What we build · Light Manufacturing
The Process Decides the Building
A building shaped by what happens inside it. Power, compressed air, process drainage and ventilation are the project; the shell is comparatively simple.
The geotechnical report, the intended clear height and the likely tenant profile. Those three tell us more than a full set of drawings.
The slab
The one element a tenant judges on, and cannot fix
Self-perform
Dewatering and deep foundations in house
Commodity
Fire protection designed to what is actually stored
Licensed
General contractor, licensed in the state of Florida
Process requirements arrive late and change everything
Manufacturing clients frequently finalize their equipment layout after the building design is well advanced. Power distribution, floor pits, drainage, compressed air and exhaust all follow that layout, and adding them into a designed building is far more expensive than designing around them.
What the process dictates
- Electrical service and distribution, frequently far above a shell allowance.
- Compressed air, process water and process drainage.
- Floor loading and any pits or depressions for equipment.
- Ventilation and exhaust for the specific process.
- Crane or hoist provision, which is structural and must be early.
How we handle it
- 01Get the equipment layout before the structure is fixed.
- 02Design distribution to the actual load, not to an allowance.
- 03Coordinate pits, drainage and floor loading with the process.
- 04Provide crane structure at design, never as a retrofit.
- 05Sequence so process fit-out can start as early as possible.
If there may ever be a crane, put the structure in now. Adding overhead lifting capacity to a completed building means reinforcing columns and foundations in an occupied facility, and the cost difference is not close.
Said plainly
Where we stop
We will not design distribution against an equipment list marked provisional. It produces either a wasteful oversupply or a shortfall discovered at commissioning.
FAQ
Common questions
- When do we need the equipment layout?
- Before the structure is fixed. Power, pits and drainage all follow it.
- What about a future crane?
- Build the structure for it now. Retrofitting means reinforcing columns and foundations.
- Is shell power usually enough?
- Rarely for manufacturing. Design to the actual load.
- Can process services be added later?
- At much higher cost and disruption than designing around them.
What decides cost
The Slab
The floor is the element tenants judge a warehouse by, and it is produced in a single continuous operation that cannot be repeated.
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Fire Protection
The sprinkler system is determined by what is stored and how high it is stacked, which is information a speculative developer does not have.
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Clear Height
Clear height has risen steadily and it is not free. Each additional foot costs across several systems and only earns it back if the market racks that high.
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Docks & Truck Court
Door count, court depth and pavement design are set by the vehicles that will use them, and getting the depth wrong is not fixable.
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Ground Conditions
Industrial buildings cover an enormous footprint, which means whatever is wrong with the ground is wrong across all of it.
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More what we build
Distribution Warehouse
The standard big-box warehouse. Four variables decide almost the entire budget, and they interact with each other.
Read more →
Cold Storage
The most technically demanding industrial building, and the one where an ordinary warehouse approach fails outright.
Read more →
Flex & Office-Warehouse
Warehouse with an office component, built speculatively for tenants who do not exist yet. The flexibility is the product.
Read more →
Next step
Find out what is actually wrong with it.
An inspection, photographs of what we found, and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, that is the answer you will get.