed while keeping costs down

When it’s time to select a team to build your senior housing project, did you know there is one simple choice that can change everything about your construction experience for the better? For many people, it’s an option that only recently appeared on their radar. But it’s fast becoming the preferred approach for those in the senior housing industry. And with good reason: it can both improve construction efficiency and keep costs down.

We’re talking about the design-build construction method.

How can design-build help with senior housing construction projects?

With design-build, the design and construction professionals working on your senior housing construction project operate under a single design-build contract to provide these services. That means a team like ours at DBS Group is the single source of responsibility to lead your project through a unified workflow from the moment the concept is in mind to the project ribbon cutting. As a project delivery method, it ensures that everyone who plays a role in your senior housing construction is on the same page.

Collaboration takes the place of competition

With more traditional models of construction, different teams work on different aspects of a project. When things go wrong, the finger-pointing and blame game ensue. Now imagine the project design and construction professionals on the same team, working toward a shared vision. United from the onset of the project design, an integrated team readily collaborates to complete a project faster, more cost-effectively and with optimized project quality. The results offer a much-improved construction lifecycle.

Improved planning

When everyone is on the same team, as is the case with design-build, planning is streamlined, and communication is vastly improved. The upfront collaboration between the owner and the design-build team results in optimizing budget and quality goals during the design and preconstruction phase. Open and frequent communication during the design and preconstruction phase provides the opportunity to identify potential challenges and resolve them proactively, instead of reactively. All in all, this results in a far smoother planning and execution process for your senior housing construction project.

Improved construction cost control

The design-build model of construction yields some serious benefits for those looking to develop senior housing, among them: controlling project costs. The savings can be substantial: research shows that, compared to the traditional approach, design-build can result in more than 6% lower unit cost. Similarly, by minimizing surprises and virtually eliminating change orders, design-build can reduce cost growth (change orders) by more than 5%.

All told, that means you can open the doors to your senior living community or other senior housing solution faster and for a smaller initial investment.

Tasks can be performed concurrently, versus consecutively

When separate entities are jockeying for position on a project, as is the case with traditional construction models, the crew working on task B often has to wait for task A to be completed, slowing down the process. But with design-build, the design, vendor bidding and construction phases can overlap, thus substantially speeding construction time. Construction speed is estimated to be 12% faster than the traditional design-bid-build approach.

Design-build and senior housing construction: keeping costs, and the calendar, in check

When it comes to controlling commercial construction costs and finishing your project on time, traditional construction models don’t measure up to what design-build can deliver. Is it time to explore design-build for your next senior housing construction project? Contact us to learn how we can help you achieve cost and time savings the next time you build.