The quality of construction projects are often defined in the design. Since design is subjective, the management of the design process is considerably more difficult than the management of construction. The research seeks to establish the industry practices that are most effective in design administration for mitigating the risk of cost and time growth due to scope creep during the design process in commercial design-build projects. The research maps an extensive content analysis of relevant literature against an industry survey and structured interviews with construction professional to determine the best practices of design administration in design-build projects. Data analysis tools such as the importance index were applied the survey results to examine the Likert items in the survey. This methodology incorporated also incorporated the triangulation strategy which validated the research to uncover the industry’s perceptions of successful design administration. This paper integrates the research conclusions into a framework that can be referenced by design-build firms to ensure effective management of the design process.