Articles
Materials, selection & how we build
Notes from the field on how we build: project guidance, material comparisons, and the occasional how-to for the trade.
How to choose a general contractor in Houston
Houston has no shortage of general contractors, and most of them will tell you the same things about quality and communication. The way to actually tell them a…
Read the article →Building a hotel: the process from ground-up to opening
Building a hotel from the ground up is a longer and more coordinated process than most other commercial building types, because a hotel has to satisfy a brand…
Read the article →Office build-outs and tenant improvements
An office build-out turns a bare or previously-occupied shell into a workspace that matches how a specific company actually operates, and that match matters mo…
Read the article →Warehouse and industrial construction in Texas
A warehouse or industrial building looks simple compared to a hotel or a medical office, fewer finishes, fewer systems, more open space, but that simplicity is…
Read the article →Medical and dental office build-outs
A medical or dental office build-out looks like a standard tenant improvement from the outside, an interior finish inside an existing shell, but it carries cod…
Read the article →Restaurant construction: what owners should know
A restaurant build-out has to satisfy three different sets of requirements at once, a health department, a kitchen equipment plan, and a brand or concept desig…
Read the article →Renovating an occupied property without shutting down
Renovating a building that has to keep operating is a different job than building on an empty lot, even when the scope of work looks similar on paper. There ar…
Read the article →How to read a commercial construction bid
Two commercial construction bids that are ten percent apart look like a simple choice: take the lower one. They almost never mean the same thing, and reading a…
Read the article →How to keep a construction project on schedule
Every delayed construction project has a story about what caused it, and almost none of those stories are unique. The same handful of causes show up again and…
Read the article →How to choose a commercial general contractor
Choosing a commercial general contractor usually comes down to a short list of candidates who all sound reasonably similar in a proposal. The way to actually t…
Read the article →How Texas summer heat affects a construction schedule
Texas summers are long, and the heat they bring is not just a discomfort issue for crews, it is a real scheduling variable that shows up in how fast work actua…
Read the article →Self-performing trades: what it means for your schedule
Every general contractor manages subcontractors. Not every general contractor also runs its own crews. That difference sounds minor until your schedule depends…
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