Project Planning
- Preconstruction budget and schedule review
- Permitting, inspections and owner reviews tracked to closeout
- Specialty trade partners scheduled, coordinated and supervised by our superintendent
- Closeout records, warranties and as-built drawings delivered with the building
A pro forma only holds if the dirt, the permit and the lender's draw schedule agree with one another. Developers rarely get hurt by the building itself. They get hurt by the month a utility extension surprises the budget, or the week a review board asks for a different parapet. We try to sit down with a developer before the land closes, walk the parcel, read the soils report with them and talk through which approvals stand between the purchase and a first footing.
New Mexico gives developers three very different canvases. At Mesa del Sol, the master planned community on Albuquerque's South Mesa, the site is described as 12,900 acres with a master plan covering 9,000 acres over a forty year span and about 18,000,000 square feet of office space. That scale rewards a builder who can deliver one pad cleanly and be ready for the next. Elsewhere the canvas is a single pad beside a state highway, or a city-owned lot offered on a lease.
We build the shells, the site work and the first-generation tenant finish, and we are comfortable being one of several trade partners on a larger campus. Our job is to keep the number you underwrote close to the number you spend, and to tell you early when it is drifting.
Where New Mexico Developers Are Placing Pads and Parks
In Rio Rancho, Mayor Gregg Hull told a March 2025 NAIOP roundtable that the city had seen $6 billion in investment over ten years, with the Unser Gateway area around Unser and Westside boulevards drawing new retail, housing and commercial pads. For a developer, that means a corridor where the utilities are being extended parcel by parcel, and where a national or regional retailer may already be shopping the same frontage.
Out along I-40 the shape changes. The City of Moriarty offers lots for long or short term lease at its business park beside the interstate, zoned for light and heavy industry and commercial office. A lease changes the underwriting, because the building must earn its cost back inside a term rather than over a hold period, and it often points a developer toward a simple flex or light industrial building that can be re-let without much alteration.
What Actually Moves a Developer's Budget Before Vertical Work Begins
On a New Mexico pad, the surprises are almost always horizontal. Caliche layers can turn a simple utility trench into a slow rock-chipping exercise, arroyos and drainage easements decide where the detention basin must sit, and off-site extensions of water, sewer or electric can cost as much as a small building. We price those items as unit rates with clear allowances and keep them apart from the building number, so a lender or an equity partner can read them separately.
We also ask developers to decide early how much of the interior they intend to finish. A cold shell, a warm shell and a turnkey suite each carry different risk, and the tenant improvement allowance has to be sized against the market. Our preconstruction estimating work usually starts with a conceptual number built from the site plan, then tightens through each design milestone until a guaranteed price can be offered.
Code Years, Entitlements and the Calendar They Create
Two state codes matter on almost every commercial pad. The 2021 New Mexico Commercial Building Code adopts the 2021 International Building Code as amended and took effect July 14, 2023. The 2021 Commercial Energy Conservation Code, which adopts the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code as amended, took effect January 30, 2024, and permits are now issued only under it. A design started before those dates and revived later can quietly be out of date.
Local entitlements are a separate clock. Zoning, platting, access permits where a state highway is involved and any design review each have their own agenda dates. We use our permitting and entitlements experience to build a realistic calendar, then show it to the developer next to the construction schedule so the two can be read together.
Phasing Shells, Tenant Finish and Lender Draws
Developers often want the shell standing quickly so leasing can show a real building rather than a rendering. We sequence site work, foundations and the envelope so the structure is weather tight early, then hold the interior in a state that lets a tenant choose layouts. Monsoon season matters here, because a pad that is graded and left open in July will teach everyone about drainage faster than any report.
When a tenant signs, the clock changes. The tenant improvement trade partners work from the landlord's base building, coordinate with the tenant's own designer and keep the lender's inspector informed. We would rather call a short delay in a draw meeting than hide it in a pay application.
Once the Buildings Are Open, the Ownership Changes
Most developers eventually hand a project to someone who will operate it, and we try to build with that person in mind. Roof access, mechanical clearances, drainage that does not pond against a dock door and finishes that can be touched up all matter to property management firms long after the ribbon is cut. We write those details into the closeout so the manager receives drawings and warranties that match what was built.
Developers with an eye on freight corridors also talk to us about speculative buildings for logistics and distribution users, where dock count, truck court depth and clear height set the rent. We will price those variables side by side so you can see what an extra four feet of height actually costs.
Talk Through Your Next Parcel With Us
Send us the parcel, the intended use and the date you need to be open. We will respond with a plain description of what we see, the approvals that will matter and a first view of cost, before you commit to anything.
Questions Owners Ask
How early should a developer bring in a builder?
Before the land closes if you can. A builder who has walked the site can tell you whether the geotechnical report, the utility availability and the review path support the schedule in your pro forma. That conversation is free of design commitments and often changes which parcel you choose or how you phase it.
Can you work on ground we lease rather than own?
Yes, and it happens often on city, county and tribal land. The lease terms drive the schedule, since many leases set dates for starting construction and for opening. We read those dates with you and build a schedule that protects them, and we coordinate with whichever authority controls site approval.
Do you build for speculative projects with no tenant yet?
We do. A speculative building is designed to be flexible, so we favor generous clear heights, standard bay spacing and finishes that survive a change of tenant. We also keep a list of long-lead items you can hold or release depending on how leasing is going.
What do lenders typically ask of the contractor?
Lenders usually want a detailed schedule of values, lien waivers with each draw, evidence of insurance and an inspector who can verify progress. We organize our pay applications to match the loan documents from the start, so the draw process is routine instead of a negotiation each month.
How do you control cost on a long master plan like a large campus?
We treat each pad as its own project but carry forward what we learned about soils, utilities and subcontractor pricing. Unit costs from one phase become the check on the next. Where the master plan allows, we also build shared infrastructure once, so later pads connect rather than dig again.