In AG’s pursuit of Bright Vision. Bold Communities. we have a mantra that guides our process and unifies our team—provide vision, build consensus and bring certainty and predictability to the construction process. While we are highly regarded for our design work and our ability to garner excitement with communities and multiple stakeholders, our commitment to certainty and predictability often differentiates us from our competitors.
You may be asking yourself, what does that really mean? How does AG deliver certainty and predictability? We wanted to take this opportunity to answer these questions.
What is Certainty & Predictability?
It is AG’s commitment to superior customer service and client advocacy. Furthermore, it is our follow-through, ensuring the design concept clients fall in love with at the beginning of the planning process is what they will get in the end.
This commitment is part of the firm’s legacy. From the start of a project, we are listening, learning and consistently communicating so that as we take a design from concept to construction, client expectations offer a guidepost for how we operate each day. What sets us apart throughout this process is the level of documentation at each phase and the realistic costs we establish early in the process.
As advocates, we look out for the best interest of the client and provide an objective lens to their options and decisions at hand. We supply the information and guidance they need to make informed decisions—decisions they feel confident about.
How does AG deliver Certainty & Predictability?
Listening & Observing
AG’s investment in the success of your project begins before we are even awarded the contract. From the initial phone call to the first step on your site, we listen and learn from you. We observe and absorb all of the details, including subtle nuances you may not realize we are making note of.
This information gathering continues with projects that include focus groups and charrettes as part of the process. While the AG Team offers a depth of experience, we come to this process open to the possibilities without clouding discussions with preconceived notions. Part of ensuring certainty and predictability is making sure the design process reveals the unique needs and expectations of your project. Our expertise offers guidance as we build consensus around an approved direction for the design.
A Consistent Team
A key aspect of achieving certainty and predictability is working with a consistent team. From the project kick-off, a dedicated team of designers, a project manager (and a support team) and engineers work together building a shared body of knowledge on the intricacies of your project.
Maintaining a Big-Picture Perspective
Client expectations drive the project process and inform the distinct design for your building or community. A design concept narrative and client expectations shared amongst the team ensure the integrity of the design is protected at every phase of the project. This is the guidepost for client advocacy. From material selections and construction details to value engineering and in-the-field challenges, the team explores options and works through decisions with these big-picture references in mind.
Proactive Troubleshooting in Each Design Phase
Internal collaboration is integral to the success of realistic design development. Often, you hear about designs on the boards that never get built. Or you see final projects that look nothing like the original master plans and renderings. At our firm, project managers and the AG Engineering Team are resources as the concepts begin to take shape. The team discusses a lot of “what if” scenarios as options are explored, a preemptive look if you will. We think through possible challenges and long-term cost implications. From Schematic Design (SD) to Design Development (DD) to Construction Documentation (CD), we work to ensure the design details that make your project distinct are achievable from both a construction and budget perspective.
“The design concept narrative provides the team with a shared vision, ensuring decisions made early on are carried through—meaning design expectations are fulfilled with the final construction. This is accomplished through high-level troubleshooting of design concepts.”
— Hailey Schwobe, AIA | Senior Associate
Realistic Costs at the Schematic Design Phase
During Schematic Design (SD), the AG Team explores project challenges such as conditions set during community approvals, the practicality of construction, and code compliance. We coordinate input from consultants and establish a timeline. What sets us apart from other firms is our ability to give clients a budget reality check at this point in the project.
We produce highly advanced schematic design documents and outlined specifications that define the project’s quality and quantity. The goal is to explore multiple alternatives and lead the team toward a realistic construction estimate. At AG, VE means a “Very Early” proactive analysis of construction costs. This is how AG positions your project for true, realistic success.
The significant pricing effort at this phase means that as the project progresses into Design Development (DD), we are putting a design in place the client can confidently afford. As a result, the Construction Documentation (CD) phase is an exercise in finalizing and extensively detailing the project. As a result, pricing realities aren’t sending the team backward in the design process. AG’s commitment to certainty and predictability helps maintain forward momentum with the budget and timeline in check.
Communication & Collaboration
AG’s high internal standards for communication and collaboration extend to the client and the entire project team. Having a consistent team means a client can always reach someone with knowledge of their project. Providing up-to-date information and having regular meetings and correspondence keep clients up to speed on progress and the whole team on track. The AG Team values our project partners, so we strive to maintain open lines of communication and work through issues that arise together. External team members know they can count on us to assist with problem-solving at any stage of the project. Communication—with the internal team, entire project team and stakeholders—is essential to working in the best interest of a client.
“From brainstorming sessions to final deliverables, we embrace design challenges as opportunities and consistently provide our services with high standards. Reliability is the cornerstone of our collaborative relationships. We believe that a truly successful partnership is built on clear communication and understanding. That’s why we invest time in listening to our clients, seeking to grasp not just the objectives but the nuances of their needs.”
— Daniel Fischer, AIA | Project Manager
Thorough Documentation
Long-term clients, new clients and project partners continuously comment on the highly detailed drawing sets produced by our firm. At every phase of a project, our drawings and documentation offer more than the expected level of information. This high level of detail in our renderings, plans, sections and elevations helps us illustrate the vision, clearly communicate it to others to help build consensus, support our early pricing exercises and ensure quality construction. Most importantly, the detailed drawings, specifications and information we provide minimize the number of change orders on our projects. That is a result that gets our clients’ positive attention.
“For many of our clients, the design and construction process is unfamiliar and can be daunting. Certainty and predictability to me means providing our clients with the information they need to make decisions through all project phases. At AG, our level of detail and communication eliminates surprises and ultimately meets their project goals.”
–Andy Korb, AIA | Senior Associate, Team Lead
Construction Administration
This value of a consistent team is clear when the professionals who worked on your drawings are walking the job site during Construction Administration (CA). They have a clear understanding of how your project should be built, so they can spot construction details that need to be addressed. Furthermore, this knowledge makes them a reliable resource for the general contractor throughout construction.
While other firms may commit to only a few site visits or hand off CA to a new team member, AG knows our advocacy role is especially important at this stage of a project. This is where the consistent team knowledge sharing and collaboration that started during the conceptual phase proves invaluable to the client. The people who worked on your drawings and addressed changes along the way are the ones verifying on-site accuracy.
From reviewing shop drawings and submittals to quality control and problem-solving, we are making regular site visits to verify that the work being done aligns with the design, documents and specifications. We take pride in providing certainty and predictability in our documentation, so we expect it to be carried into the field.
Lastly, as the project closes out, our team completes punch and compliance walks to identify and list any incomplete or deficient work not meeting the standards of our documentation and your expectations. Until the very end, we are ensuring you are delivered the community we all envisioned during the planning process!
Your Valued Partner. Your Advocate.
Do you have a better understanding of what certainty and predictability means to us? Our commitment to Bright Vision. Bold Communities. and mantra —provide vision, build consensus and bring certainty and predictability to the construction process—is all about YOU. We look forward to bringing our design expertise to your project and supporting you and the people and communities you serve.
Contact Katie Miller to learn more about our process and our projects.
Learn more about AG’s dynamic project management teams. Meet the Korb-Trinkner and D’Acquisto-Miller PM Teams.
Stay tuned for our Certainty & Predictability Case Study Series to explore examples of our client advocacy in action.