An owner starting a building project in Victoria has two main ways to buy it. Under traditional procurement, you engage an architect and consultants, they document the building, and builders tender on those documents. Under design and construct, one contractor takes responsibility for both the design and the build under a single contract. Both routes can deliver a good building. The difference is where the risk sits, who carries the design gaps, and how much time you have.
Traditional procurement
You own the design. Your architect answers to you, the documents are complete before builders price them, and competing tenders on identical documents give you a genuine price comparison. Variations arise mainly from things the documents did not cover or from changes you make.
The costs are time and coordination. Full documentation takes months before a builder is engaged, and the design gaps between architect, engineers and services consultants are yours: when the structural drawing and the mechanical drawing disagree on site, the builder claims a variation and the owner referees. The contract form is usually AS 4000 or, for smaller work, the Master Builders or HIA domestic forms.
Design and construct
You engage one contractor, usually on a brief and a preliminary design, and the contractor develops the design, documents it and builds it under one contract (AS 4902 is the standard form). Design coordination risk moves to the contractor: if the drawings disagree, that is the contractor's problem, not yours. The programme is shorter because design and construction overlap, and the price is known earlier.
The costs are control and comparison. Once the contract is signed, the contractor owns the design decisions within the brief, so the brief and the preliminary design have to say what you actually want. Tender comparison is harder because each tenderer prices their own design. And the quality of the outcome depends heavily on whether the contractor's designer and builder genuinely work as one team, or are two firms under one letterhead.
The honest comparison
| Traditional | Design and construct | |
|---|---|---|
| Design risk | Owner | Contractor |
| Time to start on site | Longer | Shorter |
| Price certainty | Late, but comparable across tenders | Earlier, less comparable |
| Owner control of design | High throughout | High in the brief, lower after contract |
| Suits | Complex, design-led buildings; owners with time | Owners who want one accountable party; programmes with a deadline |
Questions that decide it
- Is the design the point? A heritage renovation or a signature building often wants a traditional route so the architect stays in the owner's corner. A warehouse, a process facility or a standard residential development usually does not.
- How firm is the brief? Design and construct rewards an owner who can say what they want before signing. If the brief is still moving, either take more time on the preliminary design or go traditional.
- How much time do you have? A lease expiry, a funding deadline or a season that closes a site all push toward design and construct.
- Who carries the gaps? If the honest answer is that you have no one to referee consultant disagreements, design and construct removes the referee's job by putting the gaps on the contractor.
A middle path
Many owners get the best of both by engaging an architect for the concept and town planning, then novating that architect to a design and construct contractor for documentation and delivery. The owner keeps design authorship where it matters, and the contractor carries coordination through construction. It only works if the novation terms are written before the contractor is appointed.
Where Silverfox fits
Silverfox delivers both. We tender construct-only on other people's documents, and we take design and construct contracts with a registered architect and an interior designer in house, so the design and the build are one team rather than two firms. Recent design and construct work includes the Newmarket townhouses in Flemington, the Axe Creek House near Bendigo and the Bendigo Organics facility at Huntly. Where an owner is unsure, we will say which route we think suits the project, and we will say so before we price it.