Design & Build Case Study:

Kansas CIty, MO

How Kansas City, Missouri Improved Construction Outcomes by Prioritizing Communication and Contractor Education

“The green is functional—the plants are functional, the soil is too. We have to treat it with the same care and attention as we do a pipe.”

–Andy Sauer, Burns and McDonnell

A rendering from Kansas City Water’s Improved Design Criteria

Project Description

In Kansas City, Missouri, building green stormwater infrastructure is not just about what is on paper – it is about how people work together on the ground. Because green stormwater systems are living systems, their performance depends on precise execution of details that many construction crews have not encountered before. During its 2024-15 update to design specifications and construction standards, KC Water realized that strong specs were not enough. They reimagined their approach to include deeper coordination and more proactive communication and education – transforming how design intent carried through to real-world performance.

Best Practices in Action

In 2014, Andy Sauer, National Stormwater Management Practice Leader at Burns & McDonnell, supported the City’s development of the utility’s design specs and construction standards. These standards were key pieces in ensuring better construction outcomes, but they needed to be paired with close coordination with contractors, and lots of communication over the course of construction. He emphasized that most contractors want to get it right, but they need better information. “It’s not that they don’t care,” he explained. “They just haven’t built this stuff before.”

That insight changed how KC Water approached construction. Rather than relying solely on specs, staff prioritized a higher degree of communication with contractors, like facilitating pre-construction meetings that were especially disciplined about walking through the intent behind each spec, organizing site visits, and staying in close communication with contractors throughout the build. KC Water staff and consultant teams made space for feedback loops, fielded questions from the field, and adjusted internal processes to ensure that everyone (from engineers to construction crews) understood the function and intent of each design element. Contracts and schedules were revised to reflect this new reality: green infrastructure takes more touchpoints to get right, and that time needs to be built in from the start.

One project that brought this home was a large pervious concrete installation that was executed perfectly- that is, until the upland area was seeded instead of sodded. A rainfall event soon followed, washing sediment into the facility and clogging it. The issue was not a lack of care. It was a lack of understanding of the spec and the implications of changing that spec. That experience elevated the importance for Andy of controlling and protecting the site, which then became a “Control and Protect” category in KC Water’s Construction Specifications. Strong collaboration and clear, consistent communication help bridge knowledge gaps, ensuring contractors not only follow the specs but also understand why they matter, so that good intentions translate into successful, fully functional projects.