Progressive design-build lets owners select a team before the price is fixed.
In this article
Selection
Qualifications first.
Phase one
Design and pricing.
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Open-book pricing
Transparent costs.
Off-ramps
Owner can stop.
Owner involvement
Decisions along the way.
Phase two
Construction.
A closer look
Progressive design-build is growing in public infrastructure and complex projects because owners keep control over design while gaining contractor input early. For contractors, the selling point is trust and transparency: show your estimating process, how you manage contingency and how you will share savings.
Where to start
Study the RFQ requirements and assemble a team with proven design-build experience.
Common mistakes
Treating phase one as free work, weak cost transparency and poor owner communication.
An example
A water utility used progressive design-build for a treatment plant. Open-book estimates in phase one built trust, and the owner moved to construction with the same team.
What to track
Track estimate accuracy at each design stage, contingency use and owner decisions that affected cost.
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Frequently asked questions
What is progressive design-build?
A delivery method where the owner selects a design-builder mainly on qualifications, develops the design together in phases and then agrees on a price, with the option to stop after the first phase.