The steel shell is the easy part of a small plant. What takes the time is the six hundred square feet in the corner where somebody has to sit, answer the phone, hold a meeting and use a restroom. Owners often treat that office as an afterthought, then find out it needs a plan review, a separate air system, an accessible route and an electrician who actually showed up.
We build office space inside metal buildings as part of the same job, or as a follow-on once the shell is up and the business has moved in. That includes ground-floor offices, mezzanine offices over a shop, break rooms, restrooms, locker areas, training rooms and reception counters. Because we erected the shell, we know where the columns, girts and slab joints are, and we plan around them.
This page covers how we frame the space, what the city will ask for and what makes the total change.
The cheapest time to plan an office is before the frame is ordered. A column in the wrong place is a nuisance; a missing mezzanine support is a rebuild. We ask for the staff count, the number of private offices, the conference needs, where visitors enter and where the trucks go. From that we place the office along an exterior wall so it gets windows and a door to the parking lot, and keep it out of the path of forklifts.
If the office is added later, we work around what is there. We scan the slab for conduit and plumbing, locate columns and bracing and check the roof framing for rooftop unit loads. Where the building is not designed for a new load we bring in the engineer, so the answer is on paper before we cut anything.
Typical scope is metal stud framing, drywall, insulation, ceilings, doors and frames, flooring, paint and trim. On top of that come the trades: electrical, lighting, data and phone rough-in, plumbing for restrooms and a sink, and a heating and cooling system. Offices inside a big steel building also need a thermal and sound break, because the shop is loud and the bay doors let in dust and air.
For two-story arrangements, we build a steel mezzanine and put the office on it. That frees ground-floor space for work, gives the supervisor a view of the floor and keeps the office out of the way of trucks. Our mezzanines and platforms page explains the framing and stairs. Wall surfaces facing the shop can use liner panels for a clean durable finish.
Oklahoma does not require a state license for general contracting, but the Construction Industries Board does require trade licenses and registrations for electrical, mechanical, plumbing and roofing work. So the electrician, the HVAC contractor and the plumber on a buildout must be licensed, and we use licensed trades and say so in the quote.
Plan review depends on the city. Some towns want sealed drawings for even a small tenant finish; others take a simple plan and a code summary. The state has adopted the International Building Code, while some cities continue to list the editions, so we confirm with the building official. We check the means of egress, accessible restrooms, exit signs, fire extinguishers and any separation between office and shop that the reviewer asks for.
HVAC and electrical often outweigh the walls. A shop with no ductwork needs a new system to condition the office, and a mezzanine office must handle heat that rises from the floor below. Restrooms are costly because of plumbing, accessible fixtures and the slab cutting needed to run drains. We price those first so you know the base cost.
Finishes follow your taste. A plain painted drywall office is modest; a lobby with a reception desk and a glass wall is not. We give allowances for flooring, ceiling tile and lighting, and we hold the line on scope so the number you approve is the number you pay.
Small manufacturers and fabricators are the most common requests. Bartlesville recently moved 15 acres at its industrial park to its development authority for a 20,000-square-foot speculative building, with up to 80,000 square feet possible, the kind of space where a tenant arrives and needs an office carved out. Shawnee's Department of Commerce prospectus describes a 15-acre medium-industrial site with a rail spur. We see similar mixes in manufacturing across the state.
Warehouse tenants, contractors, repair shops and trucking firms also need offices. Our flex and light industrial buildings page shows how front-office space and rear shop space share a single frame. If the shell is not built yet, we can tie the buildout to a warehouse metal shell.
Offices on a new shell usually follow the enclosure: once the roof and walls are closed in and the slab is cured, framing starts. Rough-in, inspections, insulation, drywall, finishes, final inspection. The long lead items are HVAC equipment, doors and any custom millwork, so we order those early. The inspection at rough-in often sets the pace.
For an occupied building we phase the work to keep operations running. Noisy or dusty tasks happen at night or on weekends if needed, and we build temporary walls to hold dust back. Tell us the date you must move in and we will work backward.
Send us a sketch or a list of rooms and the building address, and we will price the buildout and tell you what the city will ask for. If you are still choosing a site, see how it fits our Bartlesville and Shawnee market pages.
Yes. A ground-floor office is simpler and cheaper to build, and it avoids stair and floor-loading questions. A mezzanine only makes sense when floor space is tight or you want a view of the shop.
Almost always. The shop air is usually not conditioned to office standards, and the load is different. A small split system or rooftop unit sized to the office is typical, and a licensed mechanical contractor sizes and installs it.
Reviewers commonly check egress, exit lighting, accessible restrooms, fire extinguisher placement, the separation between office and shop and the energy code. The exact list depends on your jurisdiction, so we ask early.
Yes. We plan the work around your operations and protect equipment. If the building was not designed for the added load, particularly on a mezzanine, an engineer reviews it first.
A basic office of a few rooms can be finished in a few weeks once permits and materials are in hand. Larger offices, mezzanines and custom finishes take longer. We provide a written schedule.
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.