Solutions for the Design-Versus-Budget Challenge

This article by Ellen Kollie is blurbed: "How do you get everything you want — and need — in the design of new facilities when the project budget doesn't match the shopping list? The answer comes from the experts who are in the trenches daily. They've seen technology and space requirements increase and budgets decrease, and they have at their ready an arsenal of tools to assist administrators."

Many administrators will only complete one new building in their professional lifetimes. This factor, coupled with the enormous number of decisions that must be made, make it even more difficult to come out ahead in the design-versus-budget challenge. In closing, Meadows returns to the plan-early-and-thoroughly approach that his team uses: “We know what we want when we come to the table. We’re not a leaf in the wind. If you’re not clear on what you want, the consultant will drive the situation and make the decisions for you. That’s not where you want to be.”