Designer Partners - Partner with PrayWorks

Design Collaboration Leads to Excellence in Building

Design partners play an obviously strategic role in the building process. Dave Pray’s experience and relationships with many of the most qualified architects, engineers and other design disciplines in the region are integral to his value as an owner’s representative.

John Oney, President, Architectural Alliance, is the lead designer for the Mountaineer Automotive project. “Dave Pray has a great sense of asking the right questions and steering things in the right direction. He obviously has a lot of knowledge in a variety of projects. It has been a great relationship. Dave is personable, and we move forward very quickly.”

“If I were to recommend a direction for the entire project delivery system, I would recommend starting with Dave Pray – he is able to manage the entire design process from rough concepting to close out of project. He has a vast knowledge base from start to finish. It would be to any client’s benefit to have Dave involved from very start.” – Ed Weber, Ed Weber Architects

Ed Weber of Ed Weber Architects shares his thoughts on what makes Dave Pray interesting and different to work with from a designer’s perspective. “Dave has a very keen sense of the building industry. Being a former contractor, he has a great knowledge base for different subcontractors in the Charleston area.”

“Dave has taken his knowledge from the construction industry and bought it into the owner/consulting business. He stays at the forefront of latest trends in building construction and design. He’s an innovator in the Charleston area, particularly in the realm of IPD. He is doing some cutting edge things with his consulting service that I don’t think anyone else in WV is doing.”

Dave Pray on Design Partners

The selection of the design partner is of vital importance for the success of your project, and the process of selection is not easy. Checking basic capabilities is rather easy. Prior successful experience on your desired type of building might support selection of that organization. Does the project architect - the person actually leading your project from a design perspective - have that experience? What’s the technology pulse? Highly experienced in Revit/SketchUp? The list goes on.

Of equal, if not more, relevance is the design partner’s (and their subconsultants) ability to get out of their silos and play well with others. This means having good communications skills (i.e. listening abilities). In the Lean/IPD world, there is a lot of very early involvement from builders and trade partners. Good ideas will be on the table. Does the design firm have the ability (and a cooperative ego) such that these ideas can at least be heard?

Ed Weber Architects proved to be an excellent selection for MVB. We explored many design avenues and did this in a super cooperative fashion. Ed and I have not worked under an IPD agreement, but the collaboration we experienced with him on the MVB project would certainly lead me to believe this marriage will occur in the future!