Industrial Design-Build in Cheyenne, Wyoming

Split the design contract from the construction contract and a Cheyenne plant loses weeks it never sees on the schedule. The engineer sizes the transformer, the builder learns the lead time later, and the capacity you needed in month ten is not on the truck until month sixteen. Design-build puts the person who knows the lead time in the room when the one-line diagram is drawn.

We run industrial design-build as a single contract with a fixed process: owner requirements, a basis of design, a guaranteed maximum price at the end of design development, then released packages. The plant manager and the operations lead sit in every design review. The estimator sits next to the engineer.

This model fits owners who know their throughput, their utility load and their opening date, and who want one party accountable for all three. It fits less well when the process is still undefined. We say so early.

Phase one is requirements. We write down tons per hour, pallets per shift, kilowatts, cooling tons, floor loads, clear height and expansion room. Every later decision is measured against that list. Phase two is the basis of design: a site plan, a structural system, a mechanical and electrical concept and a budget that carries real unit prices instead of allowances.

Phase three is the guaranteed maximum price, set with the engineer and our trade partners at the table. Then we release in packages. Earthwork and underground go to field first while the building drawings finish. That overlap is where design-build earns its keep, and it is the reason we start with preconstruction before a contract is signed.

Throughout, one model carries structure, underground and major equipment. Weekly design coordination meetings list open items by trade with a close date. By the time we release the building package, the clash list is empty and the field knows where every sleeve, embed and conduit goes.

The Cheyenne Logistics Hub covers about 2,000 acres southwest of the city with access to BNSF, Union Pacific, I-80 and I-25, and about 1,500 acres were unsold and unoccupied at the end of 2022. Land is not scarce. Power, schedule and people are. The Chamber CEO expects electricity demand to rise about 50% over five years, and the same reporting lists power supply, transmission, housing and workforce as the challenges.

That is a plant-design problem. If the utility can deliver 5 MW now and 15 MW in three years, the building and the yard have to be laid out for the second number from the first day. We plan the switchgear room, the generator pad and the duct bank for the full build-out and construct the first phase. See our logistics hub work for the rail-served variant of this plan.

Design-build only holds a price if the builder controls the critical trades. We schedule and supervise site clearing, excavation, underground utilities, footings, slab on grade and flatwork. We buy steel, precast, roofing, mechanical and electrical from vetted regional trade partners, and we bid each package to at least three qualified firms so the guaranteed price stays honest.

Managing the early work closely gives us control of the first 90 days, which is where a schedule is won. It also gives the engineer real field cost data for the decisions that follow, such as whether a pier foundation is cheaper than a spread footing at a given soil condition.

Savings come from overlap and from avoided rework. Starting underground before the roof drawings finish can pull months off a critical path. Using a single team for structural and civil design cuts coordination errors, and a clash caught on a model costs far less than the same clash caught in a trench.

What design-build does not do is erase scope. A plant with a 40 foot clear height, a 7 inch slab and a 3,000 amp service costs what that plant costs. We keep an owner's contingency visible and report against it every month. If an alternate saves money, it appears as a numbered option with a date by which you must decide.

Design-build wraps a stack of scopes into one agreement. Permitting and entitlements run in parallel with design, because Wyoming has no single statewide building code and requirements vary by jurisdiction; the local building department is the starting point. Procurement, site work, building, systems and commissioning and closeout run in sequence behind them.

The same structure supports a logistics fulfillment center, a manufacturing line or a support building at a compute campus. For the first type, our logistics and distribution clients usually care most about dock count, trailer parking and truck circulation, which we settle in the basis of design.

Four decisions cannot wait: the utility service size, the floor spec, the expansion direction and the fire protection approach. Each changes the site plan. A sprinkler design for high-piled storage, for example, can demand a larger fire pump and a bigger tank, and that changes the pad, the yard and the budget. Our data center clients add cooling water and generator fuel storage to the same list.

We hold a decision log from day one. Each entry has an owner, a due date and the cost of waiting. When a decision slips, the log shows the price in days.

Wind is the quiet one on this list. High plains wind shapes door orientation, canopy depth, and where a dock faces, because a 105 mph design speed and a loaded trailer in a gust are a bad combination. We raise it during site planning, not after the dock doors are framed.

Send throughput, load and date targets. We will return a basis-of-design outline and a phased schedule.

When is guaranteed maximum price set?

At the end of design development, usually around 60% drawings. By then the structural system, the site plan and the major equipment are fixed. We keep a visible contingency and report against it monthly.

Can design-build start before the building is fully designed?

Yes. Grading, underground and foundations are released first. We sequence the design so the earliest scopes finish first, and the owner approves each release package before we commit money.

Who carries design risk?

Under a single contract, the design-build team holds coordination risk between the engineer and the builder. Owner-driven changes remain with the owner. The contract spells out what falls on each side before any package is released.

How do we compare design-build with bid-build?

Bid-build is cleaner when drawings are complete and the owner has time. Design-build is faster and gives earlier price certainty on complex plants. We will price both if you ask.

How does the schedule compare to bid-build on a plant of this type?

Overlapping design and field work commonly recovers weeks, sometimes months, on a plant with long-lead equipment. The exact gain depends on how early the owner locks the process and the service size. We show the overlap on the schedule so you can judge it before signing.

What do you need from us to start?

Process flow, throughput, utility loads, floor loads, clear height, expansion plans and the target date. If the parcel is chosen, send the survey and any geotechnical report.