A plant that has to ship product by a committed date cannot absorb a site surprise in month three. On a ground-up industrial build in Colorado the surprises are predictable, which is why we price and sequence them before the first scraper moves: expansive clay under the slab, hail load on the roof, a utility interconnect that sets the energization date, and a building department whose adopted code may differ from the city next door. We treat each one as a spec item with an owner and a date.
Ground-up means we carry the work from raw ground to a turnover package. We stake and mass-grade the pad, build the detention and drainage and the site utility package, form and place the slab, set the shell, and hand your operations team a building with commissioned systems and the closeout documents the maintenance group needs. Design can come from your engineer of record or from us through industrial design-build. The field sequence is the same either way.
We put a project engineer in the first meeting with your operations lead, not a sales contact, because the questions that decide a ground-up building (dock count, slab loading, crane or no crane, electrical and gas demand, direction of the next expansion) are engineering questions. Operators in logistics and distribution usually ask about dock count first, while process plants ask about utilities. Answer them before the structure is selected and the building stays flexible. Answer them after, and the change control log starts early.
What a ground-up industrial scope includes
The scope starts at the survey. We stake, strip topsoil, and mass-grade to the building pad with the compaction and moisture conditioning the geotechnical report calls for, then build the underground first: sanitary, domestic and fire water, storm, and the electrical duct bank for the service entrance. Vertical work follows in the order the structure dictates, with tilt-wall panels cast on the slab, structural steel for crane buildings, or a pre-engineered metal building where clear span and speed matter more than panel mass.
Paving and the truck court close the exterior scope, with truck courts and trailer yards sized to the turning radius of the fleet you actually run and concrete in the trailer drop zones where landing gear would punch through asphalt. Inside, we place the floor to the flatness your racking or automation vendor specifies, install dock equipment, and tie in process utilities. We keep a scope matrix listing line by line who supplies and who installs owner-furnished equipment, because one missed line is the most common source of a change order in the last sixty days.
Code editions, design loads and permit review
Colorado has no single statewide commercial building code we can quote for you. Jurisdictions adopt their own editions of the International Building Code, and a Home Builders Association of Metro Denver tracker dated January 20, 2026 shows Adams County, Arvada and Castle Rock on the 2018 I-codes, Aurora and Arapahoe County on 2021, and Boulder, Golden and Cherry Hills Village on 2024. That tracker is not an official source, so we confirm the edition and local amendments with the building department before we price a drawing set. Statewide, HB22-1362 requires any jurisdiction that updates its code on or after July 1, 2023 to adopt an energy code at least equal to the 2021 IECC.
Design loads are local as well. Lakewood's permit handout lists a 36 inch frost depth and a 30 psf non-reducible ground snow load, and mountain jurisdictions run well above that. We ask for the geotechnical report early because the Colorado Geological Survey states that most homes, schools and roads in Colorado sit on potentially expansive clay, and volume increases of 3 percent or more are considered potentially damaging and generally require specially designed foundations. A warehouse slab bears on that same ground, so the foundation system is a pricing input and not a detail.
Sequencing a build around your uptime
Many ground-up projects are not on a blank campus. They sit beside a running plant, share a gate with live truck traffic, or tie into an existing electrical service. We build a separate logistics plan for that condition: haul routes that keep construction vehicles off your shipping lanes, laydown that does not block fire access, and a tie-in schedule that names each shutdown window, the duration, the crew, and the fallback if a test fails.
Verification closes each phase. We survey the pad before the base course goes down, test compaction at the lifts the report requires, scan the slab for flatness before racking is ordered to fit it, and pressure-test the underground before it is covered. Each result goes into the turnover package as a record, so the person who inherits the building in five years can see how it was made.
Where the weeks actually go
Denver averages roughly 49 to 54 inches of snow a year, so we plan winter placement from the start: heated enclosures or blankets for slab pours, frost protection on subgrade, and structural erection windows that do not depend on a dry week in January. Equipment lead time is the other half of the critical path. Switchgear, transformers, dock levelers, rooftop units and process equipment set the occupancy date, which is why we run long-lead procurement in parallel with design and not after it.
We publish a look-ahead every week that shows release dates for submittals, fabrication, and delivery, with the float stated in days. At altitude, mechanical equipment is selected with derating in mind, so a unit chosen for sea-level capacity does not show up undersized. Commissioning gets its own block at the end of the schedule, not a few days borrowed from the finish.
What moves the number on a new plant
The foundation system, the utility interconnect and the structure type carry most of the variance between two buildings of the same square footage. Expansive clay can mean overexcavation, moisture-conditioned fill or deep foundations. Utility work can mean a line extension, a new transformer pad, or a fire water loop sized for the sprinkler density of your storage. Hail resistance affects roofing and rooftop equipment specification in the Denver area, which has had three of the ten costliest U.S. hailstorms.
Location changes the budget too. The City of Pueblo states that commercial and industrial construction there costs about 10 to 15 percent less than the national average, while a rail-served park such as the three-building, 466,000 square foot Commerce Yards project in Commerce City brings its own infrastructure scope. We price from your drawings and your site, then list allowances and exclusions in plain terms so the bid can be compared with other bids.
Start with the site and the program
Send us the parcel, the building program and your target production date. We will come back with a sequence, a budget range and the open items that need an answer from your engineers.
Common Questions
How early should a builder join a ground-up industrial project?
As soon as you have a site under option and a rough building program. At that stage a builder can run the geotechnical scope, check the zoning and utility availability, and give you a preliminary budget that carries real foundation and interconnect costs. Waiting until drawings are stamped usually means discovering a utility constraint after the design is locked.
Does expansive clay change how the slab is built?
It can. Where the geotechnical report identifies expansive clay, the options include overexcavation and replacement with engineered fill, moisture conditioning, a stiffened or post-tensioned slab, or drilled piers under the structure. The right answer depends on the swell potential and the floor loading you need. We price the alternatives so the choice is made on cost and risk and not by default.
Which building code applies to my site?
The one adopted by the city or county where the parcel sits, with that jurisdiction's amendments. Editions differ across the Front Range, so we confirm with the building department before pricing. Do not rely on a code edition from another job, even a recent one in the same metro.
Can site work start before the building permit is issued?
In many jurisdictions a grading or site development permit is separate from the building permit, which lets mass grading and some utilities start earlier. Whether that is available depends on the local review process and your lender or tenant terms. We map the permit sequence during preconstruction so you know which work can move in parallel.
What do we receive at turnover?
A turnover package with as-built drawings, equipment submittals and manuals, test and balance reports, fire protection acceptance records, warranty letters with start dates, and the training schedule for your maintenance staff. We assemble it as the work proceeds so it is complete on the day you take occupancy.