Big Top Brewing: A 14,000 Sq Ft Pre-Engineered Metal Building in Sarasota, FL

Redesigned From Conventional Construction to PEMB Without Re-Permitting

Building Overview

The design was already permitted. The cost estimate came back over budget. The financing environment shifted mid-project.

Three problems that usually stop a commercial build. This one kept moving.

Big Top Brewing is a 14,000 square foot pre-engineered metal brewery, restaurant, and retail facility in Sarasota, Florida. The building combines full-scale beer production, a taproom, a kitchen, and a connected outdoor patio into one structure that has to work as a working production environment and a welcoming hospitality space at the same time. The design was originally drawn for conventional construction with steel columns, joists, and decking. We redesigned it as a PEMB to fit the permitted footprint exactly — same dimensions, same rooflines, same masonry facade — without triggering re-permitting.

The Challenges

A Permitted Design That Came in Over Budget

The conventional construction design had cleared permitting before the cost estimate came back. When it did, the numbers were over budget. On a project that has not yet permitted, a cost estimate over budget can be solved by redesigning. On an already-permitted project, redesigning risks triggering re-permitting, which restarts approvals and extends the schedule by months.

The problem was narrow: find a structural system that costs less, fits the permitted design exactly, and does not require re-permitting.

A Team New to PEMB

The owner, the architect, and the general contractor had not worked with pre-engineered metal buildings before. PEMB systems carry structural and dimensional characteristics that do not always translate one-to-one from conventional construction drawings. Without that knowledge worked into the redesign, the structural solution risked producing its own round of revisions.

Coastal stepped in as the technical partner on the PEMB side. The rest of the team stayed in their lanes.

A Shifting Financing Environment Mid-Project

The financing environment shifted mid-project in a way that put the project’s funding timeline in question. On a brewery build where equipment lead times, permit validity, and lease obligations are all tied to a schedule, a financing disruption of any size can cascade into delays that are difficult to recover from.

Preserving the Design Intent Across a Full Structural Swap

The permit was approved for a specific footprint, specific elevations, specific rooflines, and a masonry facade. The PEMB redesign had to match every one of those elements. On paper, that is an engineering problem. In practice, it is a discipline problem — the redesign had to find cost savings in the structure without touching anything the permit had approved.

The Solutions

On the budget and permitting question, we redesigned the structural system as a PEMB engineered to the permitted footprint exactly. Dimensions held. Rooflines held. The masonry facade held. Nothing that the permit had approved was altered. The savings came from the structural system swap, not from trimming the design.

The masonry cladding was a specific challenge inside that redesign. PEMB systems are sometimes perceived as incompatible with masonry finishes. They are not, but the connection detailing, load transfer, and facade attachment all have to be engineered for it from the start. We worked those details into the PEMB design so the completed building reads as the masonry structure the permit approved and the client had signed off on.

On the PEMB knowledge gap, we sat with the architect and the GC through the redesign rather than handing them a new set of drawings and expecting them to work through the implications alone. Questions got answered in real time. Decisions got made together. The redesign came out of the process as a shared solution rather than a Coastal solution the rest of the team had to adapt to.

On the financing disruption, we offered flexible payment terms to the client while the financing situation stabilized. That is the same decision shape we made on 5M Livestock when pandemic-era steel escalation hit, and on Speed Williams when a third-party foundation error surfaced. If the default response costs the client money, the right response is often the one that costs us something instead. Build a company on that decision shape consistently and the same clients keep calling.

The Result

Big Top Brewing was delivered on time and within budget. The building that opened to the public is, from the outside, indistinguishable from the conventional construction design the permit was approved for — same footprint, same elevations, same masonry facade. The structural system underneath is different, cheaper to build, and engineered to perform the way a working brewery needs a facility to perform.

Three problems that usually stop a commercial build did not stop this one. What started as a referral became a relationship. That is the measure of the work on a project like this.