Public work is bid in the open, paid on pay applications and inspected by people who answer to a council or a commissioners court. Cities, counties, special districts and state agencies in Texas buy water lines, storm drainage, sidewalks, streets and public buildings through a procurement process that rewards a contractor with clean paperwork, a responsive project manager and crews that keep the public safe.
We build the concrete, utility and earthwork portions of those projects: curb and gutter, ADA ramps, sidewalks, box culverts and headwalls, storm and sanitary sewer, water mains, detention basins and the grading behind them. We bid as a prime where the work allows and as a subcontractor to a general contractor when the owner has packaged it that way.
This page explains how we handle public procurement, funding, inspection and community impact, and what the money coming into Texas water and flood infrastructure means for the schedule on your next project.
Procurement, specifications and inspection
The Texas Comptroller's Statewide Procurement Division helps state and local governments buy through statewide contracts and publishes opportunities through the Electronic State Business Daily, the Centralized Master Bidders List and the TxSmartBuy ordering system. Many city and county buyers follow their own procurement rules, but a contractor who is registered and responsive to the state's tools is better placed to see the work. We keep our vendor registrations current and read every addendum before the bid date.
Public specifications also bring their own testing and submittal requirements. Compaction tests, cylinder breaks, pipe deflection, hydrostatic or air tests and manhole vacuum tests are scheduled with the owner's inspector and signed off before backfill or pavement is placed. Accessible routes built on public projects must meet the Texas Accessibility Standards when the cost reaches the registration threshold of $50,000. See our ADA ramps and accessible routes page.
Funding, bid alternates and unit prices
Municipal budgets are fixed by bond elections, grant awards and capital improvement plans, so we help owners compare bid items fairly. We price by unit and show what drives the number: depth of the trench, depth of rock, pavement thickness, dewatering and traffic control. Bid alternates for pavement type or pipe material let an owner see the trade-offs before committing.
Water funding is changing the pipeline. Texas voters approved a constitutional dedication on November 4, 2025 of up to $1 billion per year from existing sales tax revenue, beginning in 2027, for water supply, pipe repair, reuse and flood mitigation, administered by the Texas Water Development Board. Transfers occur only when sales tax collections exceed $46.5 billion in a given year, so the schedule of awards will vary, and a contractor who can mobilize quickly when a program is funded has an advantage. The water main installation crews we coordinate are set up for that kind of work.
How we run a public work site
A public project is a neighborhood event. We deliver notice letters ahead of work, keep driveway access, schedule water shutoffs with the utility and the affected property owners, and respond to resident calls the same day. Our superintendent keeps a log of the conversations, because the city council's staff will ask for it.
Our project manager also joins the owner's progress meetings in person and brings the lookahead, the submittal log and the open requests for information, so the city never has to chase us for an answer. We keep the paperwork accurate. Certified payroll, material submittals, bonds, insurance certificates and pay applications are due on schedule, and change orders carry quantity backup. When the owner's engineer asks for a field adjustment, such as shifting a manhole to avoid a conflict, we price it promptly and keep the work moving. For storm projects we use the practices described on our storm drain installation page.
Flood risk, drought and drainage that shape public schedules
Flooding is the problem that most often puts a project on a city's agenda. The Texas Water Development Board says the first state flood plan was built from 15 regional flood plans involving more than 350 planning group members and over 550 public meetings, and the board approved the amended regional plans on March 5, 2024. That plan produces a pipeline of drainage and detention projects that local governments will carry out over time.
Local history motivates the same investment. In El Paso, a 2006 storm dropped a year's worth of rain in two days, causing more than $200 million in damage and $115 million to the city's stormwater system, and the city council created a stormwater utility in 2008. Projects like this involve channel work, inlets, storm trunk lines and detention basins, and they include a detention and retention pond scope where land is available.
Traffic control, trench safety and public protection
Open excavations beside a street or sidewalk need more than a cone. We set up temporary traffic control plans approved by the owner, use trench shields or sloping to meet excavation standards, keep trenches covered or plated at night, and keep walkways open and accessible when the project crosses a pedestrian route. Dust and mud control follow the stormwater pollution prevention plan.
Public owners increasingly request workforce training records and incident reporting. We provide both. For cities with a school, hospital or industrial customer along the route, we coordinate closures with the facility so deliveries, buses and emergency vehicles can pass. Related owners are described on our schools and healthcare owners and utilities and energy companies pages.
Add us to your bid notification list
Send us the solicitation or ask to be added to your vendor list. We will attend the pre-bid meeting and return a complete, unit-priced proposal.
Common Questions
Do you bid as a prime contractor on city projects?
We bid as a prime on projects where the work we manage makes up most of the scope, such as streets, sidewalks, drainage and water line packages. For larger buildings or mixed scopes we work under a general contractor.
How do you handle bonding?
We provide bid, performance and payment bonds when the owner requires them. We share a bonding capacity letter with the bid and are open about the size of projects we will take on at one time.
What happens when we find an unmarked utility?
We stop, protect the line, notify the owner and the utility, and document the conflict with photos and survey. Then we propose a fix and price any change. Potholing ahead of the trench reduces these surprises.
How do you keep a bond-funded project on schedule when weather interrupts?
We build rain days into the baseline schedule, protect open trenches and exposed subgrade before storms, and re-sequence to dry areas first. If the owner's calendar is tied to a grant deadline or a school year, we say so at the pre-construction meeting and agree which pay items get priority. Reports at every progress meeting keep the owner's staff ahead of any slip.
Can you work within a city's local amendments to the building code?
Yes. Texas law allows cities to adopt amendments by ordinance, and some also adopt later editions of the codes. We confirm the adopted edition with the building official before we bid vertical work or slabs.