Steve Freihon/Related-Oxford
New York, New York
Better Options for Mass Timber Procurement | Mass Timber Podcast
May 26, 2026
This post is part of Thornton Tomasetti Here’s How: Mainstreaming Mass Timber, a podcast hosted by Paul Becker and Kristina Rogers exploring mass timber design, delivery and performance in structural engineering projects.
About This Episode
In this episode, hosts Paul Becker and Kristina Rogers step into the guest seats to discuss how procurement strategy can shape the success of mass timber projects. They explore the effects of early supplier/fabricator involvement, design-assist, and connection design and coordination, and they offer strategies for adapting traditional design-bid-build delivery for mass timber construction.
Listen to the Episode
Inside the Episode: Better Options for Mass Timber Procurement
Mass timber procurement has a direct impact on structural design decisions, connection design, fabrication, and project delivery. In this episode, Senior Principal Paul Becker and Vice President Kristina Rogers discuss how supplier involvement in the SD (schematic design) phase, with or without a formal design-assist process, can help architects and structural engineers better align their designs for mass timber systems with available materials, fabrication methods, and erection sequences.
The conversation focuses on why fabricator input is especially important in mass timber construction. Because products, species, connection preferences, and manufacturing processes vary by supplier, early coordination helps teams design to the material’s strengths, streamline coordination, minimize late changes, and improve constructability.
Paul and Kristina also discuss options for connection design responsibilities and how that decision can impact design, fabrication and speed of erection. And they look at ways to adjust the design-bid-build delivery process – which doesn’t lend itself to design-assist – so it works more effectively for mass timber projects. Through examples including the Samuel H. Scripps Theater Center, the Roux Institute and Goldfinch Lofts, they explain how experienced teams collaborate to maintain flexibility, clarify performance expectations, and coordinate with suppliers to support successful delivery.
