The gap between what gets designed and what gets built is where most commercial budgets fall apart. Closing that gap early saved one of our clients 30% before construction ever started.
In traditional construction, the design process and the pricing process happen on separate tracks. An architect builds the plans, a contractor prices them, and by the time you see the number, it’s higher than anything you budgeted for. With commercial design-build, your commercial building design evolves alongside your budget. Every design decision is already accounted for when it’s made, which means no surprises when the drawings are done and no change orders once the build starts.
When one team controls both, there’s no one to point at when costs shift. On the Ansell Corporate Headquarters, that accountability meant a 20,000-square-foot building delivered in under eight months with no handoff delays and no competing agendas.
Pencor commits to your maximum price before the drawings are finished. That’s a number you can take to a lender, get board approval on, and build your project around before you’re too far in to adjust.
Tell us what you’re planning to build. We’ll give you a real budget number before the design is finished so you can make an informed decision before committing to anything.
As a commercial design-build firm based in Alpharetta, Pencor has delivered design-build projects across industrial, healthcare, and retail sectors throughout North Georgia. Our process keeps design and construction aligned from day one, which means your budget stays intact, your timeline stays on track, and the team accountable for the drawings is the same team building them. What we price is what gets built.
Case Study
Ansell Corporate Headquarters
When a corporate merger put Ansell on an aggressive move-in timeline, they needed a contractor who could handle design and construction without the back-and-forth that eats up months. This 20,000-square-foot corporate headquarters is what commercial design build looks like when the clock is already running.
Challenge: After a corporate merger, Ansell had a hard deadline to get their team into a new headquarters. The timeline wasn’t flexible, and a traditional delivery method couldn’t meet it.
Solution: Pencor design-built a 20,000-square-foot corporate headquarters in under eight months. Running design and construction concurrently under one contract compressed a schedule that a conventional approach couldn’t have achieved.
Result: The project was completed on time, and the client moved in as planned.
Do I need to have my design finalized before working with Pencor?
No, and it’s most valuable to bring Pencor in before the design is done. We develop design alongside the budget so your scope is shaped by what’s actually buildable at your price.
How does design-build affect my project timeline?
Pencor runs design and construction concurrently, which compresses the overall schedule compared to a traditional approach. The Ansell Corporate Headquarters is a direct example: 20,000 square feet completed in under eight months.
Is design-build more expensive than traditional construction?
Not when you account for the full cost of the traditional process. Pencor’s integrated approach eliminates the gaps between design and pricing that drive change orders, which typically reduces total project cost.
What happens to the Guaranteed Maximum Price if our scope changes?
Scope changes within the agreed parameters don’t move the price. If a change is meaningful enough to affect the ceiling, Pencor addresses it directly and transparently before it affects the build.
