The Tool Desk
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What design-and-build changes for an office client
In a design-and-build contract, one principal contractor is normally responsible for both construction and some or all design. That gives the client one main contractual counterparty instead of separate designer and contractor appointments. It can simplify coordination and provide a clearer route for resolving construction issues, but it does not remove the need to define who designs each package, who checks the design and who carries professional-indemnity risk.
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Traditional procurement appoints the designer and contractor separately. Under design and build, the employer’s consultants may prepare an initial concept or performance brief and then be novated to the contractor, while specialist subcontractors design packages such as façades, mechanical systems, electrical systems or interiors. The contract must state exactly where that responsibility moves and when.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesThe Royal Institute of British Architects’ 2022 survey reported that 56% of respondents most often used traditional procurement, while more than a third most often used design and build. Among contractor respondents, 53% said design and build was their most frequent method. These are survey results from respondents’ own practice, not a universal allocation of procurement risk.
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RIBA guidance stresses that quality and performance depend critically on who carries out the design. Before comparing prices, create a design-responsibility matrix identifying every package, deliverable, approval, interface and performance obligation. Confirm which employer consultants remain appointed by you, which are novated, and whether the contractor accepts responsibility for integrating their work.
Set the brief and scorecard before inviting prices
A scorecard prevents a persuasive presentation or low price from overwhelming more important evidence. Agree the criteria, weightings, minimum requirements and pass/fail matters internally before tenders arrive. Keep the same questions and evidence requirements for every bidder.
Define measurable project outcomes
Write the employer’s requirements in terms that can be tested. Include net and gross area, occupancy assumptions, operational hours, acoustic and thermal targets, energy and carbon objectives, adaptability, security, accessibility, information requirements, handover data, defects response and post-occupancy support. State site constraints such as occupied neighbours, restricted deliveries, working-hour limits, asbestos or contamination information, utilities and planning or building-control status.
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Distinguish mandatory requirements from scored enhancements. A bidder should not receive extra credit for promising an outcome that is already a contractual minimum. Require a proposed method of measurement, responsibility for testing and the remedy if the target is missed.
Illustrative weighted scorecard
The following is a practical starting point for a major office project. Adjust the percentages to reflect your risk appetite, project stage and jurisdiction; the important discipline is to agree the weighting before evaluation.
| Criterion | Illustrative weight | Evidence to request | Warning signs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comparable experience and technical competence | 15% | At least three completed office projects with size, location, value, services complexity, sustainability targets, occupied-site constraints and the proposed team’s role | Marketing case studies with no client contact, different project type or no named personnel |
| Verified cost, quality and schedule performance | 15% | Tender and final cost, baseline and actual dates, change and claims history, defects, commissioning, handover and post-occupancy results | Only percentages, averages or testimonials with no underlying figures |
| Design management and statutory competence | 15% | Design-responsibility matrix, review gates, BIM and information protocols, specialist-designer controls, building-control plan and named competent safety personnel | Unclear novation, design exclusions or reliance on unnamed consultants |
| Capacity, programme and logistics | 15% | Current workload, key-person availability, procurement schedule, lead times, phasing, logistics plan and delay-recovery plan | Programme with no procurement logic, float or resource loading |
| Price completeness and realism | 15% | Elemental price, preliminaries, overhead and profit, provisional sums, exclusions, inflation, tax, insurance, bonds, contingency and lifecycle assumptions | Unusually low total, large unexplained allowances or extensive qualifications |
| Supply-chain and delivery strategy | 10% | Key subcontractors, early orders, procurement risk, quality controls, commissioning resources and substitution rules | Critical packages left unpriced or dependent on uncommitted suppliers |
| Commercial behaviour and collaboration | 5% | Payment terms, change control, early-warning process, reporting, governance and dispute-escalation proposal | One-sided amendments, opaque reporting or refusal to share assumptions |
| Sustainability and whole-life value | 10% | Energy, carbon, comfort, materials, maintainability, commissioning, metering and post-occupancy support commitments | Unmeasured green claims or capital-only comparisons |
Set minimum pass marks for matters that cannot be traded away, such as financial capacity, insurance, safety competence, legal compliance and acceptance of essential contract terms. Record each score against evidence, not impressions, and keep evaluators’ comments consistent with the published criteria.
Verify genuinely comparable experience
Choose the right reference projects
Ask for at least three completed office projects that resemble the proposed work in scale, location, services intensity, sustainability requirements and constraints. A large warehouse or unoccupied new-build may not demonstrate competence in a live headquarters with complex mechanical systems, phased occupation and demanding handover.
For each project, request the original tender value, final out-turn cost, planned duration, actual completion date, scope changes, claims, defects, commissioning outcome and the named project director, design manager and commercial lead. Identify what work the bidder actually performed rather than what its wider group or a joint-venture partner delivered.
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Call clients directly
Obtain permission to speak with the client and ask questions that require specific answers:
- Were cost reports reliable, and when were major overruns first disclosed?
- How accurately did the contractor forecast completion and sectional handovers?
- Were defects concentrated in particular trades or systems?
- Did commissioning and building-user training meet the brief?
- How did the team behave when scope, price or programme changed?
- Would the client appoint the same team again, and why?
Ask for evidence of post-occupancy performance where the project had energy, comfort or carbon targets. A completed building with unresolved commissioning issues should not receive the same score as one that has demonstrated stable operation.
Check the people who will actually deliver
Score the named project team, not only the company’s corporate experience. Require résumés, current commitments, expected time allocation, reporting lines and replacement arrangements for the project director, construction manager, design manager, commercial manager, health-and-safety lead, commissioning manager and information manager.
Interview the proposed team using the same scenario for every bidder: for example, a late change to a high-voltage switchboard while the building remains partly occupied. Look for a clear sequence covering design review, procurement, safety, cost, programme, client approval and escalation. Make key-person commitments contractual where their involvement is material.
Normalize every tender before comparing price
A headline total is not comparable until scope, assumptions, risk and programme are aligned. Issue a common pricing document and return schedule. Reconcile each bid line by line and maintain a comparison log showing where the bidder has accepted, qualified or excluded the requirement.
Items that commonly distort a comparison
- Preliminaries, site establishment, supervision, security, temporary works and welfare.
- Overhead, profit, design fees, testing, commissioning, training and handover information.
- Provisional sums, prime-cost items, client contingencies and contractor design allowances.
- Inflation assumptions, escalation dates, currency exposure and tax treatment.
- Planning, permits, utility diversions, surveys, enabling works and abnormal ground or existing-building risks.
- Performance bonds, payment and retention arrangements, insurance premiums, warranties and parent-company support.
- Temporary works, logistics, out-of-hours working, neighbour protection and phased occupation.
- Lifecycle assumptions for energy, replacement, maintenance and operational support.
Convert provisional sums and allowances into a common basis where possible. State which risks remain with the employer and which are priced by the contractor. A bid that transfers an uncertain item back to the client is not cheaper; it is less complete.
Investigate an unusually low bid
The Chartered Institute of Building warns that clients unfamiliar with procurement can accept bids that are uncharacteristically low, harming both project and contractor. Do not automatically reject a low offer, but pause its ranking until the bidder explains it in writing and at a clarification meeting.
Test whether the difference comes from a genuine productivity method, a design solution, committed supplier quotations or a simple omission. Ask the bidder to reconcile its price to the common schedule, identify every exclusion, confirm labour and material rates, and show how it will fund the work through peak cash-flow periods. Check whether the programme assumes unrealistic lead times, unpaid design development, optimistic approvals or later claims for items that should have been included.
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Document the analysis. If the explanation does not close the gap, score price completeness and delivery risk down even if the total remains attractive.
Evaluate design responsibility, safety and statutory compliance
Map design ownership package by package
Require a responsibility matrix covering concept, performance specifications, detailed design, coordination, calculations, shop drawings, temporary works, approvals, as-built information and operation manuals. Identify interfaces between architect, structural engineer, building-services designers, specialist subcontractors and suppliers.
State whether employer consultants are novated, when novation occurs, what duties survive it and who can instruct them. Confirm that the contractor’s professional-indemnity insurance responds to the design services it accepts, including subcontractor design, and that policy limits, exclusions and run-off periods suit the project.
Test the statutory safety plan
Ask how the bidder will meet the applicable building, construction and occupational-safety regime. In jurisdictions using the UK duty-holder structure, RIBA guidance says a contractor controlling design should be appointed Principal Designer as well as Principal Contractor when competent to perform those roles. Confirm the named individuals, competence evidence, design-risk register, health-and-safety file process and arrangements for cooperation with the client and other duty holders.
Because the evidence base spans UK and US regimes, obtain local legal and building-regulation advice. Do not assume that a title such as Principal Designer, design-builder or general contractor carries the same statutory duties in every location.
Test capacity, programme and supply chain
Capacity is more than a published turnover
Request current workload by month, committed backlog, available supervision, bonding capacity, insurance limits, financial statements or equivalent financial evidence, and any parent-company guarantee proposed. Check whether the same senior people are promised to several projects starting simultaneously.
Challenge the programme logic
Ask for a logic-linked programme showing design release, approvals, procurement, manufacture, delivery, installation, testing, commissioning, training and handover. Identify the critical path, float, decision dates and recovery options. CIOB identifies start and completion times, fast-tracking and restrictions as client decisions; make those assumptions explicit rather than allowing them to emerge as claims.
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Review subcontractor and supplier commitments
List the critical packages and show whether each is already tendered, budgeted or committed. Require rules for substitutions, design changes and approval of proposed key subcontractors. A low bid relying on unconfirmed prices for façade, lifts, switchgear, controls or specialist interiors carries a different risk from one supported by firm quotations and early orders.
Choose the right tender route
Single-stage and two-stage design-and-build routes solve different problems. The choice should follow the maturity of the brief, the amount of design still required and your ability to manage pre-construction work.
| Route | Best fit | Advantages | Risks and controls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single-stage design and build | Employer’s requirements and design information are developed enough for genuinely comparable prices | One competitive price and clearer commitment at award | Less opportunity to test buildability collaboratively; incomplete information may reappear as exclusions, allowances or claims |
| Two-stage or two-phase design and build | Early contractor input is valuable and bidders must invest heavily in design, planning or supply-chain development before final pricing | Earlier buildability advice, package procurement and risk reduction before the main contract sum is fixed | More client management, uncertain final price and bidder design cost; use clear deliverables, open-book rules and an off-ramp |
US Federal Acquisition Regulation guidance says a two-phase design-build process should be considered when at least three offers are expected, substantial proposal design effort is required, requirements are adequately defined, the client can manage the process and the method suits the project. That guidance is written for federal procurement; private clients can use its logic but need jurisdiction-specific advice.
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Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Questions to ask every bidder
- Which three completed office projects best match this brief, and may we speak directly with those clients?
- What were each project’s tender value, final cost, planned duration and actual completion date?
- Which people will actually work on our project, what percentage of their time is committed, and what happens if they leave?
- Which design packages will you own, which consultants will be novated, and who carries professional-indemnity responsibility for each package?
- What assumptions, exclusions, provisional sums and inflation allowances sit behind your price?
- How will you manage occupied-site logistics, long-lead equipment, commissioning, training and handover?
- What are your current workload, financial capacity, insurance limits, bonds and proposed parent-company support?
- How will you perform Principal Designer and Principal Contractor duties where the law requires, and who is the named competent individual?
- What happens if scope, cost or programme changes, and how are warnings, approvals and disputes escalated?
Make the contract match the scorecard
Do not leave a scored promise in the tender report without converting it into an enforceable obligation. The contract and its schedules should include:
- A complete employer’s requirements document and contractor’s proposals, with an order-of-precedence rule.
- The design-responsibility matrix, novation deeds, design submission schedule, review gates and information-management requirements.
- Professional-indemnity, public-liability, employer’s-liability and other required insurance, with limits, duration and evidence of renewal.
- Performance and payment bonds, retention, guarantees and any parent-company support.
- A baseline programme, sectional completion dates, delay provisions, extension-of-time process and recovery obligations.
- Clear change-control rules requiring defined scope, price and time effects before work proceeds, except for emergencies.
- Early-warning, risk-register, reporting, meeting and escalation procedures, followed by a proportionate dispute process.
- Quality plans, inspection and test plans, commissioning requirements, defects periods, warranties and remedies.
- Energy, carbon, comfort, maintainability and post-occupancy obligations with measurement methods and responsibilities.
- Payment dates, valuation rules, withholding notices, suspension rights and termination provisions.
- Ownership and licence of design documents, data, models, operation manuals and as-built records if the relationship ends early.
Have construction counsel and local building-regulation specialists review the final terms. Allocation of design liability, statutory duties, payment remedies and termination rights varies materially by jurisdiction.
Run a disciplined evaluation and appointment
- Issue one information set. Give every bidder the same drawings, surveys, employer’s requirements, pricing schedule, contract amendments, clarification rules and return deadline.
- Score written submissions independently. Require evidence against every criterion and record conflicts of interest before moderation.
- Hold structured interviews. Use identical scenarios and include the people who will deliver the project, not only business-development staff.
- Moderate with an audit trail. Resolve scoring differences by returning to evidence; do not average unsupported optimism with documented risk.
- Clarify the leading bids. Issue written questions on exclusions, design responsibility, programme logic, allowances, insurance and key-person commitments.
- Reprice on a common basis. Update the comparison schedule after clarifications and preserve the original and revised positions.
- Check references and financial standing. Complete these checks before announcing a preferred bidder.
- Negotiate only the stated route. Keep all bidders subject to the same material terms, or document a lawful and transparent negotiation process.
- Approve a risk-adjusted recommendation. Present price, scored quality, unresolved assumptions, client-held risks and proposed mitigations to the decision-makers.
- Carry the commitments into contract schedules. Attach the final programme, responsibility matrix, deliverables, performance requirements and agreed clarifications.
Common mistakes and how to correct them
Choosing on price alone
Problem: The cheapest bid wins despite exclusions, weak references or an unrealistic programme.
Correction: Use pass/fail requirements, weighted quality criteria and a documented low-bid investigation before ranking.
Assuming one contract means one person is responsible for everything
Problem: Novated consultants, specialist designers and employer-retained packages create gaps at interfaces.
Correction: Complete the package-by-package responsibility matrix and make design integration, checking and professional-indemnity obligations explicit.
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Accepting generic case studies
Problem: Corporate experience is presented without the team, scope or outcomes that matter to your office.
Correction: Require comparable completed projects, named personnel, original and final data, and direct client references.
Starting a two-stage route without an exit plan
Problem: The client pays for design development but has no agreed basis for the phase-two price or a practical alternative if negotiations fail.
Correction: Set phase-one deliverables, open-book pricing rules, intellectual-property rights, decision dates and off-ramps before appointment.
Leaving whole-life performance as a slogan
Problem: Energy, comfort and maintainability claims are not measured after handover.
Correction: Define metrics, testing, seasonal commissioning, training, metering, post-occupancy reviews and remedies in the employer’s requirements and contract.
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How public guidance can improve a private tender
FAR 36.602-1 identifies professional qualifications, specialised experience, technical competence, capacity, and past performance on cost control, quality and schedules among selection considerations. Its structure is useful for a private office client even where the regulation does not apply.
UK Government Procurement Policy Note 09/20 describes the Construction Playbook’s 14 policies for assessing, procuring and delivering public works. A private client can use that structure to review risk allocation, market engagement, information quality, contract strategy and delivery governance, while obtaining advice appropriate to the project’s location and legal regime.
Use the Chartered Institute of Building’s warning about uncharacteristically low bids as a practical control, and RIBA’s emphasis on the critical role of the designer as a reminder that procurement selection and design governance cannot be separated.
Decision rule
Appoint the bidder that offers the best evidenced, risk-adjusted prospect of meeting the office brief. That usually means a strong record on comparable projects, a committed and competent team, realistic capacity and programme, complete pricing, transparent risk allocation, robust design and safety management, and measurable whole-life outcomes. A lower price should improve the recommendation only after its scope, assumptions, resources and delivery plan have survived the same scrutiny as every other bid.
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