Construction Lingo

General Contractor

The function of a general contractor is to coordinate all tasks in a construction project. A good general contractor will have worked with a team of superintendents, specialty contractors or subcontractors together for a number of projects in the past and can be really effective in inspiring loyalty and cooperation.

Design - Build

Design-Build focuses on combining the design, permit, and construction schedules in order to capture the time lost in a traditional bid environment. This does not shorten the time it takes to complete the individual tasks of creating drawings, acquiring building permits, or actually constructing the building.

Instead, a quality Design-Build firm will bring together design and construction professionals in a collaborative environment to complete these tasks at the same time. By using the Design-Build mechanism, you as the owner can benefit from a strategy that places a premium on delivering the project sooner with less of a focus on delivering the project at a lower construction cost.

Value Engineering

Value engineering may be broadly defined as an organized approach to identifying unnecessary costs in design and construction. It includes soliciting or proposing alternative design or construction technology to reduce costs without sacrificing quality or performance requirements.
This approach is usually applied at the beginning of the construction phase of the project life cycle. Professional construction management or integrated design and construction are often preferred by private owners.