Daily Real Estate News  |  October 14, 2008  |   Architects Doing Double-Duty as Builders
Architects that double as general contractors, known in the trade as "design-builders," are finding plenty of business these days, as clients look for ways to keep costs under control and avoid the headaches often associated with custom construction projects.

The American Institute of Architects says membership in its design-build subgroup has tripled in the last five years.

The usual argument against design-build is that it lacks controls, encouraging both the builder and the designer to add extravagant extras. But advocates say that isn’t true.

"The design-build process may be as close to a fixed cost contract that an owner can expect in today's construction world," writes Barry B. LePatner, a prominent construction lawyer, in his "Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets: How to Fix America's Trillion-Dollar Construction Industry."

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Sara Lin (10/10/2008)