Commercial Construction in Port Lavaca, TX

In an AE zone you can floodproof a commercial building instead of raising it

You are putting up a shop, an office, a storefront, or a yard for your crews, and your lot is somewhere on the Calhoun County flood map. A house on that lot has to sit above the base flood elevation. A commercial building has a second option, and it is usually the cheaper one.
NTEX Construction builds commercial space in Port Lavaca and across Calhoun County, out of our shop 46 miles northwest in Goliad. Family owned and operated, so an owner answers the phone and an owner runs your job. Call (361) 645-4000 and tell us what you are building. For a house rather than a commercial building, start with new home construction in Port Lavaca.

What we build for Port Lavaca businesses

Offices

Everything from a two-room insurance office to a full floor of workstations.

Retail and storefronts

Bare shell turned into a storefront that pulls people in off the highway.

Shops, warehouses, and yard buildings

Metal or concrete, dock height or slab on grade. Plenty of this work belongs to contractors who serve the plant at Point Comfort and need a shop and a yard office close to the gate.

Clinics and medical offices

Exam rooms, labs, and waiting areas built to the clearances an inspector measures.

Churches, schools, and community buildings

Sanctuaries, fellowship halls, and classrooms.

Restaurants and event space

Kitchens, dining rooms, and patios built to sit in the wind off the bay.

Mixed use

Retail on the ground floor, offices or a unit upstairs.
Not sure which bucket you fall in? Call. We will tell you straight if it is our kind of job.

A roof left open in September is a bet

Hurricane season runs June through November, and the back half of it is the part that matters here.

So we sequence the job around it. Dry-in is the milestone we chase, and on a build that starts in spring we push to have the roof on and the envelope closed before the water in the Gulf gets warm. When a job has to run through the fall, we stage materials so nothing expensive is sitting in an open bay waiting on a delivery truck.

The other half of the schedule is your doors. A store shut down for a remodel is a store making nothing. Sometimes we phase the work so half your floor stays open, sometimes we work nights, and sometimes we stack the loud, dusty part into one short window instead of letting it drag across a month.

Tell us what you cannot afford to shut down, and what you cannot afford to have open in October. We build the schedule around both.

Four approvals stand between you and a slab

Inside the city limits, plans go to Development Services at 202 North Virginia, phone 361-552-9793. Out on county land, Calhoun County handles the floodplain permit and the septic system. Either way, the state has two things to say about a commercial building.

City plan review, and your contractor on file

A commercial permit application needs the signed form, plans submitted digitally along with printed labeled sets, and a contractor already registered with the City of Port Lavaca. We carry the registration, so that is one less thing waiting on you.

Floodproof it or raise it

In an AE zone a non-residential building can be made watertight below the base flood elevation instead of elevated, which keeps your floor at grade and your loading dock usable. It takes a floodproofing certificate signed by an engineer. In a VE zone that option goes away and the building goes up on an open foundation.

The windstorm certificate covers commercial too

Calhoun County sits in the state windstorm catastrophe area, so a commercial building needs the same Certificate of Compliance a house does before a carrier will write wind and hail on it. The application goes in before work starts, and the inspector sees the fasteners and connections while they are still open.

State accessibility review at $50,000

Cross $50,000 in construction cost anywhere in Texas and the project goes to the Department of Licensing and Regulation, gets a plan review by a registered accessibility specialist, and gets inspected once it is built. The fee to register is $175.

We carry all four. Call any day of the job and you will get a straight answer on where each one stands.

Flat ground, slow drainage, and a slab that has to carry weight

Calhoun County is flat and drains poorly. Loam on the surface, cracking clay underneath, and through the cool season the water sits close enough to grade to matter.

A commercial slab feels that more than a house does. You are asking it to hold racking, a forklift, a delivery truck at the dock, or forty parking spaces, and clay that swells and shrinks will find the weak spot. Ground that drains slowly also decides where your parking lot sends water after a four-inch rain, and whether that water leaves the site or stands against your building.

We start with the dirt. Soil work first, a slab and pavement section engineered for the loads you actually put on them, and a drainage plan drawn before anybody pours.

Metal buildings specified for salt air

A lot of commercial work in Calhoun County is metal. Shops, storage, small warehouses, and yard buildings.

A metal building ordered out of a catalog for a site in Central Texas will not last the same number of years three miles from Lavaca Bay. Salt air gets into fasteners, flashing, door tracks, and anywhere two dissimilar metals touch. We spec coastal-grade coatings, the right fasteners, and details that let the building shed water instead of holding it.

Then there is the wind. The frame, the anchor bolts, and the sheeting screws all have to hold the numbers the windstorm inspector is checking for, and a building that was never engineered for this coast will not pass.

We do the whole thing. Slab, anchor bolts, erection, doors, insulation, and the interior if you want office space inside it.

How a commercial job runs with us

We meet on site

You show us the space or the lot. We pull your flood zone before we leave, because it changes the whole conversation.

We draw and price it

The drawing and the price land on your desk at the same time.

We get it engineered

Structural for the wind, the slab for your loads, and the floodproofing details if your lot calls for them.

We handle the approvals

City plan review, county floodplain permit and septic, the windstorm application, and state accessibility registration once the job clears $50,000.

We schedule around you

Phasing, after-hours work, and a dry-in date set with hurricane season in mind.

We finish and hand it over

Weekly updates, and you can walk the site any day you want. Final inspections, the accessibility inspection, your windstorm certificate, punch list. We fix the list before you open.

What Our Neighbors Say

Quality service and construction! Corey and Jake have done a few remodeling jobs for us! We have been very pleased with every one of them. These gentleman keep their word and make sure the job is done right! I would highly recommend NTEX Construction for any of your construction needs!

Marilyn Miller Frost

NTEX did a major remodel for me and did an excellent job!!! All the contractors were pleasant and easy to work with. And their work was top-notch. I recommended them to friends who ultimately used them and they too were very pleased with their work!!!

Caren Adamson

NTEX recently did a remodel of our Sacristy and Narthex at Christ The Victor Lutheran Church. We were very pleased with the work they did. The men were friendly and courteous - and they cleaned up after themselves. We will definitely consider using them for other projects!!!

Christ Victor

I highly recommend NTEX construction. I have worked with NTEX on one major office build, one bathroom remodel, and am currently working with them on 2 bathroom remodels. Our office was completed in record time and is amazing. The bathroom remodel is spot on and was done in a very timely manner despite many other things going on. The current projects are on mark and looking to be completed on time.

I love working with everyone at NTEX. They do quality work, are very timely, and fun to work with!

Natalia Ivon Gonzalez

Ready to build in Port Lavaca?

Bring us the lot, the lease, or the sketch on the back of an envelope. We will pull the flood map, tell you what it takes, what it costs, and how long you will be down. Call (361) 645-4000 or send us a message. We answer. For work on a building you already own, see home remodeling in Port Lavaca.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does a commercial build take in Port Lavaca?

It depends on size and how much approval the job needs. A finish-out inside existing walls moves fast. A new building on raw land takes longer, and the slow part is usually engineering and plan review rather than the construction. We give you a real schedule up front and tell you the day it changes.

Does my commercial building really need a windstorm certificate?

If you want wind and hail coverage on it, yes. Calhoun County is one of the fourteen counties in the state catastrophe area, and the Certificate of Compliance is what makes a building eligible. The application has to go in before construction starts, because the inspector needs to see connections and fasteners before they get covered up.

What does dry floodproofing actually mean?

Making the building watertight below the base flood elevation, so walls resist water and openings can be sealed. It is an option the flood rules give non-residential buildings in an AE zone as an alternative to raising the floor, and an engineer has to certify it. It is worth pricing both ways, because keeping your floor at grade often saves more than the floodproofing costs. In a VE zone it is off the table.

Do I have to deal with the city and the county myself?

Yes. City plan review, the county floodplain development permit, septic on a county lot, the windstorm application and inspections, and the state accessibility registration once the job clears $50,000. You sign where we point.

Why does a $50,000 job trigger an extra state review?

Because Texas puts the threshold there. Past $50,000 in construction cost the project is registered with the Department of Licensing and Regulation, a registered accessibility specialist reviews the plans, and an inspector checks the finished building. Door widths, restroom clearances, ramps, and parking all get measured. Registration is $175. We draw to the standard from the first sketch, which is a lot cheaper than widening a doorway in week twenty.

NTEX Construction

NTEX Construction builds commercial space the right way. We serve Port Lavaca, TX and the surrounding areas with professionalism and pride.

Connect With Us

Whether you have questions, would like a quote, or are ready to start your project, submit the form or call us at (361) 317-7385 to get in contact with us.