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To Create Opportunity for Concrete Construction Competitiveness and Innovation-Think like a Master Builder

7/1/2006

Have you ever wondered why the construction industry is one of the only major industries where the constructed or manufactured product is not designed and built by the same entity? Automobiles, computers, electronic equipment, airplanes, heavy equipment, and appliances are designed and constructed by a single-source entity responsible for the completed product. In all these cases, the builder of the product is also the designer of the product. In ancient days, the master builder was typically the architect who had the engineering knowledge as well as the artisanship and construction capabilities. From the time of the pharaohs to the Renaissance, and through the 19th century, the master builder concept prevailed as the method of designing and constructing our built environment.

In addition to overcoming logistical obstacles, builders of ancient and great monuments solved overwhelming construction problems. Recesses and buttresses alternately lightened and reinforced the mud-brick ziggurats. The pyramids of Giza used corbelling to deflect huge loads of limestone away from the passages and burial chambers. Roman builders created the masonry dome, among the most versatile of spanning structures. They took advantage of local materials such as volcanic rock and sand to make their supple concrete. The great gothic cathedrals, such as Notre Dame de Paris, were a product of the master mason who served as the designer, artist, and craftsman. From the ancient Pantheon to Filippo Brunelleschi's revolutionary Duomo in Florence, Italy, constructed in the 15th century, master builders innovated by using lighter and stronger materials and integrating design and constructibility.

In the 20th century, however, the master builder approach to construction dissolved due to, I believe, growing concerns over liability and litigation issues, causing the bifurcation of design and construction responsibility and altering the basic incentives and opportunities for innovation and creativity in the building process. ACI has long embraced the concept of the master builder in developing codes, standards, and its manuals of concrete practice. Recognizing the advantages of an integrated approach, ACI has, for decades, reached out to diverse artisans and practitioners, encouraging their involvement in ACI committee work where codes and standards are established.

The incentive and opportunity to be innovative and creative in concrete construction technology and methodology can be found in a rejuvenation of the master builder concept. For the contractor, architect, and engineer, the design-build method of project delivery most resembles the historical master builder approach responsible for the marvels of antiquity. When you contemplate it, it's remarkable that the construction industry differs so fundamentally and drastically from all other manufactured or constructed product industries. It's that fundamental lack of integration between the designer and the builder, I believe, that keeps the construction industry from producing rapid and continuous improvements commensurate with other single-source production industries. In the academic arena, greater exposure to integrated delivery approaches and exploration of alternatives may produce a new generation of master builders and innovators.

For the last 35 years, I've had the opportunity to work for one of the pioneers of the modern day design-build project delivery method. As a design-builder, we assume much greater risk than our peers in the traditional design-bid-build market, but commensurate with that risk comes an incentive to perform and the opportunity to control such risk. We are motivated to innovate and to find better ways to build using concrete technologies and methodologies because that provides us a competitive edge in the marketplace. For that reason, ACI has been the main source of concrete knowledge for our firm over the years-and knowledge brings value.

In most construction projects today, the initial 20% of the design process offers 80% of the total potential cost savings. During this initial design phase, the builder's cost, constructibility, and design-related input can produce significant value through cost and time savings not otherwise possible in the traditional design-bid-build system. In my experience, it's not unusual to realize savings between 20 to 25% of total project cost through "up-front value engineering" and "creative concrete methodology" input during the initial design phase.

In thinking like a master builder, we have an opportunity to uncover merit-based ideas and innovations in materials, methods, and means of concrete construction that genuinely improve the project and the competitiveness of the industry at large.

Thomas D. Verti, President
American Concrete Institute
tverti@pankow.com

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