Owners who call us before they own a drawing set are usually weighing two numbers: what the building will cost and when the first truck can load or the first machine can run. Design-build lets us answer both with one team. The designer, the estimator and the superintendent work from the same model of your operation, so a clear-height decision made in week two is priced the same week rather than discovered at bid.
In this metro the buildings people ask us about are varied. A tenant moving a small line into an existing manufacturing plant at the Innovation and Industrial Park is a different animal from a speculative cross-dock near the Santa Teresa port of entry, and both differ from a hangar-adjacent aerospace shop beside the airport. Design-build is useful across that range because the right structural system, cooling load and yard layout change with each.
We take responsibility for coordination under one contract. You still see the cost at every stage, and you still approve the program, the finishes and the major systems. What you do not do is referee between a designer who drew something expensive and a builder who priced something nobody drew.
We begin with a program meeting that covers throughput, equipment, headcount, trailer or container counts and any process loads such as compressed air, process water or high-voltage service. From that meeting we build a one-page program of requirements and a first budget. The architect and engineers then develop drawings in stages, and we price at each stage so the budget never drifts from the design.
Procurement is part of design. We identify the long-lead items, such as electrical gear, overhead doors, dock levelers and rooftop equipment, during schematic design, and we carry a release date for each. If a structural change saves four weeks on the steel package, you hear about it while the drawings can still be changed at no cost.
A few decisions decide most of the outcome. Clear height and column spacing affect racking, forklift paths and the cost of the frame. Slab thickness, joint layout and reinforcement affect how the floor performs under forklift traffic. Dock count and position decide how many trailers the court has to handle. Each of these costs far more to change after a permit is issued.
We also press on utility capacity early. A plant with a large electrical demand needs a service upgrade confirmed in writing before the building is sized around it, and a food or beverage facility needs a wastewater plan before equipment is selected. Where the program includes site utilities or an underground electrical duct bank, we design those with the building rather than treating them as site civil that follows.
New Mexico adopted the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code as the 2021 New Mexico Commercial Energy Conservation Code, effective January 30, 2024, and the 2020 National Electrical Code as the state electrical code, effective March 28, 2023. Both affect envelope design, lighting power density and the electrical layout, so they are on the drawing checklist from the first set.
The state's plumbing and mechanical codes are changing too: the 2024 editions are effective August 1, 2026, and permits may be issued under the 2021 or 2024 edition until January 1, 2027. We confirm with the building official which edition your submittal falls under and design to it. Our permitting and entitlements coordination team tracks those dates so the drawings do not need to be reissued late.
Distribution and cross-border logistics owners come to us for deep truck courts, cross-dock layouts and secure yards, and they often want the same building repeated in several places. Manufacturers usually want flexibility, with bays that can be reconfigured as product lines change. Aerospace suppliers ask for tall bays, clean slabs and tight electrical tolerances.
The airport's master plan adds aerospace as a new focus, with phased improvements and hopes of extending two runways, and an existing manufacturer plans to renovate a 45,050 square foot building on 15 acres at the Innovation and Industrial Park. Those are the kinds of programs where design-build fits: a defined use, a defined date and a team that has to hit both. See also how we approach advanced manufacturing work.
Overlapping design and procurement can pull weeks out of a schedule, but only if the owner decides on time. We publish a decision calendar with each design milestone, so you can see which choice is holding the next package. We also release early packages, such as site civil and foundations, while interior layouts are still being resolved.
The risk is releasing too early. We do not start a footing until the structural loads from your equipment are fixed, and we do not order gear until the voltage and load are confirmed. When something has to wait, we say so and show what it moves. Compared with sequential design-bid-build, a disciplined design-build schedule usually finishes earlier, but it is not magic: a late equipment decision costs the same time either way.
A page listing product, throughput, trailers or machines and your target date is enough to start. We will come back with a first budget, a design calendar and the questions that will save the most money. For manufacturers, our industrial renovations and modernization page covers existing-building work.
Before you buy the land or sign the lease if you can. Site selection decisions, such as truck access, utilities and drainage, often cost more than anything in the building. We can walk a parcel and tell you what the civil work will look like before you commit.
Yes. You approve the program, major systems, finishes and each budget update. We run the process and keep the pricing in front of you, but the decisions stay with you and your operations team.
We price at each design stage and move to a guaranteed number once drawings are mature enough to hold. Where unknowns remain, such as subsurface conditions, we identify them as allowances with clear rules. Our preconstruction services page explains the estimate stages.
Yes, and it is common for tenant improvements and plant upgrades. We survey the existing structure, verify utilities and equipment, and design around what is already there. If the facility stays in operation, we plan the work under a phased occupied-site approach.
New Mexico uses the 2021 International Building Code through its commercial building code, effective July 14, 2023. Electrical, energy, plumbing and mechanical editions have different effective dates. We confirm the governing set with the building official before design release.