Question 1: What is your top priority?
If your top priority is speed-to-completion, design-build can be a smart option. Design-build compresses a project timeline by combining the design and construction phases. It also gives the building owner one point of contact with the team instead of one with each party, which enhances efficiency.
Conversely, if quality is your top priority, you might be better off with a design-bid-build approach. It’s unrealistic to expect perfection when the team is running at top speed.
In 2019, Republic Airways made the strategic decision to co-locate its regional pilot and inflight crew training center, hotel, and corporate headquarters on a new campus in Carmel, Indiana. At that time, the project had an ample three-year timeframe.
Enter a pandemic and a pilot shortage—causing delays on one hand and demand pressure on the other. By the time the project resumed in 2021, the timeline had shrunk to only 16 months. Design-build was now the best option. We partnered with F.A. Wilhelm Construction, a flexible and experienced builder, to expedite the project.