Commercial steel building cost per square foot
Shell and turnkey cost per square foot for commercial steel buildings in DFW and East Texas, by size band, with what moves the number inside each band.

Warehouses, retail strip centers, multi-tenant buildings, industrial shops, flex space and agricultural facilities. Engineered, permitted, poured, erected and finished by one contractor.
Large-span, high eave, dock doors and drive-in ramps. The bread and butter of steel.
Storefront glass, separate utilities, flexible bay sizing. Built to attract quality tenants.
Demising walls, individual entrances, separate services, tenant-specific finish-out.
Heavy floors, tall doors, three-phase power, wash bays and hard-surface aprons.
Front office buildout with open warehouse behind it. Built for service businesses.
Hay barns, equipment storage, livestock facilities and processing buildings.













Includes engineered frame, roof and wall panels, slab and foundation, doors, erection, permits and basic site grading. Dried in and usable.
| Building size | Per SF |
|---|---|
| 1,500 - 2,999 SF | $52 - $68 |
| 3,000 - 4,999 SF | $46 - $58 |
| 5,000 - 9,999 SF | $38 - $50 |
| 10,000 - 19,999 SF | $32 - $42 |
| 20,000 SF and up | $27 - $36 |
Shell plus insulation, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, interior framing and finishes. Move-in ready. Use type moves the number more than size does.
| Building size | Warehouse, light industrial | Retail, office, flex |
|---|---|---|
| 1,500 - 2,999 SF | $98 - $125 | $125 - $165 |
| 3,000 - 4,999 SF | $88 - $112 | $112 - $148 |
| 5,000 - 9,999 SF | $78 - $100 | $100 - $132 |
| 10,000 - 19,999 SF | $68 - $88 | $88 - $118 |
| 20,000 SF and up | $60 - $78 | $78 - $102 |
Shell at $32 - $42 per SF is $320K to $420K. Turnkey at $68 - $88 per SF is $680K to $880K. Where you land inside that depends on eave height, door count, insulation spec, site conditions and county.
Clear span. Eave height. Number and size of overhead doors. Storefront glass. Insulation package. Slab thickness and loading. Wind exposure. Soil. Site grading and drainage. Fire suppression if occupancy requires it.
Not included in any number we quote. On rural East Texas land these routinely add $30,000 to $100,000 or more before we pour anything.

Shell pricing runs $27 - $68 per square foot depending on size. Turnkey runs $60 - $165 per square foot depending on size and use type. Bigger buildings cost less per foot because the fixed costs spread further.
A shell is the slab, the frame, the roof and wall panels, the doors and the windows. It is dried in and usable but empty. Turnkey adds insulation, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, interior framing, drywall, finishes and restrooms. It is move-in ready.
Steel erection runs two to four weeks once the frame is on site. The full schedule is driven by engineering, permitting and lead time on the building package, then by the interior finish. Plan six to ten months from signed contract to occupancy on a typical commercial job.
We start at 1,500 SF of finished commercial space. Below that a kit supplier will beat us on price and you should let them.
Yes. Sealed structural drawings, foundation design, permit submittal and inspections are part of the scope. Requirements change by city and county across our service area, so we handle each one to that jurisdiction.
Yes. Our shell and turnkey numbers both include the engineered slab and foundation. A lot of published metal building pricing excludes it, which is why those numbers look so much lower than ours.
Rigid frame clear spans run to about 150 feet with no interior columns, which covers warehouses, retail centers and equipment buildings. Past that you are into specialized framing and the cost per foot climbs.
Yes. Hay barns, equipment storage, livestock facilities and processing buildings are a regular part of what we do. Open, semi-enclosed or fully enclosed, built for how a working operation actually uses a building.
Yes. Demising walls, separate utility services, individual entrances and tenant-specific finish-out are all normal scope. i30 Builders does commercial tenant improvement work as its core business, so the finish-out side is not a stretch for us.
Shell and turnkey cost per square foot for commercial steel buildings in DFW and East Texas, by size band, with what moves the number inside each band.
Who issues the permit, what a Texas jurisdiction actually wants to see, what changes outside city limits, and what the whole process costs in time.
What a dried-in shell includes, what turnkey adds, what the gap costs, and how to tell which one is right for your project before you sign anything.
What clear span means in a steel building, how far it can go, what it costs, and when a column line is the smarter answer than a wider frame.






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