Lab Projects Are a Different Kind of Challenge
Walk through a commercial office building under construction and you’ll see drywall, ductwork, and data cabling moving in sequence, a familiar rhythm that experienced contractors know well. Walk through a lab under construction and you’ll find something else entirely: biosafety exhaust systems intertwined with HVAC, overhead utility corridors dense with specialty piping, vibration-isolated slabs supporting precision instruments, and a regulatory trail that doesn’t end until the last performance test is signed off.
Lab construction isn’t just more complex than typical commercial work — it’s a fundamentally different kind of project. The cost of a misstep isn’t a delay in moving furniture. It’s a delay in operations, regulatory approvals, or worse, a facility that doesn’t perform to specification once researchers move in.
That’s why owner success in lab and life science construction depends less on square footage and more on who is leading the project and how early they get involved.
This guide walks through each major phase of a lab construction project, from the earliest preconstruction conversations to the moment a Certificate of Occupancy is in hand and your team is ready to commence work.
Early Preconstruction & Concept Development
The decisions made before a single drawing is issued are often the most consequential. In lab construction, the preconstruction phase is not a formality, it’s where experienced CM/GCs earn their value.
Feasibility and Constructability
Before design is locked in, a qualified CM/GC should be evaluating the site and concept against actual conditions. Can the building’s existing structure support the live loads of heavy equipment or the dead loads of a rooftop mechanical penthouse? Are utilities available at the capacity the lab will require — power, chilled water, natural gas, emergency generator backup? What are the local fire code and zoning implications for hazardous materials storage?
These aren’t questions that can wait until design development. Discovering a structural deficiency or utility constraint during the construction documents phase can mean costly redesign and delays. Discovering it in preconstruction means designing around it intelligently.
Budget Development
Lab construction costs vary widely, depending on lab type, mechanical density, and finishes. Early budget development grounded in current market data helps owners make informed decisions about program scope, phasing, and value engineering before commitments are made. A CM/GC with recent lab experience brings benchmarking data that generic estimating tools simply can’t replicate.
Partnering with the Design Team
The best preconstruction outcomes happen when the CM/GC is a genuine partner to the architect and engineers — not a passive reviewer. Early involvement in design workshops, user group meetings, and equipment planning sessions allows construction expertise to shape decisions that would otherwise be made in a vacuum. When the structural engineer is sizing beams and the mechanical engineer is routing primary mains, a CM/GC at the table can flag conflicts, suggest sequencing-friendly alternatives, and keep the design buildable.
Long-Lead Procurement & Market Considerations
In standard commercial construction, procurement is largely a mid-project activity. In lab construction, it begins in preconstruction and for good reason.
The Long-Lead Reality
Lab projects depend on specialty equipment and systems with delivery timelines that bear no resemblance to commodity materials. Air handling units with lab-grade filtration, emergency generators with automatic transfer switches, fume hood exhaust systems, autoclave equipment, clean steam generators, and biosafety cabinets can carry lead times of 6-12 months or more. In a market still experiencing supply chain pressure, “or more” is increasingly the norm.
A CM/GC who doesn’t flag this reality until construction documents are issued is setting the project up for a compressed schedule or worse, a facility that’s structurally complete but sitting idle, waiting on equipment.
Early Ordering Strategy
The solution is a proactive long-lead procurement strategy developed in parallel with design. This means identifying critical equipment early, issuing letters of intent or early purchase orders before full construction documents are complete, and coordinating delivery windows with the construction schedule so equipment arrives when the project is ready to receive it — not before (creating storage and damage risk) and not after (creating schedule delay).
This requires close coordination between the CM/GC, the owner’s procurement team, and equipment vendors. It also requires a CM/GC experienced enough to know which items belong on the long-lead list — and which vendors have the capacity to deliver.
Market Awareness
Beyond lead times, lab projects are sensitive to market conditions that affect skilled labor availability, specialty subcontractor capacity, and material costs. A CM/GC with active lab project experience understands these dynamics and can advise owners on timing, packaging, and bid strategy to attract the most competitive and capable subcontractors.
Planning for MEP-Intensive Coordination
If there’s one phase where lab construction separates itself most dramatically from commercial work, it’s MEP coordination. Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems in a lab don’t just occupy more space — they require a level of precision and integration that demands rigorous planning.
The Density Challenge
Research labs allocate significantly more space for mechanical systems than a typical commercial office, with even greater demands in specialized environments. The infrastructure supporting laboratory operations — supply and exhaust air systems, process piping, deionized water loops, medical gases, electrical distribution, data and controls — must coexist in limited interstitial space, often requiring coordination to within fractions of an inch.
BIM and Clash Detection
Building Information Modeling (BIM) is not optional on a lab project — it’s essential. A fully coordinated BIM model, developed collaboratively by the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and structural subcontractors under the CM/GC’s coordination, allows the team to identify and resolve conflicts in the virtual environment before they become conflicts in the field.
Clash detection runs are iterative: the model is updated, trades review, clashes are flagged, solutions are developed, and the model is updated again. This process takes time — which is another argument for early CM/GC involvement. A coordination program that begins at the right moment in design development produces a field-ready model. One that begins too late produces change orders.
Installation Sequencing
In a dense MEP environment, sequence matters. Certain systems must be installed before others can access the space. A CM/GC experienced in lab work develops detailed installation sequencing plans that give each trade a clear path without conflict — coordinating not just where systems go, but when each contractor has access, in what order, and how inspections are sequenced to keep work moving.
Schedule Risk Management & Logistics
Lab construction schedules carry risks that aren’t always immediately visible and require experienced insight to identify early. Factors like active site logistics, phasing complexity, and the interdependence of systems demand careful, deliberate planning.
Phasing for Active Sites
Many lab projects — particularly renovation and expansion work at research institutions, pharmaceutical campuses, or hospital-adjacent facilities take place while occupants continue operations nearby. This is among the most demanding conditions a CM/GC can face.
Infection control, vibration control, and contamination prevention aren’t just safety concerns — they’re operational ones. A vibration event during a sensitive assay or a dust infiltration event in a cleanroom doesn’t just create a remediation cost. It can compromise ongoing research or regulatory compliance. The CM/GC’s responsibility is to develop a phasing plan and protective protocols that keep the active facility running without disruption while construction advances.
Access and Site Logistics
Large lab equipment, particularly process utilities, rooftop air handlers, or MRI-class scientific instruments requires access planning that begins at project inception. Crane picks, temporary road closures, dock access for deliveries, and staging areas for prefabrication must all be choreographed around both construction needs and the operating campus’s daily rhythm.
Prefabrication of MEP assemblies, piping systems, electrical, and support systems off-site is increasingly common on lab projects and offers real schedule and quality advantages. But it requires coordination: prefab assemblies must be coordinated with the BIM model and manufactured to match field conditions precisely.
Float and Contingency
Experienced lab CM/GCs build schedule contingency at the right places, not uniformly distributed, but strategically applied at known risk points: equipment delivery windows, systems coordination sign-off, specialty inspections, and commissioning sequences. The goal is a schedule that can absorb the inevitable and still deliver.
Commissioning & Turnover
Commissioning in lab construction is not a final-week checklist. It is a structured, multi-month process that validates the performance of every system before the facility is handed to researchers — and it is the phase most likely to be compressed when a project runs behind schedule, and most likely to create problems when it is.
The Commissioning Process
A rigorous commissioning process for a lab facility typically includes:
- Functional testing of all mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems — verifying that each piece of equipment performs to design specifications individually.
- Integrated systems testing — verifying that systems work together as intended under real operating conditions (including simulated failures and emergency scenarios).
- Environmental and containment verification — confirming that specialized spaces meet regulatory requirements for air pressure differentials, filtration performance, and overall containment integrity.
- Controls and instrumentation validation — confirming that building automation systems monitor, respond, and alarm correctly.
The Role of Commissioning and System Verification
Independent system verification is a critical part of complex lab projects, and an experienced CM/GC understands how to collaborate effectively with all parties involved in that process. The relationship is collaborative, with a shared goal of ensuring building systems perform as intended. Preparing for this phase—through organized documentation, pre-functional checks, and coordination of subcontractors during testing—requires thoughtful planning, clear communication, and disciplined execution to support a smooth and successful transition to operations.
Documentation and Training
Owners receive a substantial documentation package at turnover: as-built drawings, equipment submittals, O&M manuals, controls sequences, warranty documentation, and testing and balancing reports. The quality of this package matters — facilities teams and equipment vendors will reference it for the life of the building.
Training is equally important. The people responsible for operating laboratory systems — facilities staff, safety officers, and in some cases end-users — need hands-on training from qualified technicians before commissioning is complete. A CM/GC committed to seamless turnover ensures training is scheduled, documented, and completed before beneficial occupancy, not after.
The Right Partner Makes the Difference
A Certificate of Occupancy is not the finish line in lab construction, it’s the moment when the building is ready to become what it was always meant to be: a place where scientific work advances.
Getting from early planning to that moment requires a CM/GC with genuine fluency in laboratory systems, regulatory environments, and the operational realities of scientific facilities. It requires early involvement, not late engagement. It requires proactive procurement, rigorous coordination, disciplined schedule management, and an unwavering commitment to a commissioning process that leaves nothing to chance.
At EDiS, our work in lab and life science construction reflects decades of collaboration with research institutions, pharmaceutical companies, biotech firms, and healthcare organizations. We bring preconstruction expertise, market knowledge, BIM coordination capability, and a commissioning-ready mindset to every project because we know that the scientists waiting to move in are counting on every system to perform from day one.
