Design-Build Firms VS Independent Architects & Contractors

[Milad Razavi]

Hi BP community! 

I have a plot of land that I am looking to do my first build (to sell). I just read through J's Diary of a New Construction Project, and am currently trying to figure out whether to begin the process with a Design-Build firm or to work with separate firms for whole process (architect & separate contractors for different respective jobs). 

From an initial standpoint, it seems to me that one of the benefits of the Design-Build firm would be a reduction in project management logistics & coordination, which would hopefully also lead to somewhat of a reduction in the unexpected costs that seem to occur due to miscommunication while coordinating various separate contractors. However I could also see Design-Build firms costing more due to their convenience, and because you'd miss out on the opportunity of getting multiple bids for every step of the journey. Maybe the antidote to that is to get multiple Design-Build firms to bid against each other at the onset? Perhaps all my assumptions here are incorrect from the get go, is there anything I'm missing? And how would you recommend proceeding?