The development of a model design-build specification document for educational facilities construction projects

The purpose of this study was to create a design-build process to be used by schools, colleges and university administrators in order to have a more efficient and cost effective plan when designing construction projects for new buildings and renovations. The first stage of the development phase included identification of ideas, techniques and recommendations as well as resources, personnel and strategies determined to be effective in this study. Once these factors were determined, a committee structure was designed. The second stage of the development phase was to select a joint planning committee which represented eight areas of construction projects. The structure identified in this project included setting up a schedule of four meetings. The first meeting introduced the concept. The second meeting introduced the design-build document and evaluation questions. The third meeting discussed the document and the fourth meeting included acceptance of the document. The CIPP decision-facilitation model provided the framework for carrying out the methodology. The main components of this study included four phases of an educational evaluation model that includes context, input, process and product. The product component of the model includes the preparation and presentation of the final document by the stakeholder committee. The final stage was field testing of the model by the local community college on three different construction projects. The results of field-testing the design-build construction specification model for three projects were successful and construction was completed on schedule. The college saved a significant amount of money on all projects by using the design-build specification. The findings of this study suggest that design-build specifications are efficient and save costs as an alternative to fixed-price specifications.