Modern construction comes with a lot of pressure to deliver high-quality, intricate design — especially in hospitality spaces and multi-family residences. With tight budgets and schedules, delivering exceptional results fast can be challenging.
Design-assist makes projects easier. Here’s how:
What is Design-Assist for Hospitality Projects?
That’s where design-assist comes in. This collaborative approach brings the construction contractor to work alongside the design team during the design phase. This allows your contractor to provide input on elements of the project they might otherwise get to review until it’s time to build, such as cost efficiency, feasibility, and scheduling. With design-assist, your contractor will assess and provide input on:
- Constructability: Can it be built efficiently?
- Value Engineering: How can we meet the design intent at the best cost?
- Material Selection: What materials will be the most durable, sustainable, and cost-effective?
- Accurate Budgeting and Scheduling: How can we keep the project on time and within budget?
Design-assist is not just a process; it’s a framework that helps teams collaborate and integrate disciplines at the beginning of your project.
Why Multifamily and Hospitality Construction Projects are Complex
Both hospitality and multifamily are specialized industries where speed to market, compliance, and style matter. As the project owner, you care about retaining tenants or providing the best guest experience with the end result of your project.
Of course, you also want your apartment complex or hotel construction to go to plan, so you can be open and ready for occupants on time.
Beyond that, many hospitality spaces have high brand standards and specifications that must be worked into every aspect of the project.
With the design-assist process, these complexities aren’t a concern because the entire team takes a collaborative approach. Designers with knowledge of the brand standards will meet with the contractors responsible for executing them early, leveraging combined expertise to make the whole project more efficient.
What is Multifamily Construction?
Multi-family construction refers to the development of residential buildings with multiple units, designed to house multiple families. This can look like an apartment complex, a block of townhomes, or a condominium designed. These types of construction projects are unique because they require residential facilities and amenities within each unit, like a full kitchen, bathrooms, living rooms, and storage space.
These designs require a general contractor that can execute at scale, and efficiency is paramount to the success of a multifamily project.
What is Hospitality Construction?
Hospitality construction is similar to multifamily in that these buildings are designed to house many people. However, hotel construction is different because it is usually focused on single guest rooms or suites, versus full residential living.
Guest rooms are usually focused on comfort and efficiency, and often include spaces like conference rooms and event venues, commercial kitchens, and restaurant/bar spaces.
How Design-Assist Benefits Hospitality & Multi-Family Construction Projects
Design-assist offers many benefits for these specific multifamily and hospitality projects. Compared to the more traditional method, design-bid-build, it creates a cooperative team environment and allows for flexibility throughout the design and construction process. Design assist specifically refers to the consultation at the onset of a project during the design phase, not to be confused with design-build, where one team manages both the design and construction.
Another project delivery method is design-bid-build, which completes projects in clear, distinct phases: first, an architect designs the building, then general contractors bid on plans, and the winner executes the design. The general contractor has very limited visibility and input into the plans before building, including material specifications, structural designs, and mechanical systems. If discrepancies or issues arise, changes are made in the field after building starts.
Design-bid-build can be very cost-effective, and it provides clear roles for everyone involved in the project. But it also has a higher level of risk for going over budget and taking longer than scheduled.
Here’s how design-assist resolved those issues:
Collaboration
When teams work together from the beginning, they can communicate well before construction starts, building trust and relationships. This leads to an environment where teams can work together towards the best solution: maybe a designer specified a certain type of light fixture that requires custom measurements. The team can work together to either adjust the dimensions of the space or spec out a new fixture that meets the original design intent before the fixture is ordered and the framing is in place.
Cost Control
Design-assist gets all teams on the same page from the beginning, and aligns everyone on the budget from the initial estimates. With a detailed estimate, the project owner can understand the full cost before construction starts, and the team can implement value engineering when needed.
This makes projects less expensive in the long run!
Choose a Design-Assist Partner You Can Trust for Your Multifamily or Hotel Construction
NGC is an experienced general contractor in the multifamily and hospitality space. Our projects run smoothly — because we rely on collaboration and teamwork at every step.
Design-assist projects are all about getting designers, architects, general contractors, and subcontractors aligned and on the same page before we start building.
This results in less expensive, more efficient projects for you.
Thinking about you next hospitality or multi-family construction project? Get in touch with NGC to learn more about our approach.
