A row of six or eight small bays under one steel roof is often a better bet for a small-town investor than a single big building. Each bay has its own overhead door, its own meter and a small restroom, and each can be rented to a tradesperson, a hobby shop, a small contractor or a storage tenant. We build that kind of multi-bay shell in Weatherford, where a university, a manufacturing plant and a wind energy park all feed a base of small businesses that need space they can afford.
The economics are simple. The frame, roof and end walls are shared, so the cost per bay falls as the building grows. The risk is spread across tenants, so one empty bay does not sink the loan. And the building is flexible: demising walls can move, and a pair of bays can become one larger space if a tenant needs it. We draw the plan to be repeatable and we tell investors how many bays the lot can hold.
Weatherford is a town where this type of building fits. It has Interstate 40 at its door, a campus that brings in young households and employers that buy services from local firms.
A multi-bay building lives or dies on details. Each bay should have a door tall enough for the likely tenants, typically 12 to 14 feet, and a walk door on the same face. The bay width should suit a pickup with a trailer. The slab should hold a loaded forklift. Power should be sized so a welder or a compressor does not trip the breaker, and each tenant needs a separate meter. Restrooms can be shared or private depending on the code and the rent.
Fire separation is the item owners overlook. Walls between tenants may need a fire-resistance rating, depending on use and building size, and the building official decides. Sound control matters too, because a woodworker next door to an office is a recipe for complaints. We discuss these items at the start. Our flex light-industrial page shows how a bay plan comes together, and the commercial metal building page lists the exterior options.
Some investors add a front office strip for tenants who need a customer entrance, or a second row of larger bays at the rear for contractors with trucks. Others add a fenced yard for outdoor storage. We help plan the arrangement so trucks can turn, customers can park and snow, rain and hail runoff reaches a drain. A self-storage metal building is another route for an investor, with smaller units and drive-up doors, and our page for that service explains how it differs from a bay building.
Wikipedia reports that Southwestern Oklahoma State University reached more than 4,200 undergraduates and post graduates by 2015, making it the largest institution of higher education in Western Oklahoma. It also reports that Kodak's roughly 50-year-old Weatherford plant received a $15 million expansion in 2017 for flexographic packaging plates. TravelOK describes the Weatherford Wind Energy Park as planned to reach as many as 98 wind turbines of 1.5 megawatts each, covering more than 5,000 acres in Custer County, with turbines visible from I-40. These are general reference reports, some of them dated, and we use them cautiously. They tell us the town has students, a manufacturing employer and wind-energy activity nearby.
For an investor, those groups mean customers: students who need storage and repair, employees who need services and contractors who maintain the turbines and plants. We do not know who will rent a given bay, and we do not predict. The manufacturing page covers the larger plant side of the market, and the Clinton and Elk City pages cover the interstate towns on either side. Wikipedia also reports that I-40 was completed east and west of Weatherford in 1960 and that a southern bypass around the city opened in July 1970, which is why sites along the bypass and the old routes can have very different traffic and visibility. We check both when a client is picking between a frontage lot and a cheaper one a block back.
We begin with the numbers an investor will use: what each bay can rent for, what the loan payment is and how many bays are needed to cover costs. Then we draw the building to fit. If the rent target requires 8 bays and the lot fits only 6, we say so and look at a taller building with mezzanine space or a second phase.
The airport is another asset in town. Wikipedia reports that Thomas P. Stafford Airport in Weatherford has a 5100' x 75' paved runway, which supports small aircraft. A pilot who wants a hangar on a lot near the field is a different tenant than a bay renter, and our aircraft hangar page covers that building. We keep the two ideas separate so the numbers for each are honest.
The base price of the frame and panels is only part of the bay cost. Utilities add a share: electric service, water, sewer and gas for each unit. Concrete adds another, with the slab, the aprons and the thickened edges. Doors are the third, since each bay needs an overhead door and a walk door. The last is code work, including the fire walls, exit lighting and accessible restrooms.
Weather risk is another budget line. The National Weather Service Norman tornado list records an F3 tornado on May 25, 1962 from south of Weatherford to southeast Weatherford, with 4 injuries, and its Custer County list records an F4 tornado on June 10, 1967 with 4 deaths and 1 injury. Those events are old, but they are why we recommend insurance review and why we do not promise a steel building will survive a major tornado. We design to the code wind speed and brace the frame carefully.
Tell us the lot size and the rent per bay you hope to reach. We will draw the plan and price your Weatherford building so you can test the numbers.
It depends on the setbacks, parking count, truck turning and drainage. A rough rule is one parking space per 500 to 1,000 square feet of building, but the city sets the number. Give us the plat and we will draw it.
Usually yes. Separate electric meters make billing fair, and separate water meters are common if tenants use water. We lay out the service room so the utility company can read the meters easily.
It depends on the building size, the occupancy and sprinklers. A wall between tenants may need a rating, and the building official decides. We ask early so the wall type is in the first drawing.
Per square foot it is often similar, but the extra walls, doors and utilities add cost. The advantage is income spread across several tenants. We can price both options for your lot.
Yes, if the plan leaves an end wall free and the utilities are sized for more. We design the end wall as a removable frame so the next phase matches the first.
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.