Chris Scott, CEO, Scott + Reid General Contractors

Invest: spoke with Chris Scott, CEO of Scott + Reid General Contractors, about the company’s growth in Houston, the importance of early-stage cost certainty, and how workplace design is evolving. “The trends around technology, AI, and remote work are ever-evolving,” Scott said.

How has the past year been for Scott + Reid, and what has been the biggest driver of growth?

The commercial real estate market as a whole has been impacted by market uncertainty this past year. It is no different with Scott + Reid. We know that construction and real estate are relationship businesses, and the strength of those relationships is what carries a firm through the uncertain stretches. Q4 2025 was one of those stretches for us and for the market. Deals that once took three months to mobilize were taking nine, largely because owners and developers were laser-focused on price and cost certainty before committing. That caution held the back half of last year down compared to previous years.

2026, by contrast, has been a banner year for Scott + Reid. Once capital sources became clearer, projects that had been paused started moving again, and our relationships with clients and partners meant we were the first call when they were ready to move. That momentum reinforced something we already believed: preconstruction, estimating, and price certainty are where the real value gets created early in a project’s life.

Developers and owners need to know what a project will cost before they commit real dollars to it. That is why we doubled the size of our preconstruction department, the team that prices and de-risks a project before it ever breaks ground. Whether a client walks in with a napkin sketch or a fully developed design, our job is to translate that vision into real numbers, fast, so we can look our partners in the eye and give them cost certainty at the start of the journey rather than after the drawings are finished. By partnering with our clients and others in the market, we are able to help them understand their investment decisions.

How has early decision-making changed in comparison with how projects used to move forward?

The biggest shift is in when we get called in. It used to be that a client would finalize the design for a space and then bring in a contractor to build it. Today, with capital allocated carefully and interest rates where they are, owners and developers want price certainty and a tight budget locked in before they ever commit to a design. That is where we can help. We will run through three or four rounds of pricing with a client, revising the budget at each stage as the vision for the building takes shape, so the numbers and the design move together instead of one chasing the other.

Law firms are a good example of how much rides on getting that right. Their people spend eight to 12 hours a day in that office, so the design has to be flawless, from the architecture down to the flow of the space. Every dollar allocated there is a direct reflection of what a firm’s clients and recruits will experience the moment they walk through the door.

How are workplace trends and technology shaping the kind of spaces clients are asking for?

Every company right now is competing for talent, and that is really what is driving the design conversation. Employees have real choice about where they work, so the office has to earn the commute. If a company is not giving its people a space they actually want to show up to, collaborate in, and be proud of, it is not going to retain that talent long term.

This has driven a complete reversal from where we were during COVID, when everybody wanted six-foot walls, masks, sanitizing stations, and controlled access. Clients now want open environments, collaboration areas, and communal spaces that pull people in rather than keep them apart. We are seeing lounges, golf simulators, and spaces built specifically for people to gather and talk, because that is what gets someone to choose the office over the kitchen table.

Technology is playing a bigger role in that too. Buildings are getting smarter, with sensors and systems that adjust lighting, temperature, and even room availability in real time based on how a space is actually being used. Employees notice that. It is one more reason for someone to walk into the office and feel like the environment was built around them instead of around a floor plan from ten years ago.

How much demand are you seeing for wellness and collaboration spaces to attract employees back to the office?

More companies are announcing a return to the office every week, and a lot of them are not stopping at three or four days. We are seeing real movement toward five days a week for a meaningful share of the market, even if it is not universal. The reasoning we hear most from clients is that collaboration, and the ability to make a decision with the right people standing next to you, is what actually builds trust and speed.

You solve a problem in five minutes at a whiteboard that would have taken a week of emails and video calls, and frankly, I do not think people build the kind of trust that gets deals done sitting alone at a kitchen table.

That expectation is translating directly into the design brief. Companies want the office itself to reflect how seriously they take that decision, and we are seeing it constantly in our capital improvement work and in office renovations. About 80% of the capital improvement projects we have delivered lately include some kind of collaboration space, whether that is a lounge, a golf simulator, or a dedicated area built for people to sit down together. Smaller gyms are still common too, along with kitchens and dining areas. 

People are spending real time in these buildings again, and they want it to be a place they are proud to bring people into. That pride shows up in the numbers, too. It is part of why you see lower vacancy in Class A and Class AA space right now. Newer, nicer buildings are leasing up while older product sits empty. Tenants are voting with their leases, and quality is winning.

What continues to set Scott + Reid apart in a competitive market?

It comes down to trust, and trust is earned through your actions as a contractor, not your promises. Do you provide price certainty, stand behind it, and then deliver the project on time and to the highest standard? That is the whole game.

Delivering at the field level is our No. 1 priority. Strong superintendents are what make that possible, and from a project manager’s standpoint, every job is an audition for the next one. You need to be able to call a client the day after you finish a project and know they are glad to hear from you.

In this business, you have to bid it right, build it right, and collect. You will not collect if you do not build it right, and you will not build it right if you do not bid it right. If there is one thing that has made Scott + Reid successful, it is that we are deeply embedded in relationships. And where we do not have one yet, we go build it.

Which sectors are creating the greatest opportunities for Scott + Reid in Houston?

In Houston, our work touches nearly every sector: office, retail, healthcare, banking, and institutional projects. Within each of those, we do both new construction and renovation work. Houston is one of the fastest-growing metros in the country, and it is not riding on one industry. Energy, healthcare, aerospace, and the Port of Houston all keep pulling companies and people into the region. That is where our opportunity comes from.

When a company relocates or expands here, it needs office space. When people follow those jobs out into Katy, Conroe, Cypress, Tomball, and Sugar Land, retail and mixed-use development follow the rooftops. We build both ends of that chain: the office space companies need, and the retail and mixed-use projects that follow the people who move here for those jobs.

Our main focus in Houston is office and retail, the two sectors that make up the bulk of our pipeline here. On the office side, we are doing everything from tenant build-outs to ground-up headquarters and medical office space, but a lot of what is driving the work right now is companies repositioning what they already have.

We talked earlier about more people being back in the office, sometimes five days a week, and companies want that space to actually reflect the caliber of the business. So we are seeing owners take a building that is a few years old and push it up a class: new finishes, better common areas, the kind of upgrade that gets a company back to full occupancy and keeps their people proud to walk in the door.

On the retail side, it is just about everything: fast service restaurants, big-box and traditional retail, bank branches, and mixed-use developments that blend retail with residential or office space. That variety keeps our teams moving across every major Texas market, Houston included, and our Houston office plays a real role in supporting that growth alongside our Dallas team.