CMAR or design-build: how to choose, and what each one actually costs you

Most owners choose a delivery method the way they choose a bank: whichever one they used last time. It is the single decision on a construction project with the widest spread of outcomes, and it is usually made in a meeting nobody remembers.

What you are actually choosing

You are choosing who absorbs the cost when the drawings and the site disagree. Under design-bid-build, that is you. Under design-build, it is the contractor, and you pay a premium up front for that. Construction Manager at Risk sits between: the price is fixed at a point you choose, and everything before that point is open-book.

The question that decides it

How well do you understand your own scope? If you can describe the building precisely and you will not change your mind, design-bid-build will be cheapest and there is no reason to pay for anything else. If the scope will move, and on a healthcare or laboratory project it always moves, buying a fixed price early buys you a number that will not survive contact with the job.