seeing that bidding on a design-build contract requires the contractors to perform certain design work, do they get paid for the design they submit in the bidding phase?
1 reply
Oct 23, 2019
Generally, the effort put into preparing a design-build bid won't be fully compensated - and it's an accepted risk at the time of entering into the bid competition. However, stipends or "honorarium payments" are extremely common and are even cited as best practice by the Design-Build Institute of America. So, while full payment for efforts of the design phase won't be made, a stipend will typically be given by the owner to offset some of the costs incurred in preparing a design to bid on the project.
Mike Purdy has a nice, quick-read post on the subject: Use of Stipends on Design-Build Projects.