Austin Medical Office, ASC & Healthcare Construction

Austin metro medical construction runs $185 to $640 per SF depending on use. MOB $200 to $450, urgent care $260 to $450, imaging suites with shielding $330 to $510, ASC $380 to $640, medical TI $185 to $500. The Austin multiplier is about 0.98 to 1.12x of national. Use the cost estimator above and the national MOB cost guide.

No. Texas does not have a Certificate of Need program, so MOBs, ASCs, urgent care, imaging suites, and most outpatient facilities can be built without the CON review that adds 6 to 18 months in restrictive states. Texas regulates through licensing by the Health and Human Services Commission and the Department of State Health Services, but there is no state gatekeeper on market need. This makes Texas one of the fastest states in the country for healthcare construction.

Austin is one of the fastest-growing metros in the country. The Dell Medical School at UT Austin anchors academic medicine, Ascension Seton and St. David's HealthCare hold the major hospital footprints, and Baylor Scott and White and Texas Health add more. Fast population growth in Williamson and Hays counties drives MOB, ASC, urgent care, and freestanding ER construction across the metro.

Medical office buildings, ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), urgent care clinics, freestanding emergency departments, imaging suites with shielded vaults (MRI, CT, X-ray), dental offices, optometry offices, veterinary clinics, dialysis centers, and medical tenant improvements. See the core healthcare sector page and the urgent care cost guide.

MRI suites need RF-shielded vaults, vibration isolation, magnet quench piping, and temperature-stable HVAC. CT and X-ray rooms need lead-shielded walls, doors, and view windows. We coordinate equipment vendor (Siemens, GE, Philips, Canon) shielding rough-in from schematic design. Texas does not require a CON for imaging, so vendor lead time and plan review set the schedule, not state approval.

Central Texas has expansive clay soils that shrink and swell with moisture, so medical buildings need engineered foundations, often post-tensioned slabs or piers, designed from a geotechnical report. The hot, humid, cooling-dominated climate drives oversized dehumidification for clinical humidity control, and Winter Storm Uri in 2021 is a reminder to harden critical systems against rare extreme cold.

City of Austin review can be slow, so suburban jurisdictions like Round Rock, Cedar Park, and Georgetown are often faster. Texas HHSC and DSHS licensing for ASCs runs in parallel with construction. Because there is no CON, the permitting and licensing path is the schedule, and it is shorter than in CON states.

Texas is right-to-work, which keeps trade pricing competitive. Austin's rapid growth has tightened subcontractor capacity in commercial mechanical, electrical, and specialty medical trades, so the multiplier runs about 0.98 to 1.12x of national. Specialty medical scopes such as shielding, medical gas, and clinical low-voltage follow national specialty pricing.

Ground-up MOB or ASC: 4 to 8 months from intake to permit through Austin or the suburban authority. ASC licensing through Texas HHSC runs in parallel. Medical TI typically permits in 2 to 5 months. There is no CON delay. Design-build overlaps permitting with construction prep.

MOB ground-up: 10 to 16 months from groundbreak. ASC ground-up: 12 to 18 months with Texas HHSC licensing concurrent. Urgent care: 9 to 14 months. Medical TI: 3 to 7 months. Imaging suite TI with a shielded vault: 4 to 8 months. Add 3 to 8 months of preconstruction and permitting. No CON means no extra 6 to 18 month review.

Austin and the metro plus Round Rock, Cedar Park, Georgetown, Pflugerville, Leander, Kyle, San Marcos, and Buda, plus the major Texas markets in San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston. TCG also builds medical across all 50 states.

Yes. Texas has one of the most active freestanding emergency department markets in the country, and FSEDs combine emergency clinical systems, imaging, and sometimes observation space. We build them ground-up and as conversions, coordinating Texas licensing and the clinical MEP from schematic design.