We do not build the operating room wing of a hospital, and an owner is better off hearing that from us than finding out later. Patient towers and surgical suites call for a specialised team, a long design period and an approvals path that a pre-engineered metal builder is not set up for. What we do build around hospitals is the long list of buildings that make them run: the central energy plant, the warehouse and receiving building, the maintenance shop, the parking and ambulance canopies, the rural clinic and the new outpatient pavilion.
Hospitals are big employers in the state. A regional hospital in Norman has more than 3,000 employees, the University of Oklahoma started construction in October 2025 on a 105,000-square-foot life sciences laboratory building, funded with $80 million from the Legislature plus private gifts, and in Elk City the largest employer is a regional medical center. Where there are that many staff, there is a campus of supporting buildings, and a good share can be steel.
Here is how we scope those buildings, what the approvals look like, and where we hand off to the hospital's architect.
Oklahoma's population is spread out, and many hospitals serve a county rather than a city. The hospital in Ada, the medical center in Stillwater with more than 1,000 employees, and the health system in Edmond with 580 are examples of regional employers that also keep local building trades busy with steady work. Each runs a campus that grows by additions rather than by a new site, and the additions are often utility or storage buildings.
Rural hospitals in the western half of the state face a different set of problems: long drives for supplies, a smaller local trades base and wind. Buildings need to be erected by crews who can travel and work in weather. We bring a steel erection team that moves with the job, which matters when a town has few qualified subs.
The buildings we typically deliver on a hospital campus fall into four groups. Support buildings include warehouses, central plants, maintenance shops and laundries. Outpatient buildings include clinics, therapy centers and imaging offices; these overlap with our medical office work. Parking and canopy structures protect ambulances and drop-off lanes. Specialty buildings include generator enclosures, bulk oxygen pads, and helipad support.
The clear-span frames we use for warehouse shells work well for a hospital supply depot. A central plant, with its chillers, boilers and tall equipment, needs a taller frame and sometimes a crane for replacing a unit; see crane industrial buildings for how we design those. The plant also needs louvers, noise control, and a thought-out route for equipment to come in and go out.
The regulatory path is not the same as a commercial building. The state adopted the International Building Code, though cities such as Oklahoma City and Tulsa have posted editions with local amendments, and the hospital's own accreditation and licensing requirements apply to anything that touches patient care. Public and hospital-district projects are also subject to state law: plans for public buildings must provide facilities for people with disabilities following the codes adopted by the State Fire Marshal, and contracts above $100,000 must go to the lowest responsible bidder.
That second point is more important than it sounds. A county-owned hospital may be bound by competitive bidding rules, bid security of 5% of the bid, and bonding. We prepare bid packages, bonds and certifications when the owner is public, and we help private owners get comparable bids when they want them. We always state which standard we are following in the proposal.
A hospital campus never closes, and every project has to fit that fact. The rules we follow are simple. Keep construction traffic off the emergency access. Control dust and noise near patient areas. Schedule utility cutovers when the hospital says it can handle them, which is rarely a weekday morning. Protect roof and wall openings against weather the moment they are made, since an open wall next to an occupied ward is a safety problem.
Weather is a design condition. About 59 tornadoes a year touch the state, and on May 3, 1999 a tornado that crossed Moore and south Oklahoma City killed 36 people directly. A hospital cannot evacuate in minutes, so its support buildings have to survive and keep running. We design to the code wind load and talk with the owner about enhanced hardening for critical utility buildings, which costs more but protects the plant that the hospital depends on.
We schedule and inspect the work that determines the shell: foundations and anchor bolts, steel erection, panels and roof. A hospital owner gets a single point of accountability for those pieces, and we coordinate the licensed electrical, mechanical, plumbing and roofing trades alongside. Because Oklahoma does not license general contractors but does license those trades, we confirm each sub's license and keep copies on file.
When a building must connect to an existing plant, we survey the existing steel and slab first. Records are often missing for older additions, and surprises hide in the ceiling. A short investigation up front saves a change order later. See structural steel erection for the erection side of the work.
Hospital campus projects move slowly in design and quickly in the field. Funding, board approval, bidding and plan review take months. Once the bid is let, a steel support building can be up and enclosed in a short season. The slowest items are usually the equipment: generators, switchgear and chillers have long lead times, and a building cannot be finished until they are set.
We recommend ordering the frame at the same time as the long-lead equipment so the dates line up. If a campus needs a new building but has no site, an addition to an existing building may be quicker. For public owners, government and municipal projects follow similar procurement, and county owners can also read about municipal public works.
Show us the building you need and the lines you must stay out of. We will mark up a scope and a schedule and tell you where we would hand off. Our pre-engineered metal building page explains the frame in more detail.
We do not build inpatient towers or surgical suites. We build the support, outpatient and utility buildings around a hospital campus. If you need a patient care building, we can help you find a builder and join the project for the metal portions.
Yes. Public contracts above $100,000 go through competitive sealed bidding with bid security, and we prepare bid packages with the required bonds. If you are a private owner, we can provide a negotiated or design-build price.
Space for equipment today, plus room for growth, a way to bring in and take out large units, and noise control. We check ceiling height, crane access and louvers early because those details are costly to change.
With a plan agreed in advance: separate construction entrance, dust and noise controls, and shutdown windows set by the hospital. We hold weekly meetings with the facilities team.
It is worth considering for a generator or plant building that the hospital cannot run without. The extra cost is small compared with the cost of losing the plant. We can price a code-level and an enhanced design side by side.
Tell us about the site, the building and the schedule, and we will set up a review of scope, schedule and permitting.
See the services, building types and industries we plan and manage across Oklahoma.