Performance of Design-Build and Construction Manager-at-Risk Methods in Water and Wastewater Projects
Publication: Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction
Volume 24, Issue 1
Abstract
A capital investment of about USD 1.3 trillion is needed over the next 25 years to repair or replace the drinking water main breaks that occur each year in the United States. The use of two alternative delivery methods—design-build (DB) and construction manager-at-risk (CMAR)—for buildings, highways, and water and wastewater infrastructures are increasing due to schedule advantages, cost savings, and use of innovation in projects as opposed to the traditional design-bid-build approach. This study compares and analyzes the differences in the perceptions of DB and CMAR users regarding the various benefits of DB and CMAR for water and wastewater projects. The respondents of this survey were utility managers, project staff, and policy makers who have worked on DB and CMAR water and wastewater projects. Results showed no significant differences in the satisfaction level between these two methods regarding the benefits. However, CMAR users ranked “quality” significantly higher than DB users. In addition, a significantly higher number of DB users experienced a cost advantage in their projects when compared with CMAR users.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
We acknowledge funding support from the Water Design Build Council (Contract 71112639). We would like to thank our respondents who spent valuable time in completing the questionnaires sent to them.
References
ASCE. 2017. “2017 Infrastructure report card.” Accessed October 12, 2017. https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/.
AWWA (American Water Works Association). 2012. Buried no longer: Confronting America’s water infrastructure challenge. Denver: AWWA.
Baird, G. M. 2011. “Reducing costs through open procurement and alternative project delivery.” J. American Water Works Assoc. 103 (8): 18–23. https://awwa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.1551-8833.2011.tb11506.x.
Culp, G. 2011. “Alternative project delivery methods for water and wastewater projects: Do they save time and money.” Leadersh. Manage. Eng. 11 (3): 231–240. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)LM.1943-5630.0000133.
Gündüz, M., Y. Nielsen, and M. Özdemir. 2013. “Quantification of delay factors using the relative importance index method for construction project in Turkey.” J. Manage. Eng. 29 (2): 133–139. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000129.
Hale, D. R., P. P. Shrestha, G. E. Gibson, Jr., and G. C. Migliaccio. 2008. “Empirical comparison of design/build and design/bid/build project delivery methods.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 135 (7): 579–587. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000017.
Kelly, E., S. Haskins, and P. D. Reiter. 1998. “Implementing a DBO project.” J. Am. Water Works Assoc. 90 (6): 34–46. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1551-8833.1998.tb08451.x.
Konchar, M., and V. Sanvido. 1998. “Comparison of US project delivery systems.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 124 (6): 435–444. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(1998)124:6(435).
Maharjan, R. 2013. “Evaluation of alternative project delivery methods in water and wastewater projects.” M.S. thesis, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction, Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering, Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Miller, J. B., M. J. Garvin, C. W. Lbbs, and S. E. Mahoney. 2000. “Toward a new paradigm: Simultaneous use of multiple project delivery methods.” J. Manage. Eng. 16 (3): 58–67. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0742-597X(2000)16:3(58).
Rojas, E. M., and I. Kell. 2008. “Comparative analysis of project delivery systems cost performance in Pacific Northwest public schools.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 134 (6): 387–397. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2008)134:6(387).
Shakya, B. 2013. “Performance comparison of design-build and construction manager/general contractor highway projects.” M.S. thesis, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction, Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering, Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Shane, J. S., S. M. Bogus, and K. R. Molenaar. 2013. “Municipal water/wastewater project delivery performance comparison.” J. Manage. Eng. 29 (3): 251–258. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000139.
Shrestha, P. P., J. M. Batista, and R. Maharjan. 2015. “Risks involved in using alternative project delivery methods in water and wastewater projects.” In Vol. 145 of Proc., Int. Conf. on Sustainable Design, Engineering and Construction, edited by O. Chong, K. Parrish, P. Tan, D. Grau, and J. Chang, 219–223. New York: Elsevier.
Shrestha, P. P., J. M. Batista, and R. Maharjan. 2016a. “Impediments in using design-build or construction management-at-risk delivery methods for water and wastewater projects.” In Proc., Construction Research Congress 2016: Old and New Construction Technologies Converge in Historic San Juan, edited by J. Rivera, A. Gonzalez-Quevedo, C. L. del Puerto, F. M. Fortunet, and O. Molina-Bas, 380–387. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Shrestha, P. P., and J. D. Fernane. 2017. “Performance of design-build and design-bid-build projects for public universities.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 143 (3): 04016101. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001241.
Shrestha, P. P., R. Maharajan, J. R. Batista, and B. Shakya. 2016b. “Comparison of utility managers’ and project mangers’ satisfaction rating of alternative project delivery methods used in water and wastewater infrastructures.” J. Public Works Manage. Policy 21 (3): 263–279. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087724X15626716.
Shrestha, P. P., G. C. Migliaccio, J. T. O’Connor, and G. E. Gibson Jr. 2007. “Benchmarking of large design–build highway projects: One-to-one comparison and comparison with design-bid-build projects.” Transp. Res. Rec. 1994 (1): 17–25. https://doi.org/10.3141/1994-03.
Shrestha, P. P., J. T. O’Connor, and G. E. Gibson Jr. 2012. “Performance comparison of large design-build and design-bid-build highway projects.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 138 (1): 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000390.
WDBC (Water Design Build Council). 2009. Survey of municipal clients on design-build for water and wastewater systems. Washington, DC: WDBC.
WDBC (Water Design Build Council). 2012. 2012 Municipal owners customer satisfaction survey of water design-build projects. Edgewater, MD: WDBC.
White, T. J., W. R. Jones, M. A. Waer, T. Hayes, and J. Quarendon. 2005. “Phoneix tests the waters with DBO alternative project delivery.” J. Am. Water Works Assoc. 97 (5): 90–92. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1551-8833.2005.tb10889.x.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 22, 2018
Accepted: Jun 11, 2018
Published online: Oct 3, 2018
Published in print: Feb 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Mar 3, 2019
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.