Six Reasons to Choose Design-Build Contractors
I’m going to let you in on a little secret – we’re pretty crazy about the Innovative Refrigeration business model. Not just because it’s our model, but because we really do think it’s the best, most complete way to serve our customers.
Innovative Refrigeration Systems is a true design-build firm, meaning our comprehensive team of engineers and craftsmen can take your project from blueprint to business in no time flat. Some companies specialize in one very specific service; others carry a broad range of offerings, but can’t consistently deliver high-quality projects. Innovative is unique – we’re a proven design-build powerhouse that always provides our clients with the quality solution they’re looking for.
To get a better idea of why Design-Build is the best way to attack a construction or renovation project, we asked each of our six project managers for one reason why they believe it’s the superior solution when selecting a contractor. Here’s what they said:
An Innovative Project Manager looks on at a completed package that's ready to ship.
T: The whole process is streamlined when one firm handles the whole project. There’s a greater level of accountability, because the same team is responsible for everything. Once the specs are drawn up, the next step is 10 feet away, not 10 states away. Ultimately, the customer gets a better product because there are fewer hands on it.
G: Designers will too often build systems that are operational, but not practical. If you have a designer who’s never built something, they don’t always know the best, most functional ways to build things in the shop. When the design specs are handed off to a totally different contractor, those problems can be exacerbated even further. At Design-Build operations like ours, the engineers are trained to consider practical applications as well as theoretical ones. Our guys know that, eventually, those plans are going to be sent downstairs, and someone is going to have to build it in three dimensions.
A: Design-Build is definitely the most cost-effective approach for most clients. A business that splits their job up or has multiple contractors handling various parts will inevitably spend more money. With one, singular Design-Build firm, everything is under one overhead. That's generally going to drive the incurred price down four the client.
B: When you look at Innovative specifically, we’re a design-build firm, but we’re one that’s uniquely tailored to the Industrial Refrigeration market. So Innovative has the advantages of a Design-Build firm, but in a way that’s very specific to our particular niche. There are other, broader Design-Build firms that do the same things that we do, but they’re not as effective because they don’t only do refrigeration. They don’t have our expertise in this field.
M: I think the Design/Build approach saves a lot of time, and we’re staying out of the way while we’re doing it. When you look at how we build things, we’re ordering everything we need here to the Innovative campus, then building it, then shipping it out to the site. Compare that to a straightforward construction company, who’s going to order everything to the site and put it together on the fly. We’re faster, and we’re not in your backyard until we absolutely need to be.
J: All of these are great points – particularly T’s observations about keeping the project in as few hands as possible. I think when you look specifically at Innovative’s Design-Build model, the biggest value lies in the idea that when we go to service your system years down the road, we have all the institutional knowledge that comes with being the company that also designed and built it. If your system needs attention eight years from now, we have the specs right here. In this field, that sort of efficiency across multiple project dimensions is pretty rare.
