Architect-led design-build · Detroit, Michigan
One team. One price. One date.
Architect-led design-build means one company designs your building and builds it. That is FrameworkBuild™. One contract, a price locked before construction starts, and a date we hold to.
What the work aligns
Performance begins with clear priorities.
- One contract, one team, one point of accountability
- A price locked before construction starts
- A completion date we hold to
- No change orders eating your scope
The architect stays in charge.
Architects used to be responsible for both designing a building and getting it built. Modern delivery split those jobs apart and left the owner in the middle. We put them back together.
One team, start to finish.
Design, engineering, construction management, and the work in the field all sit under Framework E. Nothing gets lost in a handoff between companies, because there is no handoff.
We bid the trades in the open.
Trade packages go straight to specialist subcontractors and get bid competitively. Real competition on price is what lets us lock the number and then hold it.
We finish the building, not just the shell.
Site prep, remediation, construction, furniture, and equipment are all ours. We commission the building, train your staff, and hand over the keys.
It starts with the Design Framework Report.
Every project begins there. It settles what to build, what it costs, how long it takes, and where the money comes from, before anyone commits.
You can also just hire us to design it.
FrameworkBuild™ is our integrated model, not the only way we work. We still do traditional architecture and engineering, scoped however you prefer.
Relevant work
Proof in the portfolio.
Useful answers
Questions owners ask early.
What is architect-led design-build?
One firm, led by the architect, designs and constructs the building under a single contract. It removes the split between designer and builder that causes most change orders, and it makes one party accountable for the finished result.
What is the difference between design-build and design-bid-build?
In design-bid-build you hire an architect to draw the building, then bid those drawings to a contractor who prices and builds it. Design and cost sit in separate contracts. In design-build one firm carries both, so cost shapes the design instead of arriving as a surprise afterward.
How is this different from hiring a general contractor?
A general contractor builds someone else’s drawings and adds a markup for managing subcontractors. We keep the architect in charge, bid the trades directly, and remove that markup. We are not a general contractor.
What is a Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP)?
A binding cap on what the project can cost. We lock it before construction begins and hold it, so you are protected from the mid-project cost creep that fragmented delivery produces.
Who is FrameworkBuild™ built for?
Cities, counties, school districts, nonprofits, institutions, and developers. Any owner who answers to a board, a funder, or a community and needs the building they were promised at the price they were promised.
How is design-build different from CM-at-risk?
With CM-at-risk you hold two contracts: one with the architect and one with a construction manager who prices and builds. With design-build, one firm holds both. One party answers for the design and the cost.
Comparing delivery methods ↗︎What can still change a Guaranteed Maximum Price?
Four things: you change the scope, conditions hidden inside an existing building, delays on the owner’s side, and extraordinary events or code changes after the price is set. Ask any firm to put its exclusions in writing before you sign.
What a GMP actually guarantees ↗︎When is the price locked?
Before construction starts. That is the point of it. Changes you ask for after that move the price. Everything inside the agreed scope is ours to hold.
What a GMP actually guarantees ↗︎Start before the scope hardens