A hotel opens or it does not, and a lender, a flag and a guest list are all waiting on the answer. In McAllen, that pressure is real: convention visitors and air passengers both bring guests through town, and an owner who misses the opening date by a month loses the best weeks of the first season. We plan hotel work backward from that date, with a fully loaded schedule that shows where the float is and where it is not.
We build select-service and extended-stay hotels, full-service properties with meeting space, boutique conversions of existing buildings and the renovation programs brand owners require every few years. A hotel is the most repetitive building type we do, with a guest room module stacked and repeated, and the repetition is where schedule and cost are won or lost. A bathroom pod, a wall assembly or a corridor detail that takes ten minutes less per room saves weeks across a hundred rooms.
The owners we talk to are hospitality groups, franchise investors and developers who need a builder who understands brand standards, furniture, fixtures and equipment procurement, and the demands of a commissioning walk with the franchisor.
Most of a hotel's value sits in the room block, so we spend the first weeks proving the room: a built mock-up with finishes, lighting, HVAC and the bath layout, approved by the owner and the brand before production begins. After that comes the structure, which is typically wood or light-gauge steel framing over a slab for low-rise hotels, with concrete or steel at the base for taller buildings and podium parking.
The public areas have their own demands. A lobby, a breakfast room, a fitness area, a pool deck and often a kitchen all need different mechanical and plumbing designs. We coordinate those systems with the guestroom risers early, because a late move in the lobby can reroute a corridor of piping. Where the property includes a restaurant, our restaurant construction experience carries over to the kitchen and grease systems.
Three local facts shape how owners think about a McAllen hotel. The convention center's exhibit hall is described as 60,818 square feet of column-free, continuous space with a 30 foot ceiling, and the city's budget book lists a 10,000 square foot ballroom and fiscal year 2022-23 attendance of 704,875. Those figures point to a regular flow of event visitors who need rooms close by.
The second is air travel: McAllen Miller International Airport's passenger volume for 2025 is reported at 1,142,842, with 576,034 enplanements. A hotel near the airport serves a different guest from one near the convention center and 10th Street, and we help owners weigh sites with an eye to access, visibility and nearby restaurants. A hotel's meeting space should match what the convention center does not already offer.
Hotel schedules depend on keeping trades in rhythm, so we keep concrete, rough carpentry and drywall coordination close to our own supervision. When one team frames and a second hangs board and a third finishes, the handoffs are tight and the superintendent can move a crew down the floor on a schedule that matches the elevator and hoist availability.
We also manage the less visible items: temporary power, waterproofing at the pool deck, backer and blocking for headboards and televisions, and the fire stopping that inspectors look at carefully in corridor ceilings. Skipping any of them is cheap during framing and costly at inspection, and our daily field checks are designed to catch them while they are still easy to fix.
The critical path of a hotel runs through the long-lead items. Elevators, rooftop units, PTAC or fan-coil equipment, windows and the furniture package all take time, and a delay in one holds up a trade behind it. We create a procurement log at the start and review it weekly with the owner. Construction management at risk is a good fit for hotels, since it brings the contractor into pricing and buyout before the design is final.
Brand reviews are another schedule item. Franchisors inspect at framing, at rough-in, at furniture installation and before opening, and they expect corrections to be complete. We schedule those visits alongside the city inspections and prepare the paperwork ahead of time so a review does not become a delay.
The cost of a hotel scales with room count, but three variables swing it more than expected. The first is the structural system, which depends on height and parking. The second is the quality of the FF&E package, which can differ widely between brands. The third is the amenity level: a pool, a meeting room or a full kitchen can add a disproportionate share of the cost compared with the guest rooms.
We give owners a range early, built from the room count, the brand and the site, and we list the alternates that can reduce the price without breaching brand standards. Because hotel owners often have investors and lenders, we also provide cost reports in the format their draw process requires.
Some of the strongest hotel projects start with an existing building. A vacant office, an older motel or a retail structure can become a boutique hotel if the structure, egress and parking allow it. Renovation and adaptive reuse is a different type of risk, since concealed conditions can add cost, and we offer pre-demolition surveys to reduce the surprises.
Existing hotels also need work: guest room refreshes, lobby remodels and roof repairs, usually scheduled around occupancy. Many hospitality groups choose to renovate a floor at a time, so rooms stay available for sale. For a wider view of how we think about lodging buildings, see our hotel building type page.
Give us the brand, the site and your target opening. We will return a schedule, a range and the items that will most affect both.
It depends on size and structure, but the schedule usually has three clocks: permits and site work, the vertical build, and the FF&E and brand inspections. We give an owner a month-by-month plan after reviewing the drawings. The main thing that extends it is late equipment or a rejected inspection.
We build to the brand's standards and coordinate with the franchisor's reviewers. That includes the prototype, the approved product lists and the required inspections. We prepare for those by tracking each requirement in our checklist.
The airport suits travelers who want quick access and short stays, and the convention center area suits event guests who want restaurants and entertainment nearby. The better site is the one that matches your brand and your target guest. We can compare land costs and construction costs for both.
Yes. We usually take a floor or wing out of service, isolate it with barriers and negative air, and keep deliveries off the guest entrance. Noisy tasks happen during the hours agreed with the general manager.
Long-lead equipment and late design changes. Elevators, HVAC units and furniture all take weeks to deliver, and a change to the room plan after production starts affects every room. We lock the room design with a mock-up before production.