Performance of design-build and design-bid-build projects for public universities

In an economy with an unsure market and scarce work for construction projects, public owners across the United States, especially universities, are using alternative project delivery methods to complete their projects within cost and schedule. As an alternate delivery method to design-bid-build (DBB), public universities across the United States are beginning to use design-build (DB) to construct their facilities. In order to analyze and compare DB and DBB projects, this study used 77 building projects built by planning and construction divisions of United States public universities. Statistical tests were conducted to determine if metrics related to cost, schedule, and change orders were significantly different from each other in these two types of projects. Results showed that DB projects significantly outperformed DBB projects in terms of schedule saving. The study also found that the number of construction change orders was significantly lower in DB projects than in DBB projects. The primary contribution of this paper is to provide information to the public that the DB method has potential to reduce schedule and construction change orders when constructing public university buildings.