13.2 Feasibility Studies: Managing the Project Team

Why Team Management Begins at Feasibility

The second IDPX feasibility task is managing the project team. Although construction administration is a later domain, the team that will deliver the project is assembled—or at least identified—during feasibility. A designer who waits until contract documents to engage a structural engineer, a lighting consultant, or the AHJ has already lost the chance to shape the project around their input. Feasibility-stage team management is about confirming who is on the team, what each member owns, and what the client actually expects the result to be.

Owner and Owner's Representative

The owner (or owner's representative) holds final decision authority over scope, budget, and schedule. On small projects the owner may be a single individual who signs every approval. On large developments an owner's representative—often called the owner's project manager—acts on the owner's behalf: approving change orders, interpreting intent, coordinating with lenders, and chairing design meetings. IDPX items frequently hinge on routing the right decision to the owner/rep and not to the designer, the CM, or a consultant. The designer recommends; the owner decides.

Designers and Internal Staffing

The interior designer leads programming and design and is usually the party that coordinates the rest of the team. Internal staffing requirement means estimating the designer hours, disciplines, and workload needed to deliver each phase to the required quality. Understaffing is itself a feasibility risk: if the firm cannot commit enough senior hours to the feasibility study, the pro forma, code analysis, and existing-conditions review will be thin, and the project may proceed on false assumptions. A feasibility study prepared by a junior staffer with no senior review is a liability for the firm and a disservice to the client.

Outsourced Consultants

Most interior projects require specialty consultants whose scopes are outside the interior designer's license. Common outsourced consultants include:

• Structural engineer — load-bearing walls, new openings, floor live loads, seismic anchorage
• MEP engineer — HVAC load calculations, plumbing risers, electrical distribution
• Lighting designer — illumination levels, fixture specifications, control strategies, daylighting coordination
• Acoustical consultant — STC ratings between spaces, mechanical noise control, speech privacy for offices and healthcare
• Low-voltage / IT consultant — data cabling, security, audiovisual, access control
• Code consultant / fire protection engineer — complex occupancy mixes, smoke control, sprinkler design

The designer coordinates these consultants; the owner typically contracts them directly or through the designer's scope. Early consultant input during feasibility is what makes the study technically credible. A structural feasibility opinion from a licensed engineer carries weight that a designer's guess does not.

Construction Manager

The construction manager (CM) oversees construction. Two delivery models matter for IDPX:

A CM engaged during feasibility can test the budget against real subcontractor pricing—information that materially changes the go/no-go decision. A designer-only feasibility estimate may be 30% off the market; a CM-validated estimate rarely is.

Operator and Brand Representative

In hospitality and retail projects, an operator or brand representative enforces brand standards: FF&E specifications, signage systems, room layouts, service flows, and sometimes sustainability or accessibility commitments that exceed code. These standards are often non-negotiable and outrank the owner's preferences for branded elements. The designer must confirm which standards apply and secure the brand's review milestones before pricing the design. A brand that has not seen the concept until contract documents is a brand that may require a redesign.

Code Officials (AHJ)

The Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) is the governmental body that enforces codes. Although not a team member in the contractual sense, the AHJ is a team member for feasibility purposes because its interpretations determine whether the project can be permitted. Common AHJ entities include:

• Building department — permit issuance, occupancy classification, construction type, egress
• Fire marshal — fire suppression, egress capacity, hazardous materials, assembly occupancies
• Health department — food service, medical and healthcare occupancy, sanitation, plumbing fixture counts

Early AHJ consultation during feasibility can reveal code interpretations that make the project viable—or kill it. A restaurant proposed in a building without sufficient plumbing capacity or egress width is not feasible regardless of the brand's interest. Better to learn that at feasibility than at permit review.

Client Expectations and Goals

A feasibility study must also surface the client's qualitative goals, not just the quantitative ones. "We want a welcoming, low-maintenance lobby that reflects our sustainability values" is a different program than "we want the cheapest code-minimum entry." Capturing these expectations as written goals lets the designer weigh options against the client's real criteria rather than assumed ones, and gives the owner a basis for later trade-off decisions.

RACI for the Project Team

A sample RACI snapshot for feasibility-phase tasks clarifies ownership across the team:

Exam Scenario

An IDPX item may ask who should approve a change to the guest-room count on a branded hotel renovation. The owner or owner's representative is accountable for scope and budget changes; the brand representative is consulted on standards but does not own the scope decision. A second item may ask which AHJ entity has jurisdiction over a restaurant's food-service plumbing; the health department (with the building department for overall occupancy) is the relevant AHJ for food-service sanitation and fixture counts.