No! In some cases, it can actually cost more, or result in hidden costs and/or inferior work. Our firm has close professional relationships with many of the top local, regional, and national contracting, design/build, and/or systems integration houses. Many of them regularly contract us as outside designers on their projects, due to our specialty knowledge and skills with advanced software based products. Due to this, we are the perfect firm to design and manage your project as an independent consultant working for you.

We can, however (when requested to do so), structure our services and fees along with those of the contractor for situations where a single vendor is desired under a negotiated contract. Please feel free to contact us if you would like to discuss and/or pursue a design/build style negotiated contract. Again, we will work with you, and structure our services to whatever method best suits your needs.

That said, we normally do prefer to keep the lines of responsibility clear by separating the tasks in the most appropriate manner. This is for one simple reason. As the clients’ consultant, we work for you. The contractor works for their firm, and their goal has to be to complete the project and sell the equipment available to them for the lowest possible cost (hence maximizing their profit margin). To a large degree, it is the stockbrokers’ dilemma. This is not to say that there are not quality design/build firms out there. There are. And they often do great work. But unless a safeguard is build into the process, the lines can easily become blurred, which CAN and often does impact either the quality of work performed, or the cost of the project to the client’s (owners) disadvantage. Often, this does not even appear until years after the project has been completed, when improper installation, labeling, or documentation can result in huge costs when repairs are needed.