Ep 3: No Perfect Answer with Chad Kruse, James Peace, Howard Ashcroft

Every owner eventually has to choose a delivery method. Design-bid-build, CM at risk, design-build, IPD. On paper they all promise something different. In practice, the choice ripples through every decision that follows: the team, the risk, the contingency, the contract, and ultimately whether the project succeeds or fails. In this episode, two of the most experienced practitioners in collaborative project delivery break down what owners get right, what they get wrong, and why the contract is never the solution, only the enabler.

GUESTS

Howard Ashcraft is a Partner at Hanson Bridgett LLP and one of the leading construction attorneys in the country on project delivery and integrated project delivery. He has structured 150 to 180 pure IPD projects over his career and was among the first practitioners involved in developing what became lean integrated project delivery. He is a Fellow of both the American College and Canadian College of Construction Lawyers, a member of the National Academy of Construction, an Associate Fellow at the Said Business School at Oxford, and the author of a forthcoming book on contracting for integrated project delivery to be published by Wiley in 2026.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/howard-ashcraft-7485178/

James Pease is Vice President of Health Major Capital Projects at UCSF Health, where he is currently leading a $7 billion-plus program including a $4.5 billion adult hospital expansion and a $1.62 billion children's hospital expansion, both using integrated project delivery. He has delivered more than $8 billion in complex healthcare projects across his career and has worked on more than 25 IPD projects. He is also the founder and executive editor of leanipd.com, a practitioner-focused resource on lean and integrated project delivery.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamespease/

Chad Kruse is Executive Director and Project Advisor at Nebraska Medicine, where he provides business support for strategic and campus planning. Chad joins as co-host throughout the series, offering the owner's perspective as the conversation moves from concept to concrete.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chad-kruse-6714b47/

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

• Why design-bid-build makes perfect sense until you have actually worked in design and construction, and what the data says about final project cost versus bid price
• How to match delivery method to project type, owner capability, and the likelihood of scope change during execution
• Why the contract is an enabler and not a solution, and what happens to collaborative projects when things go sideways under a traditional contract
• How owner resource requirements differ dramatically across delivery models, and why IPD front-loads people rather than back-loading them
• How contingency works differently in fragmented versus collaborative delivery, and why shared project contingency changes team behavior
• Why risk cannot be transferred through a contract and what actually happens to risk when you try

TIMESTAMPS

• 00:00 - Introduction and framing the delivery method decision
• 02:21 - Howard's background: 150 to 180 IPD projects and why project delivery became his focus
• 03:40 - James's background: $8 billion in healthcare delivery and the leanipd.com resource
• 05:01 - Why design-bid-build makes sense on paper and falls apart in practice
• 09:45 - How project complexity and likelihood of change should drive delivery method selection
• 11:52 - Owner resource requirements: how delivery method shapes team size from start to finish
• 15:17 - More people upfront, fewer at the end: James on IPD staffing at UCSF
• 20:45 - How to phase team onboarding and avoid bringing partners on before you need them
• 23:37 - The Brooks Act, the Spearin doctrine, and how procurement law affects collaborative delivery
• 25:59 - Public versus private procurement rules and why Canada has more IPD public projects than the US
• 28:33 - How owners ensure competitive pricing in negotiated contracts
• 32:36 - Why James uses all delivery models at UCSF, and what drives the selection on each project
• 36:34 - Contingency: how it works in fragmented delivery versus collaborative delivery
• 39:13 - The risk register as a secret weapon versus a shared tool, depending on delivery model
• 43:40 - Can contracts actually transfer risk, or does risk just move to the least capitalized party
• 47:50 - Parting shots: what owners need to understand first before choosing any delivery method

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• Ashcraft, H. (forthcoming 2026). Contracting for Integrated Project Delivery. Wiley.
• leanipd.com - James Pease's practitioner resource on lean and integrated project delivery
• The Spearin Doctrine: United States v. Spearin, 248 U.S. 132 (1918)
• The Brooks Act: governing quality-based selection of design professionals on federal projects
• Kingston Third Crossing, Ontario, Canada: referenced as an example of mid-project design adaptation under a collaborative delivery model

WHERE TO FIND HOWARD

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/howard-ashcraft-7485178/ Hanson Bridgett LLP: https://www.hansonbridgett.com

WHERE TO FIND JAMES

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamespease/ Lean IPD: https://www.leanipd.com