Is the Construction Industry Ready for "Open?"

One of the goals of Build2Sustain open up the design/build process so the public can see (to overuse the phrase) how the sausage gets made. We want to do this, not just to better explore sustainability and green design, though these concepts lack a concrete definition in the market, or even within the design community. But even more fundamentally, we need to become better designers and better builders of buildings. The question I ask myself..."Is the Construction Industry Ready for 'Open?'"

An estimated 10%-15% of Construction Cost is attributed to rework. That is work that has to be redone because of miscommunication from the client or the design team or because of an error by a contractor. That cost is baked into to all well written construction contracts, it's an unexplained tax on building something. It's not malicious or decietful, simply put people make mistakes, and those (usually) minor mistakes can add up to serious cost.

We believe well-curated crowd sourcing mixed and open sharing of results throughout the design/build process is essential to compiling a set of best practices that can be employed widely throughout the industry. But are design and build pros ready to open up the process frankly. One Lighting Designer I worked with told me once "why would I blog? I get paid for what I know, if I tell you what I know for free, why would you pay me any more?"

That kind of thinking is very closed, it's pre-web and it's not conducive to our experiment. It's also rampant in an industry dominated by boomers. I think there are enough professionals of a different age and ethos that we can make it work, and almost more importantly, I think clients are going to begin to demand it. In an age where every dollar is closely guarded, clients are going to work with teams who make their process open. Clients increasingly will want to know everything about their building. They either built it themselves or are taking it over and I believe we can engage the owners of commericial buildings to be just as learned about the space, what went into it and the design process behind as we can for a homeowner, obsessing over every finish and stud.