Alternative Project Delivery Methods
Alternative project delivery methods (APDM) align teams earlier, improve transparency, and create clearer accountability while preventing disputes and delays. Choosing the right delivery method for a project helps tailor our approach to each project’s complexity, risk profile, and performance goals, achieving better outcomes.
Alternative delivery methods allow owners to achieve:
Speed
Design and construction activities overlap, compressing schedules and accelerating time to occupancy or start of operations.
Budget Transparency
Early contractor involvement provides open-book cost development, real-time pricing feedback, and clearer financial visibility.
Collaboration
Designers, builders, and owners work together from project inception, reducing silos and resolving issues proactively.
Flexibility
Each method can be tailored to project complexity, procurement requirements, and long-term operational goals.
Deep Preconstruction Integration
Our teams engage early to align scope, budget, risk, and schedule from day one. Through structured cost modeling, constructability analysis, and risk evaluation, we help owners make informed decisions before construction begins.
Self-Perform Strength & Flexibility
Our extensive self-perform capabilities across critical scopes, including concrete, structural steel, mechanical, piping, and other disciplines, provide greater control over critical-path work. This improves schedule reliability, enhances safety and quality, and reduces dependency risk. At the same time, we maintain strong partnerships with local subcontractors, working together to meet (and exceed) community participation goals.
CMAR/CMGC
Collaboration with Cost Certainty
Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR), also known as Construction Manager/General Contractor (CMGC) engages the contractor early to provide constructability input, risk management, and cost modeling during planning and design. The CMAR team works closely with the owner and design team before committing to a Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP).
Once the GMP is established, the CMAR assumes responsibility for delivering the project within that cost, except for approved scope changes.
Transparency and Shared Accountability
Open-Book Budget Development:
Detailed cost modeling provides financial clarity and informed decision-making.
Risk Management:
The CMAR helps identify and mitigate cost and schedule risks early.
Guaranteed Maximum Price:
The contractor assumes cost risk beyond the GMP, increasing accountability.
Proactive Issue Resolution:
Collaborative engagement reduces disputes and improves execution during construction.
CMAR is widely used for public infrastructure, municipal facilities, and higher education projects where transparency and cost control are critical.
Design-Build
One Team, One Goal
In a Design-Build (DB) contract, the owner selects a single entity, either a contractor, a design-build firm, or a contractor-designer partnership, to manage both design and construction. Selection is typically qualifications-based or best-value driven, aligning expertise with project goals from the outset.
The design-build team is responsible for planning, design development, procurement, and construction, creating a unified path to delivery.
Streamlined Communication for Efficient Delivery
Single Point of Contact:
Owners communicate with one entity, simplifying coordination and decision-making.
Accelerated Delivery:
Design and construction progress in parallel, reducing overall project duration.
Cost Certainty:
Early contractor involvement enhances transparency and reduces unexpected cost escalation.
Reduced Change Orders:
Integrated teams improve constructability and coordination, minimizing costly redesign or rework.
Progressive Design-Build
Collaborative Development, Informed Commitment
Progressive Design-Build (PDB) builds on the advantages of Design-Build by introducing a structured preconstruction phase before final price commitment.
In PDB, the owner selects the design-build partner based on qualifications. The team then collaboratively advances design, refines scope, and develops cost and schedule in an open-book environment. Once sufficient design clarity is achieved, the owner and contractor agree on final price and proceed to construction.
Why Owners Choose Progressive Design-Build
Collaborative Early Planning:
Owner, designer, and contractor align on risk, scope, and performance objectives from the beginning.
Transparent Cost Development:
Budgets evolve alongside design milestones, increasing financial confidence.
Informed Price Commitment:
Final pricing decisions are made with real project data — not assumptions.
PDB is particularly valuable for complex public infrastructure, higher education, and mission-critical facilities where flexibility and risk alignment are essential.
Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC)
Complete Project Delivery
Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) places full responsibility for project delivery — from planning through commissioning — under a single contract.
This turnkey approach is commonly used for industrial, advanced manufacturing, and energy projects that require integrated design, equipment procurement, and performance certainty.
Driving Certainty Through Single-Point Accountability
Single Point of Accountability:
Owners manage one contract covering engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning.
Cost Predictability:
Many EPC contracts are lump-sum turnkey, providing fixed pricing and reduced financial uncertainty.
Performance Guarantees:
Contracts may include output, efficiency, or capacity guarantees, helping reduce operational and lender risk.
Defined Schedule Commitments:
Clear delivery milestones align construction completion with operational startup goals.
For clients seeking streamlined interfaces, integrated procurement of long-lead equipment, and defined performance outcomes, EPC provides a structured path to revenue readiness.
SELECTING THE RIGHT PATH
No single delivery method fits every project. The best approach depends on complexity, risk tolerance, funding structure, and long-term operational goals.
Let’s determine the delivery method that best aligns with project objective, whether that’s collaborative public infrastructure delivery, fully integrated industrial execution, or anything in between.
Something else on your mind? Contact us.