New Construction In Florida

New construction in Florida has taken a downturn over the past several years as a result of the recession, but it is on its way back up. The first western influence on new construction in Florida appeared nearly 500 years ago, when a Spanish colony was first established. Since its industry was mostly agrarian, construction of cities were rare; the primary construction was the building of plantations.

More recently, new construction in Florida has centered around factories, office buildings and new homes. New construction in Florida increased greatly during the Reconstruction, after the Civil War, 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 Florida 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 Florida and increases flexibility throughout the building process.

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