Design-Build & Construction Phase
An engineer who
answers the phone.
Value engineering, design build delivery, RFI and submittal review, and field support from foundation through closeout.
The drawings are not the deliverable. A finished building is the deliverable, and between those two things sits a construction period full of decisions that nobody anticipated at design.
Construction phase support is treated here as part of the work rather than an add service. When the excavation turns up something different, when a member arrives wrong, when the sequence has to change, you need an answer that day, not a proposal for additional services.
Value engineering that is actually engineering
Value engineering has been degraded into a synonym for making things cheaper by making them worse. Done properly it means finding the same performance for less money, usually by changing a system, a span arrangement or a connection type rather than by thinning everything down.
The contractor perspective is real here
Michael was a construction contractor in residential and commercial markets before consulting. On a design build team that means the structural engineer in the room already understands sequencing, trade coordination and what a detail costs to install.
What this includes
- Design build delivery as the structural engineer on the contractor led team
- Value engineering during design and after bids come in high
- Submittal and shop drawing review
- RFI response through construction
- Site observation and structural field decisions
- Changed condition assessment when the field differs from the documents
- Closeout support and record documentation
Common Questions
Straight answers
Bids came in over budget. Can you help?
That is one of the most common reasons to call. Sometimes the saving is in the structural system, sometimes in a connection type or a span arrangement, and sometimes the honest answer is that the budget was wrong rather than the design. You will get told which.
Will you come to the site?
Yes. Site observation and field decisions are a normal part of the work rather than an exception.
Can you join a project already under construction?
Yes, and it happens regularly, usually when a condition appears that the original documents did not cover.
Do you work under a contractor rather than an owner?
Yes. Design build arrangements where the contractor holds the contract are common here and the prior contracting experience makes that relationship straightforward.
Something turned up on site?
Call it in. Field questions get answered, not converted into a proposal.