Forty feet of clear height sounds like luxury until you stack pallets, run a mixer or swing a fixture under a hoist. Then it sounds like the minimum. High-bay buildings exist because production and storage both grow upward, and a lot of Oklahoma businesses decide they need that height only after they have already poured the floor.
A crane-ready building takes the idea one step further. It is designed from day one to accept an overhead crane at a later date, even if the crane is a year or five years away. The frame carries stiffer columns, the foundation allows for crane loads, and the layout keeps a runway path open. When the day comes, you add the runway beams and the crane, not a new building.
We build both: tall buildings for racking and process, and crane-ready frames for owners who want the option. This page explains what we plan for, what it adds to the price and how to decide how much future capacity to buy.
Start with the three numbers that matter: clear height under the lowest obstruction, the heaviest lift you can imagine in the next ten years, and the length of the runway if there is one. Clear height is measured to the underside of the bottom chord, sprinkler piping or lighting, not to the eave, which is a common surprise. If you want 30 feet clear, the eave may need to be 33 or 34.
Then think about the tradeoff between spending now and retrofitting later. Adding a crane to a building not designed for one means strengthening columns, adding brackets, redoing foundations and sometimes taking the building out of service. Adding a crane to a building designed for it is mostly a matter of installing the runway and the equipment. We help you choose a capacity, such as a 5-ton or 10-ton allowance, rather than pay for a heavy crane that may never come.
In the frame, it means column sections sized for the added vertical load and the sideways thrust, and mounting points or brackets for runway beams. Where crane columns are separate from the main frame, they are laid out on the same grid. The roof framing is checked for the added load path, and bracing is sized for crane stops and surge forces.
In the foundation, it means footings sized for crane reactions and a slab that handles forklift and wheel loads. Anchor bolt layout carries heavier rods and more of them. We build those details into the first drawing set, the way we would for a building that has a crane today, and our crane and industrial buildings page covers what changes when the crane arrives. The tall frame also builds on the logic of a clear-span building, with no columns in the way of the work.
We keep the layout simple. Even bay spacing, a uniform eave height and a clean envelope make it easy to extend a runway or add a bay. We leave room for an end-wall expansion and avoid putting doors, equipment or utilities where the runway would go. A short list of rules on the drawings says what must stay clear.
We also write down the design assumptions and hand them to you: crane class, capacity, speed, wheel loads, clearance and runway length. That record helps the next engineer, the crane vendor and the insurer. A year from now nobody should have to guess what the building was designed for.
Industrial parks around Oklahoma reflect the shift to tall space. Building 630 at MidAmerica Industrial Park in Pryor is a 274,000-square-foot industrial building with a 40-foot interior clear height and 40 truck docks, built with precast tilt panels, according to the park's newsletter. That is a different structure from ours, but the height tells you what tenants want. See Pryor and MidAmerica for the park.
Manufacturers put height to work in other ways. Goodyear's Lawton plant was reported in 2021 to be building a $50 million expansion that includes a 45,000-square-foot building for an advanced mixer, and Wikipedia notes that Broken Arrow has the third-largest concentration of manufacturers in Oklahoma, which means a deep pool of fabricators and machine shops who need height and lifting. Local detail is on our Lawton and Broken Arrow pages.
Manufacturers use high-bay buildings for assembly lines, tooling, paint booths and stacked work in process. Fabricators use them for plate, structural pieces and finished weldments. Warehouses use height for pallet racking. Aviation and defense users need height for large components. Energy suppliers need space for tall equipment and test stands. Our manufacturing plant page describes the plant layouts we see most.
Each user cares about different features: a manufacturer wants a smooth slab and a clean air path; a warehouse wants sprinklers that suit tall storage; a fabricator wants a runway and a way to move steel outdoors. We start with the work flow and let the building follow it.
Every extra foot of eave adds steel, wall panel and a bit more foundation, but the cost per square foot of usable cube often drops, because the floor and roof cost are spread over more volume. Crane-ready details add a percentage on the frame and foundation. The percentage depends on capacity: a light allowance adds little; a heavy one adds a lot.
Other items move the price too: fire protection for tall storage, taller doors, ventilation to deal with heat at the top and lighting that works at height. We list those separately so that you can decide what to buy now and what to leave for later.
Tell us the height you need and the heaviest load you expect, and we will price a frame with and without crane provisions. For the sector view, read our manufacturing page, or compare shell options on warehouse metal shells.
Eave heights of 40 feet or more are possible, with proper bracing and foundations. The tall frame needs deeper columns and tighter connections, and wind load grows with height. We check the design with the engineer before we price.
Stronger columns or brackets, a stiffer foundation, a framed path for the runway and a written list of the design assumptions. It does not include the runway beams or the crane itself, which are added when you purchase one.
Sometimes, but it needs an engineer. Light-duty hoists on trolley beams often fit existing frames, while bridge cranes may require new columns, new footings or a stand-alone runway structure.
From the finished floor to the lowest obstruction, such as the bottom of a truss, a sprinkler line or a light fixture. It is lower than the eave height. Ask for the number in writing before you sign a lease or buy racking.
Yes. High-piled storage may need a different sprinkler design, in-rack heads or more water. Your insurer and the local fire marshal set the requirement, and the early answer shapes the site plan.
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.