Exploring the Phases of the Design Construction Process: What Truly Influences Them

Design Construction plays an important role in construction projects. Performance of design process influences the performance of activities in subsequent phases and overall project performance.

Simply put, building design is converting your idea and instructions into a creatable plan. The design process is one of the most significant stages in a construction project.

If you’re wondering why, here are some snippets from the International Journal of Construction Supply Chain Management, Volume 5, Number 2, 2015

• Quality of designs has a direct impact on project success. (Couto, 2012)

• Project failure occurs when technical issues are overlooked by management during the design process. (Williams & Johnson, 2014)

• Not enough emphasis is laid on design management processes. (Formoso et al., 1998; Takim et al., 2003)

While most design processes are tailor-made to cater specific client requirements, a few processes are common to all. The design construction and management process carries these few fundamental stages:

1. Schematic Design

2. Design Development

3. Construction Documents

4. Construction Administration

Of course, if you’re outsourcing your project to the contractors; even the bidding process plays a role in the entire design process.

Let’s go through the 3 stages one by one, in detail.

Design Construction Process: Schematic Design

Schematic Design is all about understanding what you are looking for. This is the first step that you take – long before the construction documents or even the actual construction begins. During this phase, you are in ‘co+nsideration’ mode and there’s a good chance that what concept you have in mind is either too complex – almost on the verge of being fantastical or too premature.

Schematic designing, hence, allows both you and design drafting firms like ours to reach a greater clarity and conclusion on whether they should even proceed to the next stage.

In the schematic design phase, at least 2-3 design options based on your initial ideation are developed. The designs are mostly rough sketches with a rudimentary understanding of the different routes that you could take as well as your rough budget.

This way, you get a bigger picture and can reach a more authentic conclusion based on your aesthetic and financial satisfaction. Once the conclusion is drawn and both of us are on board, the design team shifts to the next stage – the design development phase.

Design Development

Once you do decide to work with a design documentation expert, you reach the design development phase. Here, the most basic form of the design is selected to further work upon. The design is refined with the help of numerous layers and components. Several modifications are done to align the design with your budget and aesthetics.

The design development phase takes long to conclude – meaning there are numerous modifications, changes as well as freezing of costs and design.

Post this finalization – the drawings, Interior Drafting, and 3D modelling begin. This brings us to the next significant phase of the design process.

Construction Documentation

By this time, we have locked our final design. This phase is essential for preparing notes, drawings and technical specifications essential for applying for permits, bidding and construction. The detailed drawings created here are for the next phase in the architectural design process.

This is the final phase before construction begins, hence the client’s inputs in this stage is of utmost importance. Any changes during the actual construction process can lead to unnecessary costs, rework and delays in project competition. These documents are created for everyone involved in the project and keep all stakeholders on the same page.

In a utopian world, we’d have been done by now and the on-ground construction would have been on its way. Sadly, this is not utopia and we’re certainly not Chuck Norris. Several factors influence the design process. These may be financial, social, environmental and legal.

Let’s have a look at some of these key influencers:

Financial

Your budget needs to be allocated intelligently. Budget impacts all the 3 phases and can even trickle down to the actual construction phase.

Your requirements:

Ultimately your project is your brainchild. Which is why, at BluEntCAD, we make a conscious effort to align your ideas to the overall design and documentation process.

This stands true for all phases. Apart from the basic requirement, the clients would have a specific requirement when it comes to aesthetic or functionality of the space.

Timeline

Here the mantra is – to deliver the project as quickly as humanly and robotically possible. Digitization of processes has helped in reducing the completion timelines; however, project complexity, back and fro changes and involvement of several stakeholders inversely affect completion deadlines. The key is to deliver précised and quality CD sets to ensure little to no modification is required in the actual construction stage.

Social and environmental factors such as social awareness policies, recycling of waste, minimized use of water, are also taken into consideration before drawing up the legal contract. This contract includes the timeline, payment schedule, material specifications, and drawings.

At the end of the day, the design process needs to be flawless to ensure successful completion of the project. The literature review stated above is what the professionals at BluEntCAD truly believe in and hence for them client comes first. There is no room for multiple revisions in the design and construction process. Connect with our team to know more about our services that are principle oriented.

Maximum Value. Achieved.