00:00Let's talk about something you've probably seen before, a massive construction project.
00:05You know, the kind with gleaming artist renderings that just completely goes off the rails.
00:10Today, we're going to get to the bottom of a revolutionary idea designed to stop that from happening.
00:15We're talking about Integrated Project Delivery, or IPD.
00:20Welcome to Unified Consulting Solutions.
00:22Here at UCS, our whole mission is to simplify complexity and amplify performance.
00:27And honestly, that's exactly why we're so fired up about a concept like IPD.
00:31It gets right to the very heart of why projects fail, and more importantly, offers a much, much better way
00:37to build.
00:38You know the story, right?
00:40A project starts out with all this potential, and then somehow it gets sucked into this black hole of conflict,
00:45finger-pointing, delays, and just shattered budgets.
00:48But what if the problem isn't the people?
00:50What if it's not the designers or the builders?
00:53What if the problem is the system itself?
00:55To really understand how to fix this, we're going to go on a bit of a journey.
00:59We'll start by digging into the flawed foundation of traditional construction.
01:03Then we'll look at a new philosophy from a totally different industry that kicked off a revolution.
01:07We'll follow the path to real partnership, see how IPD finally came together,
01:12and by the end, you'll see why this isn't just a different way to build.
01:15It's a whole new way of thinking.
01:17Okay, so for decades, the construction industry has pretty much run on one model.
01:22Design, build, build.
01:23And on the surface, yeah, it seems logical.
01:26But when you look a little closer, you find a system with a really deep, fatal flaw.
01:30It is practically designed to create conflict.
01:36Wow, that phrase just hits, doesn't it?
01:38It perfectly describes how the old system actually encourages people to look out for number one,
01:43even if it hurts the project.
01:45So think about it.
01:46A subcontractor spots a flaw in the design during bidding.
01:50Now, in a healthy system, they'd raise a red flag.
01:52But in this system, it's way more profitable to just stay quiet, win the low bid,
01:57and then make all your profit back on a big, fat, costly change order
02:01when that flaw inevitably has to be fixed.
02:04The system literally makes it convenient to do the wrong thing.
02:07It's really the difference between a tug-of-war,
02:10where everyone is just digging in their heels and pulling in opposite directions,
02:14and a rolling team, where everyone is perfectly in sync,
02:17pulling together toward the exact same finish line.
02:20Traditional contracting? That's the chaotic tug-of-war.
02:24IPD? Well, that's the rowing team.
02:26Put yourself in a builder's shoes for a second.
02:29You're looking at a set of blueprints,
02:30and you see a detail that you know from 20 years of experience
02:33is going to be a nightmare to build.
02:35It'll probably even cause leaks down the road.
02:38But under DesignBidBuild, you were hired after the design was set in stone.
02:42Your job is just to build what's on the page, not ask questions.
02:46So you bite your tongue, the problem gets built right into the project,
02:49and everybody pays for it later.
02:51That is the frustrating reality of the traditional system.
02:54So with the old model so obviously broken,
02:57it was clear the industry needed a totally new way of thinking.
03:01And to find it, some of the most forward-thinking people
03:04had to look way, way outside their own backyard.
03:07So in 1992, an engineer named Laurie Koskala comes along with this pretty radical idea.
03:13He suggested that the messy, one-of-a-kind world of construction
03:17could actually learn from the super-efficient world of manufacturing,
03:20you know, the lean production system that companies like Toyota had used
03:24to totally dominate their industries.
03:26For an industry that prides itself on every single project being unique,
03:30this was a revolutionary thought.
03:31Lean is all about a relentless obsession with two things,
03:35creating the absolute maximum value for the customer and destroying waste.
03:40And waste, that isn't just a pile of leftover drywall.
03:43It's wasted time waiting for a decision.
03:45It's wasted effort on rework.
03:47It's the wasted talent of that builder who saw a flaw but wasn't allowed to speak up.
03:51Lean makes you look at every single step of the process and ask,
03:54does this really add value?
03:56This whole philosophy of lean production was a total game-changer.
04:00It wasn't just some dusty academic theory.
04:02It actually kicked off a wave of real-world experiments in construction
04:05as people started trying to figure out how to turn these powerful ideas into reality.
04:10The road to IPD basically happened in three key stages.
04:13First, you had the rise of partnering,
04:16which was really just an informal promise to work together better.
04:19You know, solve problems with a handshake instead of a lawsuit.
04:22Then, things got a lot more serious with project alliancing,
04:25which was pioneered by BP for their insanely complex North Sea oil projects.
04:30This brought in a formal pain-share, gain-share model.
04:33If the project did well, everybody shared in the profits.
04:36If it tanked, everybody shared the pain.
04:38Finally, the legal world caught up with relational contracts,
04:41which gave a real legal backbone to this idea of building agreements around shared goals.
04:46So all these different threads, the deep frustration with the old way,
04:50the incredible inspiration from lean philosophy,
04:52and these bold new experiments and collaboration,
04:55they all finally started to come together,
04:58weaving a brand new fabric into one powerful, cohesive model,
05:01integrated project delivery.
05:03Then in 2007, IPD went from being this kind of fringe idea
05:08to a full-blown mainstream movement.
05:11And that's because the American Institute of Architects,
05:14one of the most respected organizations in the entire industry,
05:17published its first official guide to IPD.
05:20This was the signal that, hey, the establishment was finally ready for a massive change.
05:25Now, at the very heart of IPD is a simple but totally revolutionary legal tool,
05:30the Multi-Party Agreement, or MPA.
05:32Instead of having separate contracts that basically set everyone up to fight each other,
05:36the MPA brings the owner, the designer, and the contractor together
05:40into a single, unified team under one agreement.
05:43Think of it like a business marriage,
05:44where everyone is legally and financially bound to the success of the relationship,
05:48sharing in both the good times and the bad.
05:50And I mean, just look at how radical this shift really is.
05:54With separate contracts, you get a culture of blame and finger-pointing.
05:58With a single contract, you get shared responsibility.
06:01With isolated risk, you get people being defensive.
06:04With shared risk, you get everyone jumping in to solve a problem together.
06:08It's a fundamental, top-to-bottom change in how we work.
06:12So, we've just traced how IPD went from this collection of cool ideas
06:16into a real, formalized system.
06:18But why does any of this history matter?
06:20Because understanding the why behind IPD,
06:23the deep-seated problems it was born to fix,
06:25is the absolute key to making it work in the real world today.
06:28And the results? They're pretty stunning.
06:31On a typical project, for every million dollars you spend,
06:34you can expect nearly 24 requests for information.
06:38That's 24 times the builder had to stop work,
06:41write up a question, and wait for an answer.
06:43It's a direct measurement of waste.
06:45On an IPD project, that number absolutely plummets to less than 10.
06:50That is a huge, quantifiable leap in efficiency.
06:53And it's crystal clear proof that IPD is working.
06:55So, this brings us to a really crucial question for you and your team.
07:00If the contract is the real foundation of your project,
07:04what kind of ground are you building on?
07:06Is it a solid bedrock of collaboration,
07:08engineered to handle any challenge?
07:10Or, is it a foundation that's just riddled with the fault lines of conflict,
07:15waiting to crumble under pressure?
07:17Alright, let's wrap this up.
07:18We've seen that the traditional construction model is fundamentally flawed.
07:22It pretty much sets teams up to fail.
07:24We traced how a new, collaborative approach grew out of lean thinking.
07:28And, we've learned that the engine of IPD is a simple but powerful idea.
07:33A single contract that unites the team.
07:36But the most important takeaway is this.
07:38IPD is way more than a contract.
07:40It's a culture.
07:41By digging into this history,
07:43you now have a much deeper appreciation for what makes IPD tick.
07:47You can see not just what it is, but why it is.
07:51And you're ready to start building on a real foundation of collaboration.
07:54And for anyone who wants to dive even deeper into this fascinating history,
07:59we've listed some of the key sources that informed this whole explainer right here on the slide.
08:05These are truly the giants on whose shoulders we're all standing.
08:09Thank you so much for joining me on this journey into the origins of IPD.
08:14I'm Dr. Maramutu Kaye, and I would love to continue the conversation with you.
08:18Please join our LinkedIn community, the link is right there in the description,
08:21so you can connect with other pros who are just as passionate
08:24about building a better future for our industry.
08:27And hey, if you found this valuable, please do us a favor and like, share, and subscribe.
08:32We've got a lot more to explore together as we continue to simplify complexity and amplify performance.
08:37Thanks for watching, and let's go build something great.
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