I’ve got a decent sized shop in a rural area that I started my first company out of. It was a fab shop and it’s not exactly beautiful to look at given the hundreds of thousands of pounds of steel that have traveled through it. It’s also a dead-simple building. Open space, no office, insulation on the ceiling, overhead doors, and that’s pretty much it. But, I was recently approached by a local welder to rent it from me. It was an idea I had been toying with already, but it got me wondering: Is there merit to building a super simple product like this ($65/sq ft all-in) for the guys that get booted out of flex parks? Most parks don’t want auto guys, welders, and even with a push for 3 phase power, I wonder how many folks actually want light manufacturing in their park. Is there a number at which you could build/acquire for these guys? Curious what others have seen. I visited a park just like this for a new client who wants to add more buildings. They had no paving, just rock, and one swale to handle drainage. There weren’t even gutters on the buildings. They had homemade canopies over the personnel doors and a park FULL of guys doing dirty work. My price to add additional buildings, perform basic site work and add a yard was around $65/ft. Curious to hear thoughts from others.

Water pipe dropped at our site in Anna! Underground utilities going in on a project for @Erik Drentlaw. Our company is grateful for the opportunity to be his GC! Storm utilities also arriving, but limestone has been kicking our butts lately. We've got heavier implements onsite now to handle it. Pushing ahead!

We've encountered an interesting challenge on a recent project in our design pipeline requiring articulations along the road facing side. The city is calling for what may be some deep articulations (4-5' deep) every 50' along the building. Curious if anyone else has encountered this and how they put a positive spin on it to maintain as much rentable space as possible.

On the phone with a client yesterday who is concerned about creating the most value possible constructing their park. A couple of amenities came up and I am interested to hear if others have had experience increasing (or decreasing) their returns by having these items. Fire Suppression As it's well known, fire suppression is not always required by county fire marshal's and those building outside the city take advantage of this cost saving opportunity. But, have you encountered difficulty selling a park to another investor or institution by not having fire suppression? Structural Integrity It should be a given that a building is engineered prior to erecting, but some methods achieve "engineer's approval" but without the same tier of material usage as others. Wood framing has been discussed, and cable bracing in metal buildings is common. Has either of those methods hurt your sale to an institutional buyer in the past? For example, we were discussing portal framing vs cable bracing to achieve the same result. Cable bracing is vastly cheaper, but reduces the flexibility for changes in that bay later. Portal framing, on the other hand, is much more flexible in what can be done in the wall later because it follows the columns and rafter rather than creating a giant X in the bay. Spray foam, wood vs steel stud framing, landscaping, etc are all areas where a faster/less expensive options appears better, but could bite you later. I'm not passing a personal judgment on these matters, just curious really as to what OGs have seen around here. Are there other areas that have saved you money, but harmed a larger sale later? This information is very helpful for me to share with clients when value engineering and designing the space.

These have been a topic of discussion on a recent project for us. They are kind of boring, but kind of expensive, and you might be required to put them in your park. F.D.C. stands for Fire Department Connection and is a supplemental system to your base fire suppression system in the building. The fire department can force additional water into the building in the event of a fire when the base system needs additional support. The catch is that while an FDC at the building is often accounted for in your base suppression system, a remote FDC is often required. Not really sure why, except it may be due to safety and proximity to a burning building. If you know, mention it below. How much do they run? Typically around $350/ft. *Gut punch* The location is approved by the fire marshal after he reviews the civil plans, and he may not have the same financial incentive you do to reduce the distance of that line... Just be sure to ask when drawing up the plans so it doesn't get missed during your preliminary budget phase!