By DAN CRIST

Construction personnel and design personnel think differently, are wired differently and are definitely different types of people.

But at the end of the day, it’s great to see that we’ve broken down those silos. Both groups have a vested interest in providing the best integrated design and construction services, which leads to successful projects and future opportunities from existing and new clients.

Successfully unifying in-house design and construction teams is essential. My perspective is fairly unique in that I spent most of my career focusing on the construction side of the business, and the last five years also overseeing our design group. I never really thought I’d be in this position, but it’s been rewarding to see how our integrated design and construction teams have come together to provide exceptional services and value.

Industry Challenges

On design-build projects, design and construction personnel work together to achieve project success.

I graduated from Purdue University in 1999 with a construction management degree and never imagined that I would somehow be deeply involved with the design industry. You’re somewhat trained as a construction professional not to get along with the design groups you work with. It’s just how the industry was in the early days of my career. When a client goes out and hires a design firm and then they bring in the construction firm later on to build their project, it often leads to finger pointing and the mindset of “Well, I couldn’t have possibly screwed this up. It must be the designer that did it, right?”

Everyone needs to be equipped with communication skills, the ability to listen and all that, but there’s so much more to it.

Twenty-five years ago when I graduated, the term design-build wasn’t unheard of, but it certainly wasn’t something that was talked about like it is today. You received your degree in construction management. You went to work for a general contractor, and you didn’t think about design much. Now it’s good to see a lot of these four-year construction management programs starting to integrate some design courses. Today we understand how much more popular the integrated design and construction delivery method has become.

Young people coming out of school must understand that they’re going into these projects not just as a contractor. A lot of times they’re on the same team as the designer.

Breaking Down Silos

Before I started working closely with our design group, I had a lot of preconceived notions of how design groups worked and their way of thinking. “They’re designing details that can’t be constructed in the field, and they’re designing projects that can’t be built within the owner’s budget.” It didn’t take me long to understand we had very talented designers who could likely benefit from my 20 years of management experience on the construction side of the business. What I quickly found out is that you can’t manage a design team like you do a construction team.

I had my way of doing things. You have to be tough on the construction side and hold subcontractors accountable. You can’t always be nice. And now that I was involved with the design group, I had to learn to manage them differently.

This experience has changed me, not just as a manager, but as a person.

I have gained appreciation from spending the past five years with our design team and really seeing what they do day in and day out, and how hard they work.

Then it was easy for me to come back to the construction side and say, “Listen everybody, this is how you’re going to work with our design group.” They can’t be treated like a third-party subcontractor. They are important, just like we are. They have the same vested interests that we have. They want to take care of the client. They want the firm to be successful, profitable and grow just like the construction group does. We all have the same goals at the end of the day.

Truly Integrated Design and Construction

The key to everything boils down to one word: Respect. You’ve got to respect what other parties are doing. We’re all in this together. The design group is not going to grow, and the construction group is not going to grow without each other. It’s been interesting to witness how our clients enjoy working with our construction group more than they used to.

The mindset of our construction group has shifted from “me first” to “team first,” and our clients have noticed it.

Construction superintendents and project managers aren’t as hardened as they used to be. They’ve all realized that we live in a different day and age, and that you have to treat people right – no matter what their job is.

Dan Crist is President at A M King.