If you’ve been thinking about a commercial construction project — a new church building, a retail location, an office expansion, or a community facility — the best decision you can make right now is to pick up the phone before the fall schedule closes. At Aday & Associates, we’re actively meeting with owners, developers, churches, and businesses evaluating projects for 2026 and 2027. Our fall construction calendar is being built today, and the window to get on it is shorter than most people expect.
This isn’t a soft sell. It’s a reality check from a team that’s been building Texas commercial projects since 2009.
“Planning Today” Isn’t a Slogan — It’s a Construction Deadline
The phrase “Planning Today. Building Tomorrow.” isn’t a marketing language for us. It describes exactly how commercial construction works in practice.
Every building you see go up started with a planning process that kicked off six to twelve months before equipment ever arrived on site. Permits don’t process overnight. Structural drawings take time. City approvals, utility coordination, and site surveys all happen before a single load of concrete gets poured.
When a new client calls us in October wanting to break ground in January, we have an honest conversation. In most cases, that timeline isn’t realistic. The ones who call us now — in the summer — are the ones who actually hit their target dates.
Did You Know? Permit processing times across the Austin-Round Rock metro have stretched significantly over the past two years due to unprecedented development demand. In some municipalities, commercial permit reviews are running 10 to 14 weeks just for the initial approval cycle — before any revisions or resubmittals.
Who We’re Meeting With Right Now
Our “Planning Today. Building Tomorrow.” push is aimed at four specific groups, and if you’re in any of them, this article is written for you.
Churches and Faith-Based Organizations
Church construction is unlike any other commercial project type. Boards vote. Committees form. Capital campaigns run. Congregations weigh in. By the time a faith-based organization has organizational alignment to move forward, the planning window is already tighter than it should be.
We’ve built religious facilities across Central Texas, and the consistent lesson is this: start the contractor conversation before the capital campaign closes — not after. Our commercial general contracting process is built to accommodate the longer decision timelines that come with faith-based projects, and we know how to hold a schedule while your leadership works through approvals.
Retail and Restaurant Operators
If you’re expanding a retail footprint or opening a new location, your lease timeline and your construction timeline need to be synchronized. A retail operator who signs a lease expecting a 90-day build-out and then discovers the permitting alone takes 12 weeks is in a difficult position.
We’ve built multiple retail and restaurant locations in Texas — including several Andy’s Frozen Custard locations — and we know how to align construction delivery with your opening date obligations. The key is getting us into the conversation before you sign the lease, not after. Our design-build services are especially effective here because a single integrated team can move faster from concept to permit to construction than a fragmented design-bid-build process.
Commercial Developers and Property Owners
If you’re a developer evaluating a 2027 delivery date on a commercial project, the site planning, civil engineering, and pre-construction work needs to start now. Dirtwork, site utilities, and site preparation have their own long lead items — utility company coordination alone can add months to a project schedule if it’s not started early.
Our planning and development services are designed to compress pre-construction timelines without cutting corners, and our dirtwork, concrete, and site utilities capabilities mean the same team handling your pre-construction plan is also executing your site work — no handoff, no gaps.
Business Owners Building Their First Commercial Facility
For a business owner who’s never gone through a commercial build, the process can feel overwhelming. What’s a realistic budget? Do I need an architect first? What’s a design-build contractor versus a general contractor? How long will this actually take?
These are exactly the questions our pre-construction consulting process is designed to answer — before you’ve spent a dollar on design. We’ve helped first-time developers build everything from medical facilities to community centers, and we approach first-time clients the same way we approach repeat clients: as teammates, not transactions.
Pro Tip: Before you meet with any contractor, write down three things: your target opening date, your rough budget range, and what “success” looks like for this project. You don’t need finished plans. A good contractor will use those three inputs to give you an honest assessment of what’s achievable — and what isn’t.
What the Aday Difference Actually Means on a Job Site
We put “Design. Build. Partner.” at the bottom of everything we produce because it describes the three phases of how we work with clients — not three separate services to choose from.
Design means we’re involved before the drawings are final. We identify constructability issues, value engineering the budget, and protect the schedule before a shovel hits the ground. Build means we execute with the standards that earned us the Best of Round Rock 2025 award in the construction category — quality work, on time, on budget. Partner means the relationship doesn’t end at the final walkthrough. Our clients call us years after a project is complete, and we pick up the phone.
That’s not a marketing promise. It’s what Chris Plumpe, President of Andy’s of Central Texas, described when he said that signing up the Aday family for a project means getting “a teammate and network of support well beyond the duration and warranty of the actual project.”
Did You Know? Aday & Associates recently won 1st Place in American Buildings’ 2026 Excellence in Design Awards for the Hutto Bible Church project — a Texas design-build project that demonstrates what happens when planning, design, and construction are treated as a single integrated process rather than three separate handoffs.
How to Get on the Fall 2026 Schedule
Getting on our fall schedule starts with a single conversation — not a formal proposal, not a signed contract. Just a 30-minute discovery call or meeting where we learn about your project and give you honest feedback on timeline, budget, and delivery approach.
From there, we can scope a pre-construction consulting engagement, develop a preliminary budget, or move directly into a construction management or design-build contract depending on where you are in your planning process.
What we can’t do is manufacture time. The fall schedule fills based on when we meet with people, not when people are theoretically ready. If you’re evaluating a project for 2026 or 2027, the time to connect is now — not in September when the remaining slots are gone.
Reach us at [email protected] or call 855-499-ADAY (2329). Our team is actively scheduling discovery meetings, and we’d love to learn about your project.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Aday & Associates mean by “planning today, building tomorrow”?
It reflects the reality of commercial construction timelines: the buildings that get delivered on schedule in 2026 and 2027 are the ones whose owners started the planning process months earlier. Pre-construction work — permits, design, site analysis, budgeting — must begin well before construction can start.
What types of projects is Aday & Associates currently scheduling?
Aday & Associates is actively meeting with owners, developers, churches, and businesses considering projects across retail, commercial office, financial, medical, religious, and community facility categories throughout Texas.
How do I know if design-build is the right approach for my project?
Design-build works best when you want a single point of accountability, a faster timeline, and integrated budget control from design through construction. If your project has a fixed deadline or a tight budget, design-build typically outperforms traditional design-bid-build delivery.
Does Aday & Associates work outside of Round Rock, Texas?
Yes. Aday & Associates is headquartered in Round Rock but serves commercial clients across the entire state of Texas, with experience building in multiple municipalities and markets throughout the state.
How much does commercial construction cost in Texas in 2026?
Commercial construction costs vary significantly by project type, scope, and location, but for most ground-up commercial builds in Central Texas, owners should plan for costs in the range of $175 to $350+ per square foot for finished space depending on complexity, finishes, and site conditions. A pre-construction consulting engagement is the most reliable way to develop an accurate project-specific budget.