Many owners are bypassing the competitive bid method and turning to either the negotiated contract or the design-build approach. Choosing a contractor early in the planning stage of a project gives practical advice and cost input to the owner, concurrently with design work. This facilitates budget control and can shorten a project’s schedule.

Our philosophy on design-build projects is to become a project development team member and to think [and act] as an owner. By assuming the role of owner, we analyze all design and construction issues from a pro-and-con perspective. Such issues are then presented to the client with a pre-studied “what if” evaluation.

Design-build is a form of project delivery in which owners contract with a single entity, the design-builder, to provide both design and construction services. The design-build entity may be a single firm, a group of experts or a joint venture. Typically, the team includes a contractor and an architect, who may be partners in the undertaking or one a subcontractor to the other. Principal advantages of a design-build contract are the single point of responsibility and the potential to collapse otherwise independent project phases and therefore, save valuable time and money.

A design-build procurement method provides single-source responsibility to a client with all the benefits of proven design, engineering and construction experience to provide the most cost-effective structure to meet the design, cost control and quality requirements of any program. Morley has developed lasting relationships with many architects and engineers and has worked closely with them on numerous occasions to deliver design-build facilities that meet clients' needs.