QD Design is a HUB-certified architecture and MEP engineering firm in Cypress, Texas that designs retail stores, convenience stores, and franchise buildouts across Houston, Austin, Dallas–Fort Worth, and West Texas — architecture plus sealed mechanical, electrical, and plumbing permit sets under one contract. From a national-chain auto parts store to a 6,000 SF meat market, the deliverable is the same: a permit-clean set and every plan-review comment answered until the permit is issued.
What a Retail Permit Set Includes
- Architecture: sales-floor and back-of-house planning, M-occupancy egress analysis per IBC 2021, storefront and finish documentation, restroom counts per IPC 2021 Table 403.1 (adopted as IPC 1003 in some cities), and TDLR/TAS accessibility registration.
- Mechanical: rooftop-unit selection with economizers and demand-control ventilation per IECC 2021, ventilation per IMC 2021, and refrigeration heat loads for coolers and food retail.
- Electrical: lighting power density calculations against the IECC 2021 baseline, panel schedules and one-line diagrams per NEC 2023 where adopted, refrigeration and specialty circuits, and site lighting on daylight and time-switch control.
- Energy compliance: full COMcheck certification — envelope, mechanical, lighting, and water heating. On our Austin AutoZone, designed lighting came in at 4,305W against a 6,200W allowance: 31% better than the 2021 IECC baseline.
- Food retail extras where they apply: Type I hoods per NFPA 96, grease interceptors, and walk-in cooler/freezer envelope compliance under IECC C403.2.15.
Why One A/E Firm Beats a Separate Architect and Engineer
Retail runs on schedules — lease commencement, franchise opening dates, fixture delivery. The typical delay isn’t construction; it’s drawings bouncing between an architect in one office and an engineer in another while a plan reviewer waits. QD Design produces the whole set in-house, so when a city issues comments, one team answers all of them in one response cycle. Our La Reserva meat market in Tomball drew a 25-comment deficiency notice in a jurisdiction we’d never worked; we resolved every comment — architectural egress items and MEP items together — to approval.
Retail Projects We’ve Completed
- AutoZone, Austin — 7,381 SF new store: dual RTUs with economizers and demand-control ventilation, hot-water recirculation per IECC C404.5, and lighting 31% better than the code baseline, documented in four-part COMcheck through City of Austin review.
- La Reserva meat market, Tomball — 6,000 SF A-2/M mixed occupancy with butcher counter and food prep: architecture, MEP, and TDLR registration, with all 25 city plan-review comments resolved to permit.
- Convenience store, League City — highway-frontage c-store with food service: retail HVAC, heavy refrigeration circuits, and hood ventilation per IMC 507, approved in two review cycles with half the comments pre-answered.
- Travel center, Odessa — gas station, national smoothie-franchise QSR tenant, and playground facilities in one coordinated MEP package, including hazardous-location electrical at the fuel canopy.
Frequently Asked Questions
My franchisor gave me prototype drawings. Why do I still need a design firm?
Prototype sets aren’t permit sets. Your city needs drawings adapted to the actual space, stamped for your jurisdiction’s adopted codes and local amendments, with site-specific MEP: the panel that actually exists, the RTU the roof can take, the interceptor your city requires. We translate franchise standards into local permits — that’s the Golden Chick and travel-center model.
What is COMcheck and do I need it?
COMcheck is the compliance report most Texas cities require to prove your envelope, mechanical, lighting, and water-heating design meets the adopted energy code (IECC 2021 in most metros). We produce it as part of every retail set. On our Austin AutoZone the four-part COMcheck documented lighting 31% under the allowance.
Do convenience stores with food service need restaurant-style systems?
If you cook, yes in part. Hot-food programs trigger hood ventilation under IMC 507 — Type I with suppression if there’s grease-laden vapor — plus grease waste and health-department review. Our League City c-store combined retail HVAC, heavy refrigeration, and food-service ventilation in one approved set.
What happens if the city rejects the drawings?
Comments aren’t failure; they’re the process. We answer every plan-review comment as part of the base contract, until the permit is issued. The Tomball meat market came back with 25 comments in a first-time jurisdiction — every one was resolved, and we now know that city comment-by-comment.
Send us your floor plan — you’ll have a fee proposal within one business day.