Metal Buildings and Industrial Shells in Seguin
A 30,000 square foot bay and a 1.3 million square foot box start the same way in Seguin: a stamped frame, a slab flat enough to carry the load and a crew that knows how many weeks the steel will take. We build the first kind for owner-operators and small industrial tenants, and we erect the structural shells that developers want for the second kind.
The city is a good place to ask what a metal building can do. The local economic development office describes Seguin as sitting on Interstate 10, 35 minutes east of Downtown San Antonio, with more than 4,000 manufacturing jobs inside city limits. A mixed manufacturing base means a mixed building order: parts storage, assembly bays, truck docks, maintenance shops and offices bolted to the front of them.
If you need a quote that is believable, send us the use first and the size second. A bay that stores steel coil needs a stronger slab and a crane runway. A bay that stores pallets needs a high eave and a flat floor. A building for light assembly needs daylight, power and a clean finish. Each leads to a different price, and we would rather give you the real one today than a low number that grows after the frame is ordered.
Keep the building simple, then add only what pays
Our approach in Seguin is the same one we use on every warehouse metal shell: foundation, frame, panels, finish. We start with the clear span you need and the eave height your racking or equipment requires. Then we price the shell, the slab and the site work as separate lines. Owners tend to be surprised by how large the slab and site work are next to the steel, so we show them before the deposit instead of after.
We also keep the steel package conventional. Standard frames, standard girts and purlins, and common panel profiles are quicker to get and easier to repair than custom-formed parts. Where a tenant needs something special, such as a tall clerestory or a heavy equipment pad, we engineer that part and leave the rest standard.
Parks, tracts and where a second building makes sense
Industrial land is the story in Seguin. A report dated July 2026 says two developers are working on the 164-acre Seguin Exchange Commerce Park at the northwest corner of I-10 and Highway 46, planned for more than 2 million square feet of industrial space in buildings from 30,000 up to 1.3 million square feet. A range that wide implies small-bay tenants and big-box users in the same park, and it also implies that owner-builders will compete for contractors with developers.
A 2022 report described a $75 million, 125,000 square foot stainless tube manufacturing complex planned on a 33-acre parcel in the Rio Nogales Industrial Park south of I-10, creating 106 jobs. An older report from 2012 described a 300,000 square foot assembly and warehouse building on a 26-acre tract west of an existing heavy-equipment plant, built for two suppliers. These are good reminders that suppliers follow large plants. If you serve a plant here, you probably need a building near it, with truck access, and an erection crew that is not booked out for six months.
Permits, accessibility and energy rules
Texas does not have one commercial building code that every city enforces. The state statute sets the International Building Code as the floor for municipalities, and each city can add local amendments by ordinance. Before we finalize a design in Seguin we ask the building department which edition and which amendments apply, then we hold the engineer to that answer.
Accessibility is the second check. Commercial projects with an estimated cost of $50,000 or more must be registered with the state licensing department, and the plan review comes before the inspection. Energy rules apply as well. The state energy office continues to list the International Energy Conservation Code for commercial construction, which affects insulation, roof assemblies and lighting. We put those items in your foundation and design package early, rather than learning about them after the steel is ordered.
What we build near I-10
The most common order is a warehouse with a truck court and several dock-high doors. Next come flex and light industrial buildings, where a tenant wants production space in the back and a small office at the front. A third group is maintenance and equipment storage: tall doors, floor drains, and a slab that tolerates fork trucks and wash water.
For logistics owners, warehousing and distribution work depends on dock positions and truck turning. A park with buildings up to 1.3 million square feet attracts large trailers, so we design aprons for the turn radius, not for the minimum the plan reviewer will accept.
Working across the San Antonio to Austin corridor
From Seguin we can reach San Antonio in about 35 minutes by interstate, and we regularly serve the neighboring job sites in New Braunfels. That means a client can place one order and use one set of standards across several sites. Equipment, cranes and delivery trucks can usually be staged without a long mobilization fee. It also lets us hold one crew on a project through weather delays rather than releasing them to other work.
Talk through a Seguin building
Tell us the footprint, the clear height and who is moving in. We will answer with a price range, the steel schedule and the foundation questions that need a soil boring before anyone commits.
Common Questions
Can you erect a shell for a developer who is building a speculative park?
Yes. We erect rigid-frame shells to the developer's stamped drawings, and we can quote a finished shell with slab, panels and doors or the steel erection alone. For speculative buildings we keep the design flexible: knockout panels in the sidewalls, dock positions that can be added later and a roof that can carry rooftop equipment.
How tall should the eave be for racking?
Count the pallet positions you want, add room for the beam and sprinkler clearance, and then add a margin for the lift truck. Four levels of racking usually needs an eave in the high twenties or low thirties, and every extra foot of height adds to steel weight and wall panel cost. We size it to your plan, not a catalog number.
What does it cost to add a truck dock to a metal building?
The dock itself is the smaller piece. The slab depression, the leveler, the apron paving and the drainage are what move the budget. We price docks as a line item so you can decide how many positions you need on day one and how many can wait.
How quickly can a crew start after we sign?
The honest answer is that the steel sets the date. Once drawings are approved, the supplier quotes a lead time, and the foundation can go in during that period. We schedule the erection crew to arrive when the first steel does, and we tell you which dates are firm and which depend on the permit.
Do metal buildings meet manufacturing fire and sprinkler needs?
They can, when the engineer and the fire marshal agree on the use. Sprinkler loads are added to the roof design, and fire separation may call for rated walls between the office and the plant. Tell us the use and the occupancy early so the drawings carry the right details.
