Progressive design-build: CCDC 32 & 33

Traditional design-build asks an owner to accept a fixed price before the design exists. Progressive design-build reverses that. The owner picks a design-builder mainly on qualifications, works with it through a series of gates while the design and the estimate mature, and only then agrees a price. In 2026 CCDC published its first standard forms for this method: CCDC 32 for the owner and design-builder, and CCDC 33 for the design-builder and its consultant. This lesson explains how they work and where the owner's leverage sits.

Learning outcomes

• Describe the two phases of CCDC 32-2026 and the role of the Final Project Proposal.
• Explain what the design-builder submits at each project gate and the owner's three choices.
• Compare compensation when the owner, or the design-builder, exits before the Final Project Proposal is accepted.
• Explain how CCDC 33-2026 ties the consultant to the gates, and plan owner controls for a progressive design-build version of Northgate.

The lesson

One contract, two phases

CCDC describes CCDC 32-2026 as a standard progressive design-build prime contract between an Owner and a Design-Builder for a two-phase project: in phase 1 the design-builder develops the design and provides other services before committing to a stipulated price for phase 2. CCDC has also published a guide, CCDC 32-G. Fasken names the phases. The Project Development Phase (GC 2.1) runs from the Effective Date until the owner accepts a Final Project Proposal. The Design/Construction Phase (GC 2.4) runs from that acceptance to completion, on a stipulated price basis. Clark Wilson describes phase 2 as a CCDC 14-style stipulated price contract; lesson 16 covers CCDC 14-2026.

Because the price is not fixed at award, Clark Wilson notes the design-builder is chosen mainly on qualifications. Phase 1 compensation, under Article A-5, can be a stipulated fee, time-based rates, another agreed basis or a combination, according to WeirFoulds and Osler. BLG describes phase 1 as open-book and cost-based.

The project gates

Phase 1 is divided by project gates under GC 2.3. Clark Wilson describes four: strategy and feasibility; schematic and conceptual design with the owner's Statement of Requirements; pre-construction and design development; and construction documents with the Final Project Proposal. At each gate the design-builder submits an updated proposal. Fasken and Osler list what it contains: the design to a set level, a construction cost estimate, an estimated schedule, and proposed amendments to scope or the Statement of Requirements.

The owner then has three choices, as Fasken summarizes: accept and proceed through the gate; reject and require changes; or reject and terminate. By mutual agreement the owner may accept an earlier gate proposal as final. The Final Project Proposal sets the stipulated price, including any allowances, the schedule, the services and the final scope. Accepting it is the point at which the owner gives up its cheap exit.

Early Work

Waiting for the final price can cost months. GC 2.2 lets the owner authorize discrete construction activities during phase 1, according to Fasken. WeirFoulds gives examples such as site preparation, demolition, procurement and long-lead purchases, and warns that each authorization should fix its own scope, cost, schedule and risk allocation from the start. An Early Work authorization is a commitment made before the owner knows the total price, so treat each one as a small contract with its own approval.

Off-ramps and what they cost

The defining feature of progressive design-build is the off-ramp. Under CCDC 32-2026, either party may terminate before the Final Project Proposal is accepted (Fasken, WeirFoulds). The compensation is not symmetrical. WeirFoulds summarizes GC 8.1.6: if the owner terminates, the design-builder is paid for services, work and reimbursable expenses, and is also compensated for losses on Products and Construction Equipment and for other costs and damages. Under GC 8.3.2, if the design-builder terminates, it is paid only for services and work performed, including reimbursable expenses. Clark Wilson adds that if the owner exits and keeps using the design, the design-builder and its consultants are not assumed to be liable for that future use.

BLG is more cautious about the owner's position. It notes that the "other costs and damages" on an owner exit are not quantified, so the exit cost is hard to predict. The design-builder's own exit right is uncommon in other public progressive design-build contracts, and it can pressure an owner to accept a Final Project Proposal just to keep the team together. BLG also flags that the consultant keeps ownership of the design, with only a limited licence to the owner, and that the form has no clear assignment or step-in rights for consultant agreements. Finally, it observes there is no binding method for setting the price: neither party is obliged to agree.

CCDC 33: the consultant's contract

WeirFoulds calls CCDC 33-2026 the first standard service contract between a design-builder and its consultant on a progressive design-build project. Its key links to CCDC 32 are worth knowing:

• CCDC 32 requires the design-builder to engage its consultant on terms based on or consistent with CCDC 33 (GC 4.2.4). The consultant has no contract with the owner, and communications go through the design-builder (GC 4.3.3).
• The consultant prepares the gate proposals and the Final Project Proposal jointly with the design-builder (GC 2.3.2, 2.3.5), and amendments the owner accepts at a gate are deemed to amend the CCDC 33 documents (GC 2.3.3).
• The consultant's phase 2 fee must be agreed before the Final Project Proposal is submitted (GC 2.3.6). Early Work services are paid separately (GC 2.2.1).
• The design-builder pays the consultant within 7 calendar days of receiving the owner's payment, and no later than 60 days after the consultant's invoice (Article A-6). WeirFoulds notes provincial prompt payment rules may still apply.
• The consultant owns its Instruments of Service (GC 6.2.1); the owner and design-builder receive a non-exclusive licence for the project once the consultant is paid (GC 6.2.3).

Northgate worked example

Northgate Distribution Centre (fictional) is a 12,000 m² tilt-up warehouse in Vaughan for Northgate Logistics Inc. (fictional), with a $38,000,000 construction budget including contingency. In fact it is design-bid-build under CCDC 2-2020; see the Northgate fact sheet.

Watching the estimate converge

The owner's job in phase 1 is to make each gate a real decision. Figure 2 shows an illustrative path. At Gate 1 the estimate range is wide. By Gate 3 it is narrow enough to compare confidently against the owner's $38.0 million limit. At Gate 4 the Final Project Proposal offers a stipulated price of $36.1 million, which includes design and leaves room inside the budget.

Two owner controls make the chart trustworthy. First, an independent cost consultant shadow-estimates at each gate, as BLG suggests, so the owner is not relying only on the design-builder's numbers. Second, the owner sets the decision rule in advance: if the high end of the Gate 3 range is above $38.0 million, the owner requires changes before proceeding.

Early Work for the March start

To hold M3, the owner might authorize sitework and the order of long-lead electrical equipment as Early Work before the Final Project Proposal. Each authorization should state its price, its schedule and what happens to the work if the owner exits at Gate 4. If Northgate Logistics then rejected the Final Project Proposal, it would pay for that Early Work and the design-builder's other entitlements under GC 8.1, and would need a licence to keep using the design with a new contractor.

Protecting the exit

The off-ramp is only valuable if the owner can actually use it. Before signing CCDC 32, the owner's representative should cap the "other costs and damages" payable on an owner exit, add a right to take an assignment of the consultant's CCDC 33 agreement, and secure a licence to use the design to complete the project with another firm. Osler also suggests owners consider a GMP mechanism in the Supplementary Conditions, since the total cost is unknown until the Final Project Proposal.

Owner's move

• Select on qualifications, but test the team. Interview the people who will run phase 1 and fix them as key personnel.
• Make every gate a decision. Set the criteria for accept, change or exit before the gate submission arrives.
• Hire your own cost consultant. Shadow-estimate at each gate and compare against the owner's limit.
• Secure the design. Get a licence to complete with another firm and an assignment right over the consultant's agreement.
• Cap the exit. Define the "other costs and damages" payable on an owner termination, and price each Early Work authorization.

Common mistakes

1. Treating gates as formalities. A gate the owner never says no at is not a gate.
2. Relying only on the design-builder's estimate. Open book is not the same as independent.
3. Authorizing Early Work without its own terms. It becomes an open-ended commitment.
4. Assuming the owner owns the design. The consultant does; the owner needs a licence to reuse it.
5. Ignoring the design-builder's exit right. It can push an owner to accept a weak Final Project Proposal.

Quick quiz

1. When is the stipulated price fixed under CCDC 32-2026?

   1. At contract signing
   2. At Gate 1
   3. When the owner accepts the Final Project Proposal
   4. At Ready-for-Takeover

2. At a project gate, which of these is not one of the owner's choices?

   1. Accept and proceed
   2. Reject and require changes
   3. Reject and terminate
   4. Impose a price without agreement

3. If the owner terminates before the Final Project Proposal is accepted, what does the design-builder recover under GC 8.1.6 that it would not on its own termination?

   1. Nothing extra
   2. Losses on Products and Construction Equipment and other costs and damages
   3. The full phase 2 profit
   4. A fixed break fee of 5%

4. Under CCDC 33-2026, when must the consultant's Design/Construction Phase fee be agreed?

   1. At Ready-for-Takeover
   2. Before the Final Project Proposal is submitted
   3. After construction starts
   4. It is never agreed

5. What does GC 2.2 of CCDC 32-2026 allow during phase 1?

   1. Early Work authorized by the owner
   2. Termination by the consultant
   3. Price escalation without notice
   4. Assignment of the contract to the consultant

Key terms

Progressive design-build

Design-build in which the design-builder is selected before the price is set and the price is agreed after the design develops.

Project Development Phase

Phase 1 of CCDC 32-2026, from the Effective Date to acceptance of the Final Project Proposal.

Project gate

A decision point in phase 1 at which the design-builder submits an updated proposal and the owner accepts, requires changes or terminates.

Final Project Proposal

The last gate submission, setting the stipulated price, schedule, services and scope for phase 2.

Early Work

Discrete construction activities the owner authorizes during phase 1, before the price is set.

Off-ramp

The right to end the contract before the Final Project Proposal is accepted.

References

1. CCDC, CCDC 32-2026 Progressive Design-Build Contract (document page).
2. CCDC, CCDC 33-2026 Progressive Design-Build Service Contract Between Design-Builder and Consultant (document page).
3. Clark Wilson LLP, Key updates to CCDC design-build suite: CCDC 14, 15, 32 and 33 (2026) (June 2026).
4. Fasken, Redefining design-build: key updates in CCDC 14-2026 and the launch of CCDC 32-2026 (June 2026).
5. WeirFoulds LLP, Introducing the new CCDC 32-2026 progressive design-build contract (July 2026).
6. WeirFoulds LLP, Introducing the new CCDC 33-2026 progressive design-build service contract (July 2026).
7. BLG, New CCDC progressive design-build contract: the CCDC 32 (June 2026).
8. Osler, CCDC releases 2026 documents for design-build and progressive design-build contracting (July 2026).

Verified on November 6, 2026.