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New Construction Townhome

In the 1990s and early part of the 21st century, new construction of townhomes was a growing part of the homebuilding industry. Being more affordable than larger houses and able to be built in more urban areas, young professionals with a desire to be part of the city life style flocked to them. With the collapse of the housing bubble several years ago, new construction of townhomes declined rapidly, but will likely make a comeback once the economy recovers.

The new construction of townhomes changes with new ideas and technologies, multiple construction methods are now being offered. The traditional method for the new construction of townhomes 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 seek 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 for new construction of townhomes. 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 in the new construction of townhomes. 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 the procurement process and increases flexibility throughout the building process.

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