Automotive
Automotive construction
Dealerships are three operations in one building: a showroom that sells, a service drive that runs all day, and a parts and workshop area behind both.
Chapter 01
Showroom glazing and daylight
A showroom is a glass box with vehicles in it, and the glazing does most of the architectural work. It has to show the stock from the road, bring in daylight, and not turn the room into an oven through an Oklahoma summer.
Getting that balance right is a question of orientation, glass specification and how the space is conditioned, decided together rather than one after another.
Elk City Honda dealership in Elk City, Oklahoma, red and gray metal with showroom glazing
Service drive and bay layout
The service drive is where a dealership actually earns, and it runs at volume. Vehicles need to arrive, be received under cover, move through to the bays and come back out without crossing the customer route more than necessary.
Bay count, spacing and equipment positions follow from throughput. So does the waiting area, which is the one part of the service operation the customer judges directly.
Chapter 03
Building to a manufacturer image program
Franchised dealerships are usually built to a manufacturer's image standard covering materials, colors, signage and often the showroom layout. Those standards are detailed and they are not negotiable at the building stage.
The practical approach is to get the current standard in hand at the start and design to it, rather than designing first and reconciling afterwards.
Sawatzky Construction has been building in western Oklahoma since 1954. Call the Weatherford office on (580) 772-5563.
Built and standing
The one on the books, and you can go and look at it
Elk City Honda
Elk City, OK
Talk it through with a construction manager
Tell us the building type, the town and roughly when you want to be in it. Somebody who runs jobs will call you back from the Weatherford office.