Pre-engineered steel buildings · Hermosillo, Sonora
SQ Tech designs and fabricates pre-engineered steel buildings in Hermosillo, Sonora, about 175 miles (280 km) south of the Nogales, Arizona crossing. US buyers get an engineered kit with a calculation package for their engineer of record, delivered at the plant, the border or their site. Companies building in Sonora get the same building erected turnkey, foundations included.
Since 1999 · 600+ projects · Stanley Black & Decker, Carlisle, Mainland Headwear, Grupo México
Prefab and PEMB
A prefabricated steel warehouse is a building whose columns, rafters, purlins, girts and roof and wall panels are fabricated in a shop and bolted together on site. Most of the work happens under a roof in the plant; the site work is foundations and assembly.
The industry name for the engineered version is PEMB, pre-engineered metal building: primary frames, secondary framing and cladding designed together for your site, loads and dimensions. Clear-span frames leave the floor without interior columns, which is what racking aisles, production lines and dock doors need. For how a kit compares with a custom or conventional steel building, see kit, pre-engineered or custom.
Two ways to buy
| Item | Kit to a US site | Turnkey in Sonora |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | An engineered kit: frames, purlins and girts, sheeting, trim, fasteners and anchor bolts | The finished building: design, foundations, fabrication and erection |
| Who erects it | Your own crew or a local erector | Our erection crews in Sonora; elsewhere in Mexico, quoted case by case |
| Engineering you receive | Calculation package and drawings for your engineer of record to review and stamp, anchor-bolt plan, erection drawings | Structural calculation report and signed engineering plans for the permit, by our engineers |
| Delivery | Pickup at our plant (FCA), delivered at the Nogales border, or DDP to your site | Built on your site |
| Price basis | Quoted per project; structure-only budget ranges by size in the cost guide | Installed price with foundation; budget ranges below |
Design basis
How the US and Mexican codes compare for wind, seismic design and erection: industrial steel buildings in Mexico, codes and wind design.
Product range
Rigid-frame clear-span and multi-span buildings, crane-ready on request.
Complete engineered packages for your crew to erect: frames, purlins and girts, panels, trim, fasteners and drawings.
Kit sizesC and Z purlins, square-tube and open-web trusses, columns and bracing to your design.
Beams, columns, plate work and connections from your approved shop drawings, welded to AWS D1.1.
Contract fabricationGalvanized and painted sheeting, insulated sandwich panel and KR-18 roof systems.
Budget ranges
Installed prices for turnkey buildings in Sonora, by size. Size, cladding, cranes and the foundation move a project inside its range.
| Building size | System | Budget range | Per sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000–5,000 sq ft | Modular / Storage | $12,000–$90,000 USD | $12–$18 USD/sq ft |
| 5,000–20,000 sq ft | Pre-engineered PEMB | $80,000–$440,000 USD | $16–$22 USD/sq ft |
| 20,000–60,000 sq ft | Industrial PEMB | $360,000–$1,800,000+ USD | $18–$30 USD/sq ft |
Buying a kit for a US site instead? Structure-only ranges by footprint are in the steel building cost guide, and the eight standard sizes are in the kit size matrix.
China to Mexico
The building does not have to change. Send the supplier's drawings or spec sheet (frame profiles, purlin sizes, sheeting gauge, connections) and we re-engineer it to the same geometry and to the loads your engineer of record specifies, fabricate it in Hermosillo and truck it north. There is no ocean leg, no port drayage and no container minimum.
| Item | Sourced overseas | Fabricated by SQ Tech in Sonora |
|---|---|---|
| Getting it to a US site | Ocean freight, port handling and drayage | A truck from Hermosillo, 175 miles from the border |
| Minimum order | Full containers | One flatbed |
| Engineering | The supplier's standard, often re-checked for your permit | Designed to the loads you specify, with a calculation package for your engineer of record |
| Design changes | Across an ocean and many time zones | Same clock as Arizona |
| Origin documents | Issued by the overseas supplier | Mexican origin, mill test reports, USMCA certification where the product qualifies |
For pickup at the plant or delivery at the border, your customs broker confirms the duty for your HTS classification before you order; with DDP, duty is part of our delivered price.
Projects
Manufacturing and industrial buildings in Sonora, with their area and the steel that went into them. Each project page is in Spanish.
Nogales, Sonora
Foundation and steel design, fabrication and erection of the manufacturing building, with a long-span joist roof, plus metal roof and wall cladding.
Project page (in Spanish)
Nogales, Sonora
Foundation and steel design, fabrication and erection of the main building and an internal mezzanine on steel deck with arc-welded shear studs.
Project page (in Spanish)
Agua Prieta, Sonora (across from Douglas, Arizona)
Built-to-suit design-build: executive design, foundations, fabrication and erection of the steel frame and the metal roof of the manufacturing building.
Project page (in Spanish)
Cananea, Sonora
Structural design, fabrication and erection of long-span tubular steel arches carrying a metal roof on purlins.
Project page (in Spanish)Press release · · EIN Presswire
“We deliver architectural design, IBC-compliant engineering drawings, fabrication, and border delivery — from one company, at Mexican fabrication costs.”
Questions
Installed in Sonora with foundation and site work, typical September 2026 budget ranges are $12–$18 per sq ft for 1,000–5,000 sq ft storage buildings, $16–$22 per sq ft for 5,000–20,000 sq ft pre-engineered buildings and $18–$30 per sq ft for 20,000–60,000 sq ft industrial PEMB. At those rates a 10,000 sq ft warehouse budgets at about $160,000–$220,000. A range is not a quote: yours states the design loads, the scope and a validity date. For a structure-only kit shipped to a US site, see the steel building cost guide.
A pre-engineered metal building is a steel building system whose primary frames, secondary framing (purlins and girts) and cladding are designed together for your site, loads and dimensions, fabricated in a shop and bolted together on site. Tapered built-up frames put steel only where the loads need it, and clear-span frames leave the floor free of interior columns. We fabricate PEMB frames in our Hermosillo plant; clear spans and eave heights are quoted per project.
Yes, as an engineered kit. Our plant is about 175 miles (280 km) south of the Nogales–Mariposa crossing, and every kit is quoted three ways: pickup at the plant (FCA), delivered at the Nogales border, or delivered duty paid (DDP) to your site. Your own crew or a local erector puts it up. How delivery works.
Your engineer of record. We design to the IBC edition your jurisdiction has adopted and to ANSI/AISC 360-22 (AISC 341-22 where seismic provisions apply), and send the calculation package and drawings for your engineer of record to review and stamp. SQ Tech does not provide a US professional engineer's stamp.
Every building is designed for the wind speed of its own site: per ASCE 7 as your code references it in the US, or per the Mexican wind provisions (NTC) for a building in Mexico. Where the calculation calls for it, coastal sites get heavier connections, bracing and anchorage. The design wind speed is printed on your quote and documented in the calculation package for your engineer of record (US) or in the structural calculation report (Mexico). Codes and wind design.
Yes. Stanley Black & Decker's 344,000 sq ft (32,000 m²) plant and Carlisle's 438,000 sq ft (40,725 m²) plant in Nogales are steel buildings we designed, fabricated and erected, and Mainland Headwear's 181,000 sq ft (16,805 m²) plant in Agua Prieta was a turnkey design-build. For a plant in Sonora we take the building from design and foundations through erection. Manufacturing in Mexico.
Get a quote
Choose a kit for a US site or a turnkey building in Mexico, then send the size (width × length × eave), the site city and the use. Drawings help but are not required. Hermosillo keeps Arizona time (MST, UTC−7, no daylight saving).
