Bridging Strategy and Implementation
The consulting industry and construction industry typically operate as separate worlds. Consultants design strategies that builders must interpret and execute. Contractors build what designers specify, often without understanding the performance intent behind decisions. This separation creates friction, delays, cost overruns, and most critically, a gap between design intent and as-built performance.
KeenWorks eliminates this gap by functioning as both licensed general contractor and strategic consultant. This dual capability means we design solutions we could build ourselves and we build with full understanding of strategic intent. The result: strategies that are inherently executable, construction that achieves design performance, and single-source accountability from concept through completion.
The Strategy-Implementation Gap
Why the Gap Exists: Traditional project delivery separates design from construction, creating multiple disconnects:
- Designers may specify approaches that are impractical, unavailable, or unnecessarily expensive
- Builders may substitute materials or modify details without understanding performance implications
- Coordination between multiple parties creates communication failures and responsibility gaps
- Performance predictions made during design phase often fail to materialize in completed projects
- Value engineering frequently sacrifices performance to meet budgets
The Cost of Separation: This gap imposes real costs:
- Buildings that consume 20-50% more energy than predicted
- Construction costs that exceed estimates due to coordination issues or impractical specifications
- Extended timelines from multiple rounds of bidding, value engineering, and redesign
- Finger-pointing when performance targets aren’t met, with no clear accountability
- Lost opportunities where construction knowledge could have improved design
[PROOF POINT: Industry data on performance gaps, specific examples of projects that failed to meet targets due to design-build disconnect]
For high-performance projects—where tolerances are tight and details determine success—this gap can mean the difference between achieving net-zero energy goals or falling short, between Passive House certification or failure, between promised performance and costly underperformance.
How We Bridge the Gap
Design with Construction Insight: When KeenWorks develops strategies and designs, we do so with intimate knowledge of construction realities:
Material Availability & Cost: We specify materials we know are available in relevant markets at predictable costs. Our recommendations don’t rely on specialty products with long lead times or single-source suppliers. When we design energy efficiency retrofits for manufacturing facilities or regenerative housing, material selections reflect real-world supply chains.
Trade Capabilities: We design details that can be executed by competent but not necessarily specialized trades. While we appreciate craftsmanship, we don’t design approaches that demand skill levels unavailable in the market. Our Passive House designs, for instance, include quality assurance protocols that ensure trades understand critical details.
Construction Sequencing: We understand how buildings actually get built—what happens when, which trades need access, how weather affects scheduling. This knowledge informs design decisions about material protection, temporary enclosure, and construction logistics.
Cost Estimation Accuracy: Our cost estimates reflect actual construction costs, not theoretical pricing. We know what things cost because we buy them. We understand how long tasks take because we schedule them. This accuracy prevents the common cycle of design-estimate-value engineer-redesign.
[PROOF POINT: Examples of design-phase cost estimates that matched final construction costs within X%; projects completed without value engineering that compromised performance]
Build with Design Intent Understanding: When KeenWorks executes construction, we do so with complete understanding of why every detail matters:
Performance-Critical Details: We know which construction details are critical for performance and which are less sensitive. An airtightness layer requires meticulous execution; a trim detail may allow flexibility. This discernment allows efficient quality focus—paying attention where it matters most.
Verification & Testing: We build with verification in mind, incorporating testing protocols at appropriate stages. Blower door testing happens when air sealing can still be corrected. Thermal imaging occurs when insulation gaps can be filled. This prevents discovering problems after correction is impossible or expensive.
Substitution Decisions: When field conditions require adaptations, we make decisions understanding performance implications. We know when a substitution is acceptable and when it compromises fundamental goals. This prevents the common failure mode where field substitutions undermine design intent.
Documentation: We document as-built conditions with unusual thoroughness because we understand their importance for performance verification, future maintenance, and knowledge building. Our projects become learning opportunities that inform future designs.
Where Dual Capability Creates Value
High-Performance Building Projects: The tightest tolerances demand the closest integration:
Net-Zero & Passive House: Achieving net-zero energy or Passive House certification requires execution precision that few traditional contractor-designer relationships achieve. Airtightness targets measured in air changes per hour at 50 Pascals cannot tolerate typical construction gaps. Our integrated approach ensures these targets are met.
Deep Energy Retrofits: Retrofit projects present unique challenges where existing conditions require adaptive problem-solving. Our ability to assess conditions, design solutions, and execute corrections without multiple coordination cycles accelerates timelines and controls costs.
Water Reuse Systems: Innovative water systems often encounter regulatory and technical challenges during permitting and construction. Our integrated capability allows us to engage with regulators knowledgeably, adapt designs based on inspector feedback, and execute installations that meet both code requirements and performance goals.
[PROOF POINT: Passive House or net-zero projects delivered on-time and on-budget; airtightness targets achieved; performance verification data]
Industrial & Commercial Facilities: Operating facilities require construction approaches that minimize disruption:
Occupied Facility Upgrades: Energy efficiency improvements in operating manufacturing facilities or commercial buildings must accommodate ongoing operations. Our integrated understanding of both the technical improvements and construction logistics allows phased approaches that maintain productivity while achieving performance goals.
Fast-Track Projects: When timelines are compressed, the ability to overlap design and construction—enabled by integrated capability—becomes critical. We can begin procurement and early construction while finalizing designs, confident that our construction team understands intent and our design team understands constructability.
Risk Reduction & Accountability
Single-Source Responsibility: When strategy and implementation sit with one organization, accountability is clear. If performance targets aren’t met, there’s no ambiguity about responsibility. This clarity focuses our attention on what matters: delivering promised outcomes.
Risk Management: Our dual perspective allows sophisticated risk management:
- Design risks (can we achieve performance targets?) assessed with construction knowledge
- Construction risks (can we build this as designed?) assessed with design understanding
- Cost risks (will this fit the budget?) managed through accurate estimation and value engineering that preserves performance
- Schedule risks (can we meet timelines?) managed through realistic construction planning during design phase
Quality Assurance: We implement quality management systems that span design and construction:
- Design review protocols that include constructability assessment
- Construction quality control that verifies performance-critical details
- Testing and commissioning integrated into construction schedules
- Performance verification that compares as-built outcomes to design predictions
[PROOF POINT: Project delivery record—percentage on-time, on-budget; performance verification showing achievement of targets; quality metrics]
Economic Advantages
Reduced Soft Costs: Integrated delivery eliminates or reduces multiple cost categories:
- Reduced design fees (no need for construction administration by separate design team)
- Eliminated general contractor markup on consultant fees
- Reduced contingency requirements due to lower risk
- Faster schedules reducing financing costs
Value Engineering Without Compromise: When budget pressures require value engineering, our integrated perspective allows us to identify savings that don’t compromise performance:
- Material substitutions that maintain performance characteristics
- Construction method changes that reduce labor while achieving identical outcomes
- Scope phasing that prioritizes highest-impact interventions
- Staging approaches that spread costs over time
Traditional value engineering often sacrifices performance because designers specify but don’t cost and contractors reduce cost but don’t understand performance intent. Our approach optimizes both simultaneously.
Lifecycle Value: Our construction work reflects long-term thinking:
- Durability considerations that reduce maintenance and replacement costs
- Maintainability design that allows efficient service and repairs
- Adaptability features that facilitate future modifications
- Quality materials that extend service life
[PROOF POINT: Lifecycle cost analysis showing total cost of ownership advantages; maintenance cost comparisons; longevity of completed projects]
Limitations & When to Partner
Our contractor capability focuses on our areas of technical expertise—high-performance building, water systems, renewable energy installations, and industrial facility improvements. We don’t claim capability in all construction domains.
For projects requiring specialized construction capabilities outside our core competencies (major structural work, complex industrial processes, large-scale earthwork), we often design and manage construction while partnering with specialized contractors. Even in these cases, our construction knowledge allows us to be sophisticated owner’s representatives who understand contractor capabilities and limitations.
Our sweet spot: projects where high-performance goals require tight integration between design intent and construction execution, where typical industry separation creates unacceptable risk of performance failure.
Cross-Practice Applications
Manufacturing & Services Sectors: Industrial facility improvements benefit from our ability to assess operations, design efficiency improvements, and execute construction with minimal operational disruption.
Regenerative Community Development: High-performance residential development—particularly net-zero and Passive House projects—depends on the integration we provide between design rigor and construction precision.
Agricultural infrastructure and farm-based projects are handled through our sister company, Environmental Intelligence Inc.
Partner for Integrated Delivery
If your project’s success depends on strategy translating into reality—if the gap between design and construction presents unacceptable risk—KeenWorks’ contractor + advisor advantage delivers the integration you need.
We serve clients who value accountability, understand that high-performance demands precision, and seek partners who can navigate the complete journey from vision to verified outcome.