What does the designer do in construction? So in this video, we're gonna talk exactly about it, you're gonna get an overview. I'm assuming this is mostly for the up and coming entry level, folks, but I think you'll find some of these things enlightening, because if your experience, what do construction folks do they always badmouth designers.
Well, if you know what they're expected to do, maybe we'll have a little bit more sympathy. And we'll be like, Oh, my gosh, I love these folks. They're my homies, right.
So you're about to have a really positive experience with understanding what they do in their role, how they think, why they're so important to us. And finally, how we can support them, which is huge, because essentially, we're all one team, we're not disconnected. So if you're looking for that you're in the right place.
Stay with us on this video. All right, so let's begin. The role of a designer is multifaceted.
And they get to Oh, my gosh, I'm excited about this. Let me explain like this, they get to take chaos, thoughts and impressions and wisdom and architecture. Oh, and like local laws, right.
And the requirements of authorities having jurisdiction, so like, thoughts, that it can be kind of a design, which can be really artsy and artistic, which I love, by the way, I'm not making fun and this Hardline, like life safety, regulatory world, and they have got to merge all of that onto a new piece of property and design something. Now that I'm thinking about it, like I'm like, overwhelmed, but like, we've got to design something that's beautiful, useful on budget that can be built within the timeframe that captures the owners idea and vision, the culture of the company that is useful for the end users. I don't know if I already said that.
But that's an important point. Even if I said twice, it's fine. But it also meets all of the local, county, city, state and federal requirements, if you're in the US, like this is like that's a huge ask.
Right? So when we as builders, and I'm not saying it's entirely unwarranted, right? But we're like, the drawings suck, the joints, suck the drawing site, blah, blah, blah.
Like, if I was a designer, I'm like, Look, bro, like, or sis, like, if you knew where all of this came from, and what kind of world I had to organize, you wouldn't treat me like that. It's a big thing. And so a lot of us and I'm just gonna put me in this, don't even have the skills to like sketch out and to pull somebody's vision into this physical referent, not physical, but I would say, virtual representation, meaning on paper, of a building that builders can actually use.
So I think that we should give them a little bit of a break a little bit of sympathy, yes, they need to be completed according to normal standards of care. That means in your local region, what are the normal standards of care for design, they do need to do a good job, the drawings do need to be finished, but it comes more from partnering. So I do want to explain some of the things that designers do so that we can create as always, more connections.
So number one conceptualization and this is where I've got a lot of like, you know, where I'm impressed. I've got a lot of good feelings. And I'm like, really impressed with designers.
So what designers do is they'll take these preferences, these needs and the goals for the building, and they'll start to create concept sketches and really start to communicate with the client, hey, is this what you want? Does this meet the goal like is that and by the way, they're also throughout the process, having to make sure that even at the conceptual design phase that their sketches aren't too big and grandiose, right, even just one sketch with one material type with one color or with one type of assembly could mean massive differences in budget and schedule. And a designer has got to, like, do all of these things as they go.
So in the concept phase, the conceptual design phase, when they're conceptualizing the project, they're attempting to take thought into reality through sketches, which is pretty cool. It's pretty impressive when you think about it. The second thing that they do is the planning and the development of the design.
What they have to do is create detailed drawings, plans and specs that will identify the structure, the layout, the orientation, the modeling and massing, meaning like what is this building going to look like? Right, the materials and the assemblies and interfaces for how those materials will come together. And the systems like specifically thinking about MEP and how that all comes together to provide a finished product for the end users.
That's also beautiful. So as they're doing that, if that wasn't complex enough, they have to consider functionality, aesthetics, sustainability for the long term and the long term use of the building building codes as they go in Sketch. don't have budget constraints.
So like, you're welcome. Like, that's huge, right? As builders, we get builders we do, we do a lot like so just know that I have a lot of respect for like the designers, whether they're architects or engineers, or consultants, whatever they are, right, they are doing a great job of pulling all this information together for us to build.
It's quite amazing that from a concept sketch, they can now turn all of this into a real design with plans and cut sections and specifications and details, right? That tell us how to build it in a way that's on budget. And on time, it's quite remarkable.
Step number three designers are a professional collaborator. So if you've ever watched really good designers, they're not just crunching the numbers, they're not just sketching these things out on their drafting program around Revit. Right.
They're not just like, considering everything, they're also so they're interfacing with all of these things on the design side, but they're also dealing with people. So a lot of designers and they have to be have to be professional team builders, professional communicators, professional artists, like honestly, like if you've ever seen them do their sketches and provide different options to owners. Like it's absolutely amazing.
And they really facilitate collaboration. So when you look at a good designer, like the bring all of this in together, those are so many different skills, right? Like, I'm usually typically like good at one thing, but they have to be good at the regulations, at the art form, at the design, at the ability to communicate, and they have to build teams and collaborate.
It's pretty cool stuff. So architects, engineers, designers, in general, are professional collaborators, never before they're also problem solvers. Right?
And that might be problem solvers in Designer with budget or with constructability, or with the schedule, but they really dig in. And if you think about it, they do a good job through the submittal process, the RFI process, or issuing asis or bulletins, right working with project teams to solve problems, especially when we contractors make mistakes, like that's one thing like how many times has the designer come back and given us like an answer or a solution to drilling epoxy or to fix a deflecting slab or to like overcome a mistake or a misaligned, embed like they are problem solvers that are helping every buddy on that project? Number five, they document everything, obviously, on the drawings, the drawings and specs, right.
And I want you to know, as somebody and I was Revit, Autodesk Revit certified right. I had it for one year, right? I'm not I didn't keep it current, but I create live drawings, I've created different types of drawings and Revit.
I've done 40 schedules, I want you to know, even just a single lift drawing for a wall was an absolute feat. Like it's insane how hard it is to do some of these things. If you think about it, these designers take all of this information and put it on drawings in 2d of all things to where we can go build it.
That is so so hard, however hard, you think it is, it's this right or even like probably in the other room vague. So when we see details that might not be fleshed out or are holdovers from the past job, where there's a missing dimension, hey, I'm sure it was gonna happen. Because it's just that complex.
So designers create the details, they create the documentation, and they do a pretty darn good job of it. Number six, they like already talked about, they are focused on regulatory compliance, which includes building codes, zoning regulations, environmental standards, legal requirements, life safety, Ada, and I can just keep going on and on, they take those into consideration with every piece of art, they draw a detail on those drawings. Number seven quality assurance not only do they QC their own drawings, their own design, and stay in touch with the designers as they go.
But they also QC their design, as in users come on board. And they are involved with the construction administration, the CA for the project to walk the job either weekly or bi weekly or monthly to make sure that the design intent is reaching its way out into the field and that we have approved submittals and RFIs that are showing the material types, the exact vendors, the interfaces, the overlaps, the installation methods and the alignment and the quality of the work. So they are amazing when it comes to quality assurance, especially if the design team stays throughout construction.
Number eight and I don't know if any of us really think about this very often but they have to stay current with industry trends, new technologies, right like even with reinforcing or with different mix designs with concrete or new material types that are coming out or new assemblies not only do they have to do everything that I just talked about, but they have to stay current stay current with the cities that they're building in. Stay current with new architectural designs stay current with the industry as a whole Stay current with the codes and regulations and stay current with new technologies. That's a pretty big deal.
And I'm pretty impressed. So overall, the designers who are beloved by us, hopefully, like I am on this channel, and you're liking and subscribing designers should be like, like, not worshipped, I was gonna say, worshipped as gods, but that's a little bit over the top, but like, revered and honored for their amazing contributions, they get to take vague instructions from a concept from the owners mind, which I don't even understand my spouse half the time, I don't know how they do that from an owner, right? Turn that into a design with technology and materials and processes and systems, with regulatory compliance as a main focus, under budget, on schedule with all of these different people who have competing interests.
This is absolutely amazing. Overall, the designers get this project kicked off and give us something that's so so valuable, the plans and the specs that guide us as builders, and great designers who will not let the construction proceed until the design is complete. And we know we can build it for the time and the money that we have budgeted and if we really understand what they're doing.
And we also understand the truth about their role, which is that they work a lot of weekends. And they work a lot of overtime, and it's a very, very stressful environment, and they're doing a pretty good job, then we as builders will stop complaining, it will start supporting them. And what we will do is we will start having more thorough RFIs more thorough submittal submissions, we will be more patient, we will stop picking fights, we will really start to pick up the phone and partner, we will value their wisdom, we will start to do everything we can to support them, we will level the amount of submittals and RFIs we send their way we will not overload them.
And we will just come up with this mindset of respect. And we'll ask ourselves, How can we create a remarkable experience for them because even if they did a mediocre job on the design, they have already created a remarkable experience for us. So what I'm going to do is hope and pray that you really take this concept to heart that we can all rally around and support our amazing designers.
And I'm going to put this into a blog post so that you can remember it, refer back to it in the description below. And just remember if you ever need help, as a part of our first planter services, we dig in and we help with design management and the pre construction of a job with any team that you've got put us in we're ready. I hope you've loved this video.
On we go.
