Healthy Food Delivery : The Secret Behind Why Costco Stores Get Built So Fast

Stepping into a Costco Wholesale for the first time can be a little overwhelming. For starters, they’re massive with aisles that seemingly span miles. It makes sense considering that you’ll need a lot of space for a store famous for selling all of its items in bulk quantities and volume.

But did you know Costcos are actually quite quick to be built? Costcos typically take about 110 days to be completed due to the company’s relatively straightforward warehouse design and construction methods that contractors have spent decades refining.

Learn how Costco warehouses take shape so quickly and why the work shoppers see represents only part of the process.

Why Costco’s Design Makes Construction Faster

One major feature in Costco design is something called tilt-up construction, which involves casting large concrete wall panels horizontally on-site before lifting them into place with cranes. Costcos are essentially just large concrete slabs with tall concrete walls and an open interior, making them more straightforward and quicker to build than similarly sized structures like hotels, apartment buildings, or office buildings.

Crews can use the slab as a work surface while forming the concrete wall panels that will eventually surround it. Tilt-up construction also allows contractors to overlap different phases of a project instead of completing each stage before starting the next.

Once the exterior shell and structural system are in place, construction crews can quickly move to interior systems and finishes, including electrical and mechanical systems, refrigeration, and interior finishes.

All Costcos have nearly identical floor plans, meaning architects and contractors spend less time redesigning the building for each new location.

Why a New Costco Can Still Take Longer Than It Looks

While 110 days does seem relatively quick for a project with the scope of a major retail location, there are things that can delay that time frame, and it doesn’t necessarily represent the entire process of developing a new Costco.

A new location will require local zoning or land-use approvals, engineering, utility planning, grading, drainage work, road improvements, including potentially new roadways, and building permits before crews reach the most visible stages of construction. The 110-day figure only accounts for the time once construction of the warehouse itself begins.

Other variables like extreme weather, supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and other unforeseen circumstances can also slow the construction schedule.

But once the site is ready and crews begin building the warehouse, progress becomes much easier to see.

Years of refining, standardized warehouse designs, and efficient construction methods have made it possible for Costcos to be built so quickly and efficiently. Which means less time locals have to wait before they can fill up on cheap gas, grab a $5 rotisserie chicken, order a $1.50 hot dog combo, stock up on bulk groceries, and leave with far more than they planned to buy.