Houston Commercial Architecture & Engineering

Commercial architecture and engineering fees are usually a percentage of construction cost. Full architectural services typically run 6 to 12 percent, MEP 1.5 to 4 percent, and structural 1 to 3 percent. Feasibility and programming are often a fixed-fee study. Use the estimator above and the commercial architectural services cost guide.

Architecture, MEP engineering, and structural engineering, paired with construction, so design and build are one accountable team. We take projects from feasibility and programming through schematic design, design development, construction documents, permitting, and construction. See architectural design-build.

Design-build typically compresses a program 15 to 30 percent against design-bid-build and reduces change orders, because the people designing the building are accountable for building it. Budgeting and constructability happen during design, not after, so the drawings match the budget. See the case for design-build and what a design-build contractor does.

Yes. TCG is licensed in all 50 states, including Texas, and coordinates licensure and stamping through the Texas Board of Architectural Examiners and the Texas Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors. Integrated delivery means one team is responsible for the design and the build across the full project.

Houston is the only major US city without zoning, so a project is shaped by Chapter 42, deed restrictions and private covenants, and Harris County floodplain rules instead of a zoning map. Setbacks, parking, lot coverage, and stormwater detention come from those, so we confirm the deed restrictions and Chapter 42 requirements for a site at the very start of design.

Greater Houston sits on expansive gumbo clay that shrinks and swells dramatically with moisture, which can crack slabs and damage buildings if the foundation is not engineered for it. We design foundations, usually post-tensioned slabs or drilled piers, from a geotechnical report, and coordinate structural and architectural design together so the building performs over time.

The Gulf Coast is a hurricane wind region, so buildings are designed to ASCE 7 wind loads with windstorm detailing, and many sites fall in or near a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area, which drives finished-floor elevation. Harris County Atlas 14 rainfall standards require on-site stormwater detention. We coordinate elevation, wind, and detention from preconstruction.

Feasibility and programming, schematic design, design development, construction documents, and permitting support, with construction administration during the build. We run early budgeting and constructability reviews during design so cost and drawings stay aligned. See preconstruction services.

Yes. We provide feasibility studies, programming, and pre-design pro formas as fixed-fee work, which lets an owner test a site or concept, including its floodplain and detention realities, before committing to full design. It is the cheapest place to find a problem.

Schematic design through construction documents typically runs 3 to 7 months depending on size and complexity, followed by City of Houston and Harris County permitting. Feasibility and programming run a few weeks. Design-build overlaps later design with early construction activity to save time.

Houston and Greater Houston including Sugar Land, The Woodlands, Katy, and Pearland, plus Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio. TCG provides integrated architecture and engineering across all 50 states.