Industrial Construction in Sinclair, Wyoming

Turnaround crews and wind crews both need a place to park, stage and store, and Sinclair sits between the two. The town began as Parco, a planned company town built in 1924 to 1925 around a refinery, and the refinery just east of town remains in use. About three miles south of Sinclair and Rawlins, the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre wind project is described by its developer as under construction. We build the laydown yards, shop buildings, pads and access roads that those two industries lean on.

The wind project is large by any measure: about 3,500 megawatts of nameplate capacity, about 600 turbines and an estimated $5 billion cost. Construction labor and equipment move through the Rawlins and Sinclair corridor on I-80, and they need ground to work from. A firm, drained laydown yard with truck access, lighting and security is worth more to a contractor than a nicer building. We build the yard first and the shop second. A shop without a yard is a roof over mud, and a yard without drainage turns to soup at the first thaw. Owners who skip the drainage line to save money pay for it in the first spring, so we show you what the line costs and what failing to build it costs.

Sinclair is small. It had 374 residents in the 2020 census, so nearly everything on a large job arrives from somewhere else. That includes people. We plan camp or lodging, safety orientation and crew shuttles the way a remote-site contractor does, because that is what the corridor demands.

Yards, Pads and Shops for Corridor Contractors

A typical scope starts with clearing and grading a lot, bringing in base and stabilizing it for heavy loads. We add drainage that moves water to a detention area or swale, fencing and gates, and lighting for evening shifts. After the yard comes a steel shop with a floor drain system, overhead doors sized for large equipment and an office for the superintendent. Equipment pads for generators, compressors and fuel tanks round it out.

Contractors on wind and refinery work often need the yard quickly and removed later. We build with that in mind, using stabilized aggregate where the lot may revert and concrete where it will stay. Our pages on stabilized laydown yards and heavy-haul access roads describe what goes into each.

Camp, Orientation and Remote-Site Discipline

On large corridor projects, safety orientation is a gate, not a formality. Every worker completes it before entering the site, and every visitor is escorted. We carry that discipline into our own sites. Excavation is locatable, lifts are planned, and traffic is separated. Where an owner's rules are stricter than ours, we follow the owner's rules.

Weather makes safety harder. The corridor along I-80 sees severe wind and winter storms, and gusts can stop a crane lift in seconds. We set wind limits for lifts and pours, watch forecasts and brief crews every morning. Ice on a gravel yard is as dangerous as ice on pavement, so we plan sanding, plowing and traction measures as part of the work.

An Old Company Town on a New Wind Corridor

The Lincoln Highway was rerouted in 1939 to follow what later became Interstate 80, and the interstate still carries the freight that keeps this corridor alive. The wind project, which starts about three miles south of Rawlins and Sinclair, is estimated by the BLM's 2016 assessment to have involved up to 1,000 construction jobs at peak. For the neighbors, that scale means a surge in demand for lodging, storage, laydown and service buildings during construction, followed by a long operating phase with about 114 permanent jobs.

Not all of that demand belongs to the wind project. The refinery east of town has its own maintenance cycle, and nearby Rawlins and Saratoga supply labor and services. When we help you plan a Sinclair facility, we think about what happens after the surge: a building that serves a wind contractor today should serve a utility or refinery contractor tomorrow. That means clear heights, door sizes and slab capacities that are not tailored to one tenant, and utility stubs left in useful places.

Refining, Wind and the Utilities Around Them

We build for utilities and power owners and for contractors who serve them. Wind developers, transmission builders, refinery maintenance firms and heavy haulers all need similar things: stable ground, secure yards, shops and pads. The details differ, and we respect the differences.

Heavy-industry work, whether it is refinery maintenance or fabrication, also sits close to metals and heavy industry owners. They want crane-ready buildings and floors rated for loads. For larger structures we build high-bay crane-ready buildings.

Surge Schedules and Wind Windows

Corridor projects often come with a surge: a contractor wins a job and needs a yard in weeks, not months. We keep long-lead items such as aggregate, fencing and power equipment on our radar, and we mobilize crews and equipment fast when an owner asks. We tell you honestly what is possible, and we do not promise dates that wind, frost or a supplier will break. For a contractor with a mobilization date from a prime, we work backward from that date, list the permits, orders and inspections that must be complete and report on them weekly until the yard is ready for trucks.

Construction in this corridor works in short, windy windows. We pour in the calm of early mornings, protect fresh concrete from wind and cold, and schedule steel erection for low-wind days. A Sinclair schedule has float for the days when the wind simply says no.

Get a Sinclair Yard or Shop Moving

Tell us what your crews need on the ground and when they arrive. We will return a priced scope with a mobilization date you can plan around.

Common Questions

How quickly can you build a laydown yard in Sinclair?

It depends on the size, the ground and the season. For a typical yard, the long poles are permit approval, aggregate delivery and weather. We give you a day-by-day schedule at bid time and tell you what could move it.

Can a yard be built so it can be removed later?

Yes. Stabilized aggregate over geotextile can be taken up and the ground reshaped. If you expect to keep the yard, concrete or asphalt is a better long-term choice. We price both.

What code applies to a building in Sinclair?

Wyoming has no single statewide building code. The state adopted the 2024 International Codes on June 28, 2024, and localities with enforcement authority adopt their own editions and amendments. We confirm with the reviewing office before design.

Do you work on or near an operating refinery?

We work near operating plants when the owner permits outside contractors, which means their safety orientation, permits and prequalification. We complete those before bid day and keep construction traffic separate from operating lanes.

Will wind stop work?

Sometimes. We set wind limits for crane lifts and concrete pours, brief crews each morning and keep float in the schedule. Safety comes before the date.