How Design-Assist Services Lower Your Total Cost of Ownership

Design-Assist^SM is a collaborative approach that helps identify and solve potential later-stage construction problems early in the process to save time and money. This type of collaboration has become essential in the commercial real estate sector, especially for building owners and representatives looking to optimize building performance while reducing the total cost of ownership.

Contexture's approach to Design-Assist emphasizes holistic design services, aligning seamlessly with the project's vision to ensure the best possible outcomes. We start by understanding the design intent of the building and evaluating the needs of each room, including evaluating the site conditions, building orientation and window sizes to help select the right shade system that meets the needs and expectations of the building. We don’t just provide products; we offer a complete design package.

Our Design-Assist team also does a building performance analysis, complex glazing analysis and climate-based daylighting studies to ensure you get everything right the first time to avoid costly delays. Architects and designers who take advantage of a strategic partnership with Contexture’s Design-Assist have a competitive advantage, minimizing their financial risk to specification errors, change orders and operational issues while ensuring the right shading solutions to enhance energy efficiency and occupant comfort.

Getting It Right the First Time

Many times, the specifications for a building are copied and pasted from a previous job or the spec is the office default. This means that the shades aren’t being properly evaluated for the use of the space. Once under contract and the design intent is revealed, it costs more in change orders and time delays to get it right.

Hopefully, any necessary changes occur before the building is occupied. Otherwise, those changes can be even more costly and disruptive. Even something as simple as fabric openness selection can be a big problem if the shades installed don't block enough of the heat or glare. Sometimes, building owners aren’t even aware of the problem until after the building is occupied and they start getting complaints.

Common Issues Leading to Change Orders

Fabric selection is one of the most common issues leading to change orders. For example, fabric color and openness often aren’t specified or selected. They’re aimed to be caught during the submittal process, but they greatly impact building performance. If initial fabric selections are incorrect, it causes costly change orders or significant delays to the project.

Sometimes, change orders result from regulatory compliance. Recently, a law passed in Massachusetts restricting certain fire retardants that are very popular in the shade industry. Thus, the availability of fabrics for projects in Massachusetts has been reduced, but many architects aren’t aware of this restriction and still specify these commonly used fabrics. Reselecting fabrics at the last minute to be code-compliant can increase lead times and have significant cost implications.

Benefits of Accurate Initial Design and Planning

With Design-Assist, the goal is to get it right the first time. By focusing on an accurate initial design, engaging in detailed planning and leveraging the expertise of professionals from the start, you can avoid costly pitfalls. Some ways to drive down costs during planning include:

• Using optimized layouts that allow for coupled shades that share one motor

• Installing the wiring for future upgrades to motorized shades if manual shades are being installed upfront

• Spanning multiple windows with a larger shade band due to size instead of using a single shade band for each window

Ensuring Design Intent With the Right Shading Solutions

A critical aspect of building performance optimization is ensuring the design intent is met with appropriate shading solutions. Even on the same elevation, a building may include different room types. Transitional spaces versus spaces you will spend substantial time in have varying needs. For example, a lobby has different daylight and shading needs than an adjacent conference room.

Contexture excels in providing tailored shading solutions that align with the space's architectural vision, functional requirements and aesthetics. The goal is to meet the customer’s expectations. Our Design-Assist team listens to them to understand their priorities, and then, we help them work through the trade-offs of each decision to better meet their goals. By integrating shading solutions early in the design process, you can achieve optimal daylighting, energy efficiency and occupant comfort, significantly contributing to lower total cost of ownership.

Expert Integration of Adjacent Trades

In any construction project, it’s crucial to successfully integrate adjacent trades to foster better communication and reduce conflicts. Each trade brings its own expertise and specific requirements, and when these aren’t properly coordinated, it can lead to delays and increased costs.

Many times, change orders may not affect the cost of the shade scope but could have a dramatic cost to adjacent trades. For instance, if it’s later decided to recess the shade pocket into the ceiling, it requires cutting open the drywall, leading to additional work for this tradesperson. Other changes could reduce the shade scope but actually increase the electrical scope or require integration into AV, lighting or building management systems. Knowing all this information early — ideally before the whole project goes to bid — ensures these items are appropriately reflected in the bids from adjacent trades.

Contexture's Design-Assist services bring subject matter experts from adjacent trades to the table from the start, ensuring a cohesive approach to building performance. By fostering a collaborative environment, we keep everyone on the same page, reducing the likelihood of miscommunication and errors. This integration streamlines the construction process, resulting in a more efficient and cost-effective project and sustainable building solutions that meet the project’s vision.

Eliminating the RFI Process

Request for Information (RFI) is a business process used to gather information and often used in construction to clarify project specifications. Architects are asked to be experts on everything but can't be on some 3,000 different materials and products they specify for a building. Even if they have great details, a simple manufacturer or size requirement change could impact the mounting conditions.

Issues like these are when the RFI process comes into play. The RFI process is an open-book process. A question is asked, and the architect tries to answer but may not fully vet out all the details, which means that when the bids are submitted, there still might be discrepancies in what’s proposed and priced.

The entire process is inefficient, takes up a bunch of time for everyone involved and may not offer the optimal solution. Contexture’s Design-Assist services streamline project communication, effectively eliminating the RFI process, saving time and keeping projects on schedule and within budget.

Real-World Examples From Contexture

One real-world example from Contexture would be its project involving the Commonwealth Pier in Boston. We were able to run extensive daylight analysis to help determine where and if shades were needed for particular areas and elevations. The building has four interior courtyards, and it was determined that two or three of the elevations didn’t need shades based on their exposure and/or the occupancy of the surrounding spaces. Also, the building was originally built in 1901, so it had many irregular mounting conditions that took extensive coordination to meet the owner's expectations and still offer future serviceability.

Other examples have been the design of custom solutions for complex geometry buildings. For example, one project Contexture is currently working on is Boston's new Museum of Science addition. The windows of this structure are huge, and commercial shades would have been expensive and even more costly to install. They would have had to be delivered by boat from the harbor and craned into a section of the curtain wall after it was removed.

Our solution will be to create smaller shades that zipper together and are coupled together to run off of one motor. The end result will be very similar and still meet the owner's design intent, but it’s much less expensive to fabricate and install. These are custom solutions to complex problems that aren’t easily solved by off-the-shelf products.

Collaborate With Contexture’s Design-Assist Experts

By emphasizing collaboration, ensuring design intent with proper shading solutions, integrating subject matter experts and saving time through efficient communication processes, Contexture demonstrates its commitment to high-performance, sustainable building solutions. Investing in Design-Assist services means investing in a smoother, more efficient project that meets your vision while staying within budget.

At the end of the day, building owners who collaborate with Contexture’s Design-Assist team can expect peace of mind, knowing that what they receive installed on their buildings will meet their expectations without being inferior due to “valued engineering” practices of low-cost bidders. Contact Contexture to learn how you can take advantage of Design-Assist and optimize your performance-driven design while minimizing your financial risks today.