Shawn D. Steinhoff
Executive vice president of North American Mechanical Inc. in De Forest

What is design/build?

"Design/build is a construction process by which a single entity is responsible for the design and the construction of a project. In a design/build environment, you're getting the input of a contractor in the design process to assist in identifying value-added options or cost-savings options where in quite a few cases, the consulting engineer just doesn't have the experience with the actual dollar figures, what it costs to do something."

What is "turnkey?"

"The type of a turnkey project we would do would be an energy-upgrade project, where we would identify the project, identify the energy savings, obtain the financing or put the owner in touch with a means to finance the project, and then construct it. Some owners desperately need new mechanical systems and can't figure out a way to pay for them, and if we can come in and provide a financing mechanism where the energy savings from an upgrade pays for the loan costs, it's a great project."

What is construction management?

"Where we've seen the process to be successful is in a negotiated arena where the construction manager looks to put together the best team he can while being cost-conscious as opposed to a construction manager that puts together the least expensive project he can come up with. A general contractor can be a construction manager in a lot of cases, but some companies just come in as a construction manager."

How does a negotiated contract influence delivery?

"We do design/negotiate/build, where we are preselected as the contractor and teamed up with a consulting engineer and work with the consulting engineer through the design process and then just flow into the construction as we normally would. I find that to be a pretty good compromise between plan and spec and design/build. At least you're getting the contractors' input in early and if you have the right team together and the contractor and consultant are comfortable, it can produce a lot of the same effects as in a design/build process."