CMU For Flex · Small Bay Industrial Basecamp

CMU For Flex

Has anyone built a flex industrial building using load-bearing CMU walls instead of PEMB?

I'm considering this for our next project. Most jurisdictions in my market require around 50% masonry on visible walls anyway, so it seems redundant to pay for the PEMB structure and then add masonry to the outside.

PEMB lead times have gotten scary, and costs keep going up with tariffs and inflation. With CMU, you could also paint the interior walls and leave them exposed, eliminating the interior framing.

My sense is the overall cost would be pretty similar, but you'd end up with a more solid building.

I'm attaching a few photos of a building here in Raleigh that used this approach, although they added brick veneer over the CMU, which I'd like to avoid.

Anyone have firsthand experience with this? Curious how the costs and construction timelines compared. Thanks!

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CMU For Flex