The Design-Builder’s Guide to Design Management

This guide is intended to help owners, designers, and builders of design-build projects achieve greater success by understanding and fully leveraging the unique role of the design integration manager. While this role may go by different titles, such as design-build manager or design-phase manager, the responsibilities are the same. When using design-build contracting, the two parts of a project’s solution—the design and the construction—must be considered simultaneously. In this context, it is the responsibility of the design integration manager to oversee the design process and ensure that the design meets the firm’s contractual obligations with the owner.

The design integration manager plays a difficult role in the design-build process. Sitting at the intersection of multiple parties, the design integration manager must organize and manage the activities of many individuals—including the owner, builders, architects, engineers, interior designers,
landscape architects, and specialty consultants—to conceptualize and develop the project design. Ultimately, the design integration manager assumes responsibility for ensuring that the design and construction are developed in unison. The activities of the design integration manager span many different stages of the project, starting with the proposal/pre-award phase and continuing until the completion of construction and project handover. This guide is designed to act as a resource for those who have been assigned the role of design integration manager. To be successful in this role, the design integration manager needs multiple competencies—the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics necessary to guide the project from start to finish. The guide explains these competencies in specific detail.