Free planning tool
Commercial Bay Development Planner
Thinking about building a row of commercial bays? Work through it the way a development consultant would: rough out the budget, design the bay module, clear the zoning and code questions, and plan utilities bay by bay — then send the finished plan to contractors for quotes.
Executive overview & budgeting
Start with a baseline budget
Size the investment before you design anything. The formula is simple — the hard part is knowing what it leaves out.
Average construction cost
$50 to $200 per sq ft
A rough national range for the building and bay build-out. It excludes land costs, heavy engineering, and site-specific utility extensions. Local labor, materials, and code requirements move the number — treat it as a starting point and confirm with local bids.
Toward $50
- • Pre-engineered metal shell
- • Unconditioned bays, minimal finishes
- • Standard slab, simple site
Middle of the range
- • Insulated envelope, unit heaters
- • Restrooms, 3-phase power
- • Thicker reinforced slab at lift bays
Toward $200
- • Full climate control, office/showroom finishes
- • Floor drains + oil-water separators
- • Masonry or architectural façades
Budget calculator
Gross building area. The bay stepper in step 2 updates this too.
An allowance for unknowns on top of the baseline. Set 0 to leave it out.
Rough baseline budget
Baseline = total sq ft × cost per sq ft
5,600 sq ft × $100 = $560,000
- Baseline construction
- $560,000
- Contingency (10%)
- $56,000
- Planning budget
- $616,000
National range for 5,600 sq ft
Excludes land, heavy engineering (poor soils, deep foundations, retaining walls), and site-specific utility extensions (bringing water, sewer, gas, or 3-phase power to the site).
Interactive floor plan design
Design the bay module
Four questions every architect will ask. Your answers update the drawings and carry through the rest of the plan.
Question 1
What will the bays be used for?
Use drives everything downstream — clear height, doors, slab, drains, and HVAC. Picking one applies its recommended specs; you can change any of them.
Question 2
Bay dimensions & clear height
The standard small-bay module is 12–14 ft wide by 40–50 ft deep, with 14–16 ft of clear ceiling height so tenants can run vehicle lifts.
Standard: 12–14 ft · within standard
Standard: 40–50 ft · within standard
Standard: 14–16 ft · within standard
8 bays fit in 5,600 sq ft
14′ × 50′ = 700 sq ft per bay
Question 3
Doors & entry
Commercial overhead doors set what can drive in. The common vehicle-bay spec is a 12′ × 14′ vertical-lift door — the high track keeps the door clear of a raised vehicle.
- • Personnel door in every bay for code egress and day-to-day access — not just the overhead door.
- • Insulated sectional doors for heated bays; rolling steel doors where there's no room for ceiling track.
- • Bollards at the jambs protect door frames from vehicle strikes.
Headroom: a 14 ft door under 16 ft clear needs a vertical-lift or high-lift track rather than standard track. Confirm the configuration with your door supplier.
Question 4
Slab & structural loads
Plan a 4-to-6-inch-plus reinforced concrete slab, fiber-mesh or rebar, sized for the heaviest vehicles and equipment tenants will bring in.
- • Lift anchoring: lift manufacturers publish a minimum slab thickness and concrete strength. Check before the pour, and thicken the slab locally at lift locations if needed.
- • Rebar resists cracking under concentrated wheel and outrigger loads; fiber-mesh controls shrinkage cracking and suits lighter use.
- • Soils first: a geotechnical report drives the final design — your structural engineer sets thickness, reinforcement, and joint layout.
Core compliance & site checklist
Clear the site and code issues early
These are the items that stall permits and blow up budgets when they surface late. Tick each one off as you confirm it with your design team and local officials.
0 of 11 reviewed
Checklist
Zoning & site design
Checklist
Compliance & safety
Utilities & systems strategy (MEP)
Plan power, plumbing, and HVAC per bay
Every bay should stand on its own: its own meters, its own drops, its own heat. Retrofitting any of these after the slab is poured is the expensive way.
Electrical
Metering & 3-phase power
Recommended for shops — lifts, compressors, and welders run on it.
• Size each bay's panel for the heaviest plausible tenant, and run spare conduit (EV charging, future upgrades) while trenches are open.
Plumbing & gas
Gas, water & sewer drops
Needed for gas-fired unit heaters; separate or sub-meter it per bay.
- • Separate or sub-metered electricity, gas, and water for every bay, so each tenant pays for what they use.
- • Stub a water line and a sanitary sewer drop to every bay — even roughed in — so a future restroom or sink doesn't mean saw-cutting the slab.
- • Decide early between a restroom in every bay and a shared restroom core; it changes plumbing runs and ADA scope.
Environmental
Floor drains & oil-water separators
For trades & light workshop:Check locally
Shops that wash down floors or handle oils may need drains and a separator; dry trades often don't. Your sewer authority decides.
- • Many municipalities and environmental agencies mandate oil-water separators wherever floor drains could carry oil, fuel, or solvents.
- • Drains, trench lines, and the separator are set before the pour — confirm requirements with the local sewer authority during design.
Mechanical
HVAC strategy
Cold storage and an active workshop need very different systems.
Get contractor quotes
Send your plan to contractors
Ready to price it for real? Send this plan and we'll pass it to contractors and builders who can bid on it. Prefer to keep it to yourself? Everything above works without submitting.
Your plan
Contractors receive this summary along with everything you enter in the form.
- Use
- Trades & light workshop
- Building
- 5,600 sq ft · 8 bays
- Bay module
- 14′ × 50′ · 16′ clear
- Doors
- 12′ × 14′ overhead
- Slab
- 5″ fiber-mesh
- Utilities
- Separate utility meters · 3-phase · gas
- HVAC
- Unit heaters
- Budget
- $616,000 ($100/sq ft + 10%)
- National range
- $280,000 – $1,120,000
Planning guidance only. Costs are a rough national range and codes vary by jurisdiction — confirm every figure with licensed design professionals, your contractors, and the local building department.