Fireproofing and Insulation
in Texas
Bahl has been a Texas fireproofing subcontractor since 1977, working out of Round Rock. Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Lubbock and the Panhandle, on our own crews and our own equipment.
Fireproofing and insulation,
done properly in Texas.
Bahl Fireproofing opened in 1977 as a fireproofing subcontractor in Central Texas. Home state. Working here since 1977. What travels with the crew is the same install standard: the listed system at the specified thickness, readings taken and logged as we go, and a closeout package the special inspector can work from rather than argue with.
What that means on a Texas bid is a real production rate instead of an optimistic one, the exclusions written down before the job starts, and an honest answer about the schedule. If we cannot hit your date, you hear it during the bid rather than the week it matters.
Five services across Texas
One subcontractor, one submittal package, one company answering for the fire protection and insulation scope on your job.
01Spray-Applied Fireproofing
SFRM for beams, columns, joists and deck, self-performed across Texas.
Schools and universities, Hospitals and medical office, Data centersSee the service →
02Intumescent Fireproofing
Rated coatings for exposed steel, self-performed across Texas.
Lobbies and atriums, Arena and stadium concourses, Airport terminalsSee the service →
03K-13 Sprayed Fiber Insulation
Thermal and acoustic in one pass, self-performed across Texas.
Gyms and field houses, Natatoriums, Cafeterias and commonsSee the service →
04Spray Foam Insulation
Closed and open cell, commercial envelope, self-performed across Texas.
Backyard shops and barns, Barndominiums and garages, Homes and additionsSee the service →
05Core-Fill Masonry Insulation
Foam-in-place for CMU cores, self-performed across Texas.
Schools and gyms, Churches, Fire stationsSee the service →What we are usually fireproofing in Texas
School districts
Bond-funded K-12 and higher education across Central and North Texas, where the summer window is the entire schedule and the building has to be ready for students on a fixed date.
Data centers
The DFW and Central Texas corridors are building server halls faster than anyone can staff them. Rated steel, MEP rooms and envelope work, on a commissioning date that does not move.
Healthcare
Hospitals and medical office buildings in Austin, San Antonio and Houston, usually in an occupied building with infection-control protocol running the whole time.
Distribution and cold storage
High-bay warehouses along I-35 and I-45, plus the cold storage where the Gulf humidity makes the vapor retarder the entire job.
Where we work in Texas
Our crews travel out of Round Rock to the job. These are the markets we are in most weeks. If your project is somewhere else in Texas, ask, because we probably still bid it.
Austin
Home market. Schools, healthcare, mid-rise and the tech corridor build-outs.
Round Rock
Where the shop is. Same-week mobilization across Williamson County.
See Round Rock →Dallas-Fort Worth
Distribution, data centers, healthcare campuses and school districts across the Metroplex.
Houston
Institutional, industrial and cold storage, plus the humid-climate envelope work that comes with it.
San Antonio
Healthcare, higher education and hospitality, north side to the medical center.
Lubbock
Higher education and Greek housing, plus West Texas retail and agricultural buildings.
See Lubbock →Amarillo
Panhandle warehouses, cold storage and school construction.
Waco
Campus work, retail anchors and the I-35 corridor between Austin and DFW.
Melissa
North Texas school district construction. Melissa High School and Sumeer Elementary are both ours.
See Melissa →Celina
Municipal and public safety buildings on schedules that do not move. Celina Fire Station No. 3 is ours.
See Celina →San Angelo
Healthcare and higher education across the Concho Valley. Shannon Women's and Children's Hospital is ours.
See San Angelo →Plainview
School construction and agricultural-industrial buildings on the South Plains. Plainview Elementary is ours.
See Plainview →Jarrell
School and corridor construction twenty five minutes up I-35 from the shop. Igo Elementary is ours.
See Jarrell →El Paso
Border-region distribution and institutional work, on request.
Texas work you can drive past
Texas is not one jurisdiction.
It is a few hundred.
Austin, Lubbock and some North Texas suburb can all be on different code editions with their own amendments on top. We call the plans examiner before we price it. That is why our number holds after award instead of turning into a change order in month three.
What the code situation actually is in Texas
Texas has no single statewide commercial building code. Cities adopt their own edition of the International Building Code, so Austin, Houston and a small Panhandle municipality can be running three different editions at once, each with its own local amendments. We confirm the adopted edition and the amendments with the authority having jurisdiction before we price the job, which is why our number does not move after award.
Climate Zones 2A and 3A across most of the state, with 4B out west. The heat and the humidity are coming in, so on the insulation side the vapor control belongs on the outside of the assembly.
How a Texas job runs
Drawings in
Send the plans and the spec sections. We confirm the jurisdiction, the adopted edition and the local amendments in Texas before we price anything.
Bid out
A real number with the exclusions in writing, plus your prequal packet filled out and returned with it.
Submittals
Product data, listed designs and thickness schedules, packaged once for whichever of the five services you handed us.
Mobilize
Crews on the date we committed to, with the headcount the production rate assumed.
Install and log
Readings taken as we go, not reconstructed later, and other trades sequenced around instead of blocked.
Closeout
Thickness maps, batch records and daily reports handed over as one package.
Texas questions
Do you work all of Texas or just the metros?
All of it. Austin, Round Rock, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and the rest of the state are regular work, and our own crews travel rather than a local sub carrying our name. If your project is somewhere else in Texas, ask, because we probably still bid it.
How fast can you mobilize in Texas?
Austin and the Williamson County suburbs are usually same week once submittals clear. Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio go on the crew rotation and we give you the honest date rather than the one you want to hear.
Which general contractors have you worked for in this region?
We work for Joeris, Bartlett Cocke, Vaughn Construction, Crossland, DD&B Construction and Western Builders, among others. We are prequalified with most of the regional GCs building here and we will complete a new prequal packet and return it with the bid.
Can you do the fireproofing and the insulation scope on the same Texas job?
That is the point of using us. Fireproofing, intumescent, K-13, spray foam and Core-Fill are all self-performed, so one submittal package and one company covers the whole scope instead of four subs coordinating around each other on the same ceiling.
What does commercial fireproofing cost in Texas?
It depends on the required rating, the steel sizes, the access and the schedule. Any contractor who gives you a per-square-foot number without seeing drawings is guessing. Send the plans and the spec sections and we will price the actual scope.
Whose code applies on a Texas job?
Texas has no single statewide commercial building code. Cities adopt their own edition of the International Building Code, so Austin, Houston and a small Panhandle municipality can be running three different editions at once, each with its own local amendments. We confirm the adopted edition and the amendments with the authority having jurisdiction before we price the job, which is why our number does not move after award.
Do you work in occupied buildings?
Regularly. Healthcare renovations, occupied campuses and phased retail. Containment, protection of finished work and coordination around the other trades are part of the scope, not an extra line.
Are you licensed and insured to work in Texas?
Home state. Working here since 1977. Business registration and trade licensing are two different things, and we confirm what Texas and the local authority having jurisdiction require for the specific scope before we bid it rather than after. We carry commercial general liability, commercial auto, workers compensation and umbrella coverage, and certificates go out with the bid. Send your insurance requirements with the drawings.
From the Bahl library
Austin commercial fireproofing contractor
Read the guide →
IBC Table 601 fire resistance ratings
Read the guide →
SFRM special inspection: what IBC Chapter 17 requires
Read the guide →
Commercial fireproofing cost per square foot
Read the guide →This page describes Bahl Fireproofing's scope of work and general code context. Requirements, adopted code editions and inspection procedures vary by jurisdiction and project; confirm them with your licensed architect or engineer and the authority having jurisdiction. Nothing here is a warranty of a building's compliance or a substitute for the approved construction documents.
The rest of the territory
Six states. How each one adopts code is the part that changes, so each state page starts there.
Code is adopted at the state level through the Uniform Building Code Commission, so one adoption governs Tulsa and the Panhandle alike. The state amendments are where the differences live.
Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Norman, Broken Arrow and more
The statewide adoption, and our Oklahoma markets→Home-rule cities set their own edition, so the building code changes at the city limit. The fire code does not: the State Fire Marshal adopts that statewide.
Wichita, Overland Park, Olathe, Kansas City metro and more
City code, statewide fire code, Kansas coverage→No statewide building code, so Phoenix, Tucson and Flagstaff are three separate conversations. Licensing runs the other way, statewide through the Registrar of Contractors, and we hold it.
Phoenix, Tucson, Mesa, Chandler and more
The ROC licence, and how Arizona code splits→One State Building Code sets the standard in every city, township and county, so the edition does not change at the city limit the way it does in Texas or Kansas.
Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester, Duluth and more
One state code, Twin Cities to Duluth→A single statewide Commercial Building Code, chapters SPS 361 through 366, administered by DSPS. One code, one set of rules, and one of the more predictable states to bid in.
Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Appleton and more
SPS 361 to 366, and our Wisconsin markets→Bidding a Texas project?
Call, email, or send the drawings through the form. All three land in the same place, and Ross reads them.