Our approach is to draw together an integrated team that is overseen by an account manager. We provide one key point of contact between the client organization and project team members, allowing for ease of communication. Because decisions are crucial, we establish a cohesive team which expands and contracts accordingly. All members of the team are empowered to offer their unique insight and expertise as project needs require.
The end result – high quality decision-making, unified goals and zero disruptions.

For many clients, developing real estate and implementing projects are infrequent activities. Also, most lack internal capacity – time, skills and/or knowledge – to develop their project in an efficient manner. Our goal is to implement our tried and tested approach which provides a cost-effective solution for incorporating the knowledge, skills and data-driven process necessary to complete your project. We equip you with the necessary tools to navigate the planning, design and construction process to ensure you achieve your facility, project and real estate portfolio goals.
When you engage ORB you receive the comfort and peace-of-mind of having someone ‘on-board’ who understands the complexities and has navigated the process many times before.

Our professionals deliver creative and practical solutions – based on industry best practices and proven models of success – for both new facilities and the re-positioning of existing assets.

We empower clients with expert advice and accurate information to better predict project outcomes and the confidence necessary to ensure effective and efficient use of available resources. No surprises!
We provide our clients comfort, time and peace-of-mind to focus on their businesses and operations, knowing their investment is being safely guarded.

Guiding principles are established and understood expectations, goals and priorities that dictate the decision-making process (i.e. project mission). They ensure stakeholder alignment and buy-in before project planning, design and development continue to unfold. Guiding principles also ensure that any project brought forward echoes what the community needs and desires.

Key physical, functional and financial indicators and metrics affect the strategic goals and outcomes of every project. We bring the leadership to help you analyze, develop and deliver the optimum mix – something we have coined as the ‘sweet spot’.

We understand that it is common for things to go wrong on projects and costly to solve problems late in the process. As your advocate from beginning to end, we mitigate this by anticipating problems and addressing potential risk early in the pre-design and pre-construction phases. Awareness of how early decisions impact project success later in the process is one of the skills ORB brings to every project.

On every project, we work with our clients to identify potential risk and action plans to mitigate the associated risk. ORB has a disciplined approach to assist clients in being appropriately aware of and protected from many risks and liabilities present in our industry. Notable examples include implementing our contractor credit and pre-qualification systems; initiating professional safety audits; utilizing title companies to ensure proper distribution of project funds; monitoring insurance requirements and certificate issuance; contract administration; and collecting and tracking invoices, payments and mechanic’s lien waivers for all work performed.

We help you engage the right project partners at the right time. And we ensure all team members are aligned and working toward a common, unified goal. Our professionals develop requests for proposals for all project team members and facilitate the review, valuation, interview and selection process.

Prior to engaging other project team partners and dedicating resources on design, our team is able to help clients develop a “big picture” concept, with cost/benefit analysis, to determine desired outcomes and feasibility of success.

Changes during design are expected. Changes during construction are expensive. Our style is to ask questions, explore ideas, research options and facilitate healthy debates during planning and design. The result is optimal use of materials, methods and systems within established project physical, functional and financial goals.

On high profile and/or public projects, there are many voices to be heard. Our team ensures community engagement by utilizing a two-phased outreach plan.

Community Listening Sessions – Following our project kick-off meeting with the stakeholders, we will coordinate and facilitate numerous community listening sessions to determine the program needs and wish lists of your constituents. Based on proven methodologies, our workshops provide a structured, holistic process for defining needs, goals and priorities while building consensus quickly and efficiently. We will then compile, synthesize, translate and present our findings to the stakeholders at the first workshop. These findings will provide sound framework for developing relevant guiding principles and program components to bring a project forward that echoes the community needs and desires.

Community Presentations – After the initial Community Listening Sessions, our consultants will facilitate workshops with the project stakeholders to build upon our findings, analyze the various site options and work with the design team to develop the schematic design. Upon selection of the preferred site and conceptual building design, we will present the information in the same communities we conducted the original listening sessions to gather input, feedback and advice as we work toward a final schematic design. Our experiences show that the community presentations validate the project direction and ensure strong community support for the project overall.

Barbara White Bryson, FAIA, says it best: “Processes will not make bad teams function successfully, although they can provide a framework for extraordinary success when a great team is accompanied by good values and tools.”
We bring our clients the right tools to control each project’s cost, schedule, quality and scope. We develop and manage all key planning, design and construction activities by utilizing our responsibility matrices, team action plans and scheduling tools. Our tools and best practices minimize design, bidding and construction scheduling conflicts; identify critical activities; establish bidding dates to obtain favorable bids; and maximize local contracting opportunities. We will maintain the design and construction schedule by proactively establishing, monitoring and enforcing all design and construction activities to complete your projects within the prescribed timelines.
Quality is achieved through clear expectations, disciplined planning, detailed direction, expert input, consistent observation, check and balance systems and qualified implementation partners.

“The intent of a contract is not to say what you are going to do. The intent is to legally bind you to do what you said you would.” Tom Wacholz, ORB President
Delivery Method is another key project metric that can have an impact on project outcomes. There are many options for project design and construction implementation – each with their unique pros and cons. ORB has facilitated the selection, negotiation and administration of all available delivery methods and will help clients select the appropriate method for their project. We understand the legal language, but more importantly, we focus on holding the project team accountable to doing what we all agreed to do.