i30 Builders · Trade Partners & Subcontractors
Commercial subcontractor opportunities in DFW and East Texas
A GC looking for subs who can hold a date and price a scope straight. Tenant improvement, build-out, and renovation work. Scope in writing before you mobilize, change orders priced before they are built, and one principal to call.
NAICS 236220 · DFW Primary · East Texas Secondary · Commercial Only
What We Are Looking For
Subcontractors wanted for commercial construction across Dallas and East Texas
i30 Builders is a commercial general contractor. We do tenant improvement, build-out, and renovation for office, retail, medical, and light industrial tenants, and every hour of field labor on those jobs is performed by a trade partner under written subcontract. That is the model. We are not pretending to have a yard full of crews, and we are not going to tell a client that we self-perform trades we do not.
So the bench matters more here than it does at a company with a hundred people on payroll. The subs we work with are the product. If you run a tight commercial crew in one of the scopes below and you can price from a set and hold a date, we want your number in the file before the next bid, not after we have already lost it.
Trades We Bid Out
- Demolition
- Metal stud framing and drywall
- Acoustical ceilings
- Commercial flooring (LVT, tile, carpet, polished concrete)
- Painting and wallcovering
- Millwork and casework
- Commercial doors, frames and hardware
- Storefront and interior glazing
- ElectricalEngaged as a licensed trade partner
- PlumbingEngaged as a licensed trade partner
- HVAC and controlsEngaged as a licensed trade partner
- Fire sprinkler and fire alarmEngaged as a licensed trade partner
- Low voltage and data
- Concrete and saw cutting
- Signage
- Final cleaning
Electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and fire protection are engaged as licensed trade partners rather than as general subcontractors, under the license that the work requires. If your scope is not on this list, apply anyway and name it. The list reflects what a commercial tenant improvement usually needs, not the outer edge of what we ever need.
How We Work With Trade Partners
The same discipline we sell to clients, pointed at you
Our whole pitch to a tenant is that the scope is written down, the price is a real number, and one person is accountable from the permit set to the punch list. That is not a marketing posture we drop at the loading dock. If we ran a job any other way with our subs, the promise to the client would fall apart within a week. Here is what that means for you, in order of what you probably care about most.
Getting Paid
You are paid against completed work
Trade partners are paid against completed work, on draws tied to work in place rather than to calendar dates. That is the same structure we use with clients: our payment applications track what is installed and verifiable on the floor, and yours do too. You bill what you built, we walk it, and it moves.
The specific terms for your scope, including the draw structure and the documentation that goes with each application, are set in the written subcontract for that scope before you mobilize. We are not going to publish a blanket number on a web page and then argue about it on a job it does not fit. Ask on the call and you will get a straight answer in writing.
Scope is defined in writing before work starts
You get the scope, the exclusions, and the schedule expectation in writing before you mobilize. If it is not in the written scope, it is not your problem, and nobody is going to lean on you to eat it in the name of the relationship.
Change orders are priced before they are built
When conditions change, the change gets priced and approved first. We do the same thing to our clients that we do with you: no work performed on a handshake and reconciled later, no line items that appear at closeout.
One principal to call, not a rotating PM
Karson Lawrence prices the job and walks the job. The person who wrote your scope is the person answering the phone when you hit a conflict in the ceiling. You are not routing a question through a project manager who has never seen the space.
Two markets, so the drive is short
Work is concentrated in DFW and East Texas on purpose. Your crew is not burning half a day getting to a job. Concentrated work is also how the principal can be on site rather than managing by phone from three counties away.
Stated Plainly
Two things you would check anyway
i30 Builders is a Texas non-subscriber and does not carry workers’ compensation insurance. Texas does not require most private employers to carry it, and we do not. That is a real fact about how you would be working with us, and it belongs on the page rather than buried in a document you find later.
Field work is performed under written subcontract. Every trade partner on one of our jobs signs a subcontract for that scope before mobilizing. The scope, the exclusions, and the terms live in that document, and it is the thing both of us point at when there is a disagreement.
We are aware that plenty of contractors would rather you find both of those out on your own. We would rather you decide with the facts in front of you. Not perfect. Accountable.
From a trade partner
“One thing that stands out is how much they care about the subcontractors they work with. They treat people fairly, communicate clearly, and make sure everyone has what they need to get the job done right. In an industry where good contractors can be hard to find, i30 Builders stands out for their professionalism, honesty, and respect for the crews working alongside them.”
What We Ask of You
A short list, held to consistently
None of this is unusual. What is unusual is how often it does not happen, which is why a client hires a general contractor in the first place. If you already work this way, we are an easy company to work for.
We are also not going to pretend the obligations run one way. Everything on this list is something we owe you back: a scope that does not move without a change order, a schedule we tell you about before it slips, and a phone that gets answered.
- Show up on the day you committed to. If we say Friday, we mean Friday, and we hold ourselves to the same line.
- Tell us early when something will slip. A schedule problem we hear about on Monday is a scheduling exercise. The same problem on Thursday is a broken promise to a tenant.
- Price the scope as written and flag what is excluded. We would rather see a clear exclusion in your number than a surprise after demo.
- Protect the space and the neighbors. Most of our work is in occupied buildings with property managers and other tenants watching.
- Be able to speak to your own insurance and licensing. We ask what you carry on the application rather than posting a bar on this page, and what a given scope needs is confirmed in the written subcontract for it.
- Finish the punch list. Closeout is part of the scope, not a favor.
Who You Would Be Working For
Size us up honestly before you apply
A sub deciding whether to put us in the rotation deserves the real shape of the company, not a brochure. We are small and new as an entity, we work a tight geography, and we take suite-scale commercial interiors. If you need a GC that can feed a twenty-person crew year-round, we are not that, and you should know it now instead of after two bids.
What we can offer is clarity and a short chain of command. There is one principal, Karson Lawrence, and he is the person who prices the work, walks the job, and signs the subcontract. There is nobody above him to escalate to, because there is nobody between you and him to begin with.
- Formed
- i30 Builders, LLC was formed in 2026. The LLC is young. The trade experience behind it is not, and we do not inflate either one.
- Market
- Dallas-Fort Worth primary, East Texas secondary. Commercial only. No ground-up construction.
- Typical project
- Commercial interior scopes generally in the $10,000 to $100,000-plus range, across office, retail, medical, and light industrial.
- Delivery model
- Principal-led. Field labor is delivered through a vetted subcontractor bench under direct principal oversight, with licensed trades engaged as licensed trade partners.
- Insurance
- $2M GL + $2M Umbrella through Next Insurance US Company, carried by i30 Builders on the general contract.
- Non-subscriber
- i30 Builders is a Texas non-subscriber and does not carry workers' compensation. Field work is performed under written subcontract.
Design Partners
Architects and engineers
Design-build delivery here runs with design partners and stamped engineering. We do not carry design in-house and we do not pretend otherwise, which means an architect or engineer working with us is a named partner on the project rather than a subcontracted afterthought.
What we bring to that relationship is a contractor who reads the set before pricing it and raises constructability questions while they are still cheap to answer. What we ask is a responsive turnaround when a field condition needs a decision, because the tenant’s lease commencement date does not move for anybody.
Interior architecture, MEP engineering, structural review for interior modifications, and permit-set production for tenant improvement work are all scopes we need partners for. Choose the design partner option on the application.
Operational Partners
Other GCs and suppliers
If you are a general contractor with overflow in DFW or East Texas that is too small to be worth your mobilization, or a pursuit that would go better with a second party on it, that is a conversation worth having. Suite-scale interior work is what we are built for, and it is frequently the work a larger GC would rather hand off than staff.
Suppliers and distributors of commercial finishes, doors and hardware, ceiling and wall systems, flooring, and casework materials are also welcome to apply. We already run through several pro accounts, and a supplier who can hold a lead time and quote from a finish schedule earns a spot fast.
Use the same application and pick the option that fits. It goes to the same place, and the same person reads it.
After You Apply
Two business days, then a working call
You hear back within two business days. If your trade and coverage area line up with work we have coming, the next step is a call that covers how we run jobs together, not a stack of forms to sign blind.
01
Draw schedule
How your scope is broken into draws and what has to be complete for each one to be released. You know the payment structure before you mobilize, not after.
02
CompanyCam
Photo documentation runs through CompanyCam, so progress and existing conditions are on the record as the job goes. It protects you as much as it protects us when a question comes up later.
03
QuickBooks direct deposit
We onboard you in QuickBooks so payment lands by direct deposit rather than a check in the mail. Set this up once and it applies to every job after.
Anything specific to your trade gets covered in the same conversation. Scope, exclusions, and terms then land in the written subcontract for that job, which is the document both of us point at if there is ever a disagreement.
Trade Partner Application
Get your company in front of the next bid
The form takes a few minutes. Everything past company, contact, and phone is optional, but the more of it you fill in, the faster we can tell whether there is a fit. We ask what insurance you carry rather than telling you what to carry, because qualification happens per scope and we would rather see the truth than a checkbox.
Would rather just call and talk to somebody about a scope?
Common Questions From Subcontractors
How do subcontractors get paid on your projects?
Trade partners are paid against completed work. Our draws with the client are tied to work in place rather than to calendar dates, and we apply the same discipline down the chain: you bill what is installed and verifiable, and we pay against that. The specific terms for your scope are set in the written subcontract before you mobilize, not negotiated after the work is done.
What insurance do you require from a subcontractor?
We do not publish a blanket requirement on this page, because the honest answer is that it depends on the scope, the building, and what the project owner's lease requires. The application asks what you actually carry: your general liability carrier, your limits, and your workers' compensation status. We qualify case by case, and whatever a given scope requires is stated in the written subcontract for that scope.
Does i30 Builders carry workers' compensation?
No. i30 Builders is a Texas non-subscriber and does not carry workers' compensation insurance. Field work is performed under written subcontract. We put that in plain language here because you are going to check anyway, and we would rather you learn it from us than from a certificate three weeks into a job.
What size and type of projects would I be bidding?
Commercial interior work, generally in the $10,000 to $100,000-plus range: tenant improvement, build-out, renovation, and white box finish-out for office, retail, medical, and light industrial tenants. We do not take ground-up construction, and we do not work outside the commercial market. If you self-perform a suite-scale scope, that is the work.
How far will I have to travel for your jobs?
Dallas-Fort Worth is our primary market and East Texas, including Tyler and Longview, is our secondary market. We do not chase work outside those two. Home base is Royse City on the I-30 corridor, which keeps most jobs inside a reasonable drive from the eastern half of the metroplex. Short travel is the point, not an accident.
I am an architect or engineer, not a subcontractor. Is this the right form?
Yes. Design-build delivery here runs with design partners and stamped engineering, so architects and engineers use the same application. Choose the design partner option at the top of the form and describe the building types and disciplines you cover in the notes field.
Do you need to be prequalified before you can bid a scope?
Submitting this application is the start of the conversation, not a contract. We review what you sent, and if the trade and coverage area line up with work we have coming, we call to talk through a specific scope. Anything we would need from you to move forward gets asked for at that point, in writing.
What happens to my information after I apply?
It goes to the office. Trade partner applications are handled on a separate intake from client inquiries, so applying here does not add you to any marketing audience or nurture email sequence. You will not start receiving prospect emails about leasing a space because you told us you hang drywall.
How long before I hear back?
Within two business days. If your trade and coverage area line up with work we have coming, the next step is a call to walk through how we actually run jobs together before you are standing on one.
What do we cover before my first job?
A working call, not a stack of forms. We go through the draw schedule for your scope, how photo documentation works in CompanyCam so progress and conditions are recorded as the job runs, and QuickBooks onboarding so you are set up for direct deposit rather than waiting on a mailed check. Anything specific to your trade gets covered in the same conversation, and the scope and terms land in the written subcontract.