PEMB of Texas builds metal buildings, and we try to keep the job simple. A foundation, a frame, panels, a finish, and a delivery window you can plan around. That is the whole pitch. Everything else on this page explains how we get there and where we work.
Texas is a hard place to be vague about a building. A shop in the Panhandle sees different wind than a barn on the coast. A hangar needs a door that clears a wingspan. A warehouse near Dallas answers to a city code that may not match the one two exits down the highway. We work across the state, so we treat those differences as the starting point of every estimate, not a footnote.
We are a design-build contractor for pre-engineered metal buildings. Owners call us for ranch and farm buildings, equipment shops, hangars, storage, light industrial space, and commercial shells. Some arrive with drawings. Many arrive with a rough size, a budget number, and a question: what will this really cost?
What we mean by one scope
A lot of metal building budgets go sideways because the work is split into pieces nobody owns. One party sells the steel package. Another pours the slab. A third raises the frame. When something does not line up, each one points at the others.
We sell the work as one scope instead. Our design-build service covers the early sizing and layout, the engineered package, the foundation, erection, panels, trim, doors, insulation and closeout. You get one point of contact and one schedule. If a question comes up on site, you know who answers it.
Foundation first, because the building sits on it
Owners tend to focus on the steel. We focus on the slab. A metal building is light for its size, and the frame pushes down, pulls up and pushes sideways, depending on the load. The footings and the slab on grade have to carry all three.
Our anchor bolt and foundation work is planned alongside the frame, not after it. Anchor bolts have to land where the columns land, to a tolerance the erectors can live with. If a bolt is off by a few inches, the whole day stops. We set them from the engineered bolt plan, check them before the concrete cures, and hold the layout against the drawings.
Texas ground adds its own lessons. Expansive clay is common in parts of the state, and a University of Texas at Austin report prepared with the Texas Department of Transportation covers how engineers estimate the vertical movement of those soils. We do not guess at that movement. A geotechnical recommendation shapes the footing depth, the slab thickness and the drainage, and we plan around what it says.
Wind, hail and the weather you actually get
Weather is not an abstract risk in this state. Texas led the nation with 878 hail events and 169 tornadoes in 2024, according to a market report from the Insurance Council of Texas. That is the climate every roof here has to live with.
For a metal building, wind is the number that drives the design. The engineered package is sized to the wind speed the local jurisdiction requires, along with snow and collateral loads where they apply. We make that requirement clear in the proposal, so you can see why one building costs more than a similar one in another county. A heavier frame is not an upsell. It is what the site calls for.
Codes differ from city to city
People assume Texas has one commercial building code. It does not. Under Local Government Code Section 214.216, the International Building Code is the municipal commercial floor, and each city may adopt amendments by ordinance. Dallas, for example, lists the International Codes with local amendments. The state energy office still lists the energy code for commercial work, and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation enforces accessibility standards on projects of $50,000 or more.
That patchwork is why we confirm the edition and local amendments with the building department before drawings are final. It is a short call that saves a redesign. Rural sites outside city limits can be simpler on paper, but lenders, insurers and utilities still have requirements, so we ask about those as well.
The buildings we put up
Most of our work falls into a handful of families. We build agricultural buildings: equipment sheds, hay and feed storage, barns, livestock facilities and shops for working farms and ranches. Our page for agriculture and agribusiness owners covers how those buildings differ from a commercial shell, from clearances for tractors to ventilation for animals.
We build hangars with clear-span interiors and large bifold or hydraulic door openings. A hangar frame is shaped by the door, so we settle that opening before we settle anything else. We build warehouse and distribution shells, truck terminals with dock doors, self-storage buildings, and manufacturing space with crane-ready framing. We also build office buildouts inside a metal shell, mezzanines, expansions that tie into an existing frame, and re-skin work that replaces tired panels on a sound structure.
Beyond the simple shop
Metal framing is no longer limited to barns and storage. Developers and owners ask us about larger, more mixed uses, and we are open about where the system fits and where it needs help from other trades. A multifamily and mixed-use project might use a metal frame for a commercial base, an amenity wing or a ground-level retail podium, while other systems handle the residential floors above. We coordinate the metal portion, and we are plain about the interfaces.
The same goes for a hospitality or hotel building. Back-of-house service buildings, event halls, maintenance shops, and low-rise lodging shells can all use engineered metal framing, provided the fire, acoustic and finish requirements are worked out early. And for a parking structure, metal can play a role in canopies, ancillary buildings, cladding and screening around a primary structure. We would rather tell you which parts suit a metal system than promise the whole thing.
Where we work
We cover the state, and the market context changes from one region to the next. In Dallas-Fort Worth, logistics and inland port activity drive demand for warehouse and flex space, and the metropolitan area sits where major interstates and railroads meet. Along the Gulf Coast, ports and the petrochemical corridor create steady demand for shops, storage and support buildings. Texas ports handle more than 746 million tons of cargo, according to TxDOT.
In the Houston area, our Houston metal building work covers the Gulf Coast side of the state. In West Texas, Lubbock has seen an 850,000 square foot food manufacturing plant open its first phase in the east side of town, and the Reese Technology Center has begun work on a new business park. The Lubbock market is a place where long spans and strong wind shape the design.
Further west and south, Midland and Odessa serve the Permian Basin, Amarillo sits on two interstates with BNSF rail access, and Laredo moves a great deal of freight through its crossing. Port Laredo handled more than $354 billion in imports and exports in 2025, and the city reports about 14,000 commercial trucks cross each day between the World Trade Bridge and the Colombia Solidarity Bridge. That kind of traffic produces demand for cross-dock buildings, bonded storage and truck terminals.
Lead times and honest schedules
Lead time on steel is the part of the schedule owners cannot control, so we say it plainly. The sequence is permit and drawings, engineering approval, steel fabrication and delivery, foundation, erection, and finish. Some of that runs at the same time. The foundation can be poured while the steel is being made, which is why we start site work early.
We give you a window rather than a promise of a date. A date tied to a steel mill is a date we do not control. A window tied to the things we do control, such as foundation, erection and trim, is one we can keep. When a delay shows up, we tell you what caused it and what it moves.
How we price
Dollars per square foot is a useful starting point and a poor final answer. It moves with span, eave height, wind load, insulation, door count, roof type, and how much concrete the site needs. We give you a number and then show what is inside it. If you want to compare us to another bid, the scope lines make that easy.
We separate the pieces that tend to hide: sitework, foundation, steel package, erection, insulation, doors, electrical rough-in, and permit costs. When an option exists, such as upgrading wall panels or adding a mezzanine, it shows up as its own line so you can say yes or no. We do not bury it in a total.
Do you build outside the big cities?
Yes. A large share of metal building work is on rural land, ranch property and small-town industrial lots. We plan for longer hauls, remote crews, well and septic questions, and utility distance when we estimate those jobs.
Why do two similar buildings get very different prices?
Span, height, wind speed, snow load, insulation, doors and foundation all change the price. Site conditions matter just as much. Soil, drainage, access and the local building code can add or remove cost before any steel is ordered.
How long does it take to get a metal building up?
It depends on permitting, engineering approval, steel lead time and the weather. Foundation work can overlap with fabrication, and erection of a simple building is often the quickest part. We give a window instead of a single date and update you as it firms up.
Can you handle a building that mixes uses?
Often, yes, for the metal portion. We coordinate with the architect, engineer and other trades on the interfaces. If part of the scope belongs to another system, we say so early.
Which building code applies to my project?
It depends on the city or county. Texas sets a statutory floor for municipal commercial work, and each city can amend it, so we confirm the edition and local amendments with the building department before drawings are final.
