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Massachusetts New Construction

New construction in Massachusetts has taken a downturn over the past several years as a result of the recession, but it is on its way back up. New construction in Massachusetts began nearly 400 years ago, when the English colony was first established. Construction of the city of Boston made it the largest city in the colonies.

More recently, new construction in Massachusetts has centered around factories, office buildings and new homes. New construction in Massachusetts increased greatly during the industrial revolution and again after World War II. Home building increased rapidly in the 1990s and the start of the 21st century, but has dropped drastically over the past three years.

As new construction in Massachusetts changes with new ideas and technologies, multiple construction methods are now being offered. The traditional method is to use the design/bid/build approach, where an architect or engineer oversees the project. They handle the design, produce construction drawings, oversee bids and contracts and the building process itself. The links between the architect, the client and the main contractor are direct. The contractor can win a project through the lowest blind bid or through the construction manager at-risk method, where the contractor guarantees to deliver the project within a guaranteed maximum price. Instead of simply serving as construction manager, the contractor also serves as a consultant to the owner during the design and development processes.

The design-build method has been increasing in popularity over the past decade. In design-build, the owner doesn't hire an architect to design the project, then seeks bids from a contractor. In this case, the owner solicits bids from a architect/contractor teams, who develop their own designs and include complete design and construction costs in their bids. This is different from the traditional process, where the architect completes the design before the contractors put in their bids.

In the management procurement method, the owner holds the greatest amount of control. Instead of hiring an architect to handle the project in construction, or hiring a consortium, the owner oversees every part of the process. They hire the architect, the construction manager and, in many cases, the subcontractors. Proponents of this method believe it speeds up new construction in Massachusetts and increases flexibility throughout the building process.

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