“Slow down.” It’s not the advice you’d expect from two construction veterans working against tight schedules in Southern California’s booming life sciences market. But in facilities where a routine shutdown can take weeks to coordinate, sensitive equipment can be affected by the smallest environmental change and a single mistake can put millions of dollars in research and revenue at risk, moving too quickly can have enormous consequences. For Habiba Manjurr and Javier Caldera, that reality has made patience, preparation and precision essential to the work.
Habiba has spent her tenure in commercial construction in the greater SoCal region overseeing the construction of highly technical, MEP-intensive projects that push the boundaries of innovation including projects in the education, health care and aerospace industries. After joining Clune two-years ago, Habiba was able to fine-tune her focus towards Clune’s lab and life sciences practice, the subject matter that always interested her most.
Javier jumped into the life sciences space around 2014 as a project manager, overseeing lab work across the country. During his time at Clune he has had a hand in various design-build projects, work in active lab spaces and research and development facilities.
Together, they have seen firsthand how specialized this work can be, and how quickly seemingly small construction decisions can carry major consequences. They sat down to discuss what makes life sciences construction different, where the SoCal market is headed and why the right team matters long before anyone puts boots on the ground.
- What makes Southern California such a popular place for this work?
HM: Two things play a key role: access to ports and the education sector that we have in Southern California. The universities here tend to produce high-quality researchers, creating the kind of people that drive the need for these spaces. Then, also with the technological boom and AI being present in every facet of technological development, that tech support is also here in California.
JC: California’s life sciences industry supported over 400,000 jobs and generated nearly $400 billion in 2025. Those are major numbers. This sector really puts out a lot of work and a lot of money within the state. Combine that with the amount of jobs that are available, it’s hard to compete against California.
- What should companies be looking for in a general contractor that will be trusted with this work?
JC: You can never go wrong with having an experienced group, having a team that understands the complexities of the day-to-day life of a scientist in a lab that’s operating at full capacity. Also having a good trade partner group. Can a drywall sub perform drywall work anywhere? Of course. But do they understand how to do it in the fashion that a BSL-3 lab requires? Do they understand the specific criteria to approach that work? It is very niche to have a competent group, a good trade partner selection and a team that understands those complexities. That’s why we do this work so well.
HM: To elaborate on competency, for example, take a general contractor whose bread and butter is hospital work. While our life sciences projects are in the same greater world, a manufacturing facility’s construction is completely different from hospital construction. Different entities, different jurisdiction, different code, different sensitivities. In an active hospital, you have one type of risk around patients and staff. In a research facility, if a molecule or particulate is not handled with care when a construction team is working around it, that could have a larger impact to the facility, people working there and ultimately any other manufacturing that was happening. The construction team has to be capable, flexible and mindful that the client still has an end date to meet, so people need to communicate effectively and think creatively.
- What’s at risk if a company chooses a general contractor that doesn’t have those qualities?
JC: In this industry, one mistake can cost a pharmaceutical company or life science company millions of dollars. A project we’re working on right now has a freezer set to negative 80° specifically holding samples. We were told we can’t shut that refrigerator off until later because it has close to $80 million worth of material in just one freezer. If you have someone who doesn’t know these systems, doesn’t understand what they take to operate, you’re going to run into issues. So, finding someone that knows what they’re doing is major.
HM: What we have learned from working with these clients is that, like Clune, they prioritize safety above all else. These facilities operate within their own safety rules and criteria that protect their staff from chemicals, toxins and various types of materials. If the general contractor does not comply with existing rules and tries to take shortcuts or lacks the proper tools for quality control, the cost of failing that process could range from a delay of days to months, and millions of dollars lost in assets and revenue. So, it is imperative that the general contractor selected is honest, has integrity, is willing to be fully transparent, and values safety above all else.
- What are some of the biggest challenges a general contractor encounters in a life sciences/lab build?
JC: The greatest challenge I’ve experienced is not knowing where certain systems are. As-builts are always lacking and we never get enough time. We’re currently working on an inoculation lab and we wanted to scan the space. It took roughly two and a half to three months just to get on site because of the decommissioning process with the CDC and the FDA. Even badging takes weeks because of the multiple layers of security that are in place. So, having a good understanding of the time it takes to get things done is imperative for a contracting team.
HM: It falls on a general contractor’s experience and expertise to be able to stay very organized with information because it is released to the general contractor in a very slow trickle because of NDA clauses and security concerns. We also lose the ability to digitally scan spaces for security reasons. So, we go back to pencil and paper to take as many detailed notes as possible while on site.
Every build has a live schedule, meaning you build a little and the schedule changes a little. But these kinds of facilities require three weeks’ notice in advance, literally just to turn off a light switch. It falls on the general contractor to communicate how things impact our schedule, like getting shut down for an FDA inspection, so the client is well-informed on how their project is evolving.
- What’s an important lesson you’ve learned while on a life sciences build?
JC: I always say slow down. As the questions before you get ahead of yourself and you get boots on the ground. Understand what the deliverables are and what it’ll take to get there because once you’re on-site there’s no going back. Know the security requirements, badging requirements, when you can work on-site and when to expect shut downs. Although it may drive up your cost, it’s a worthwhile conversation to have.
HM: If we take these extra steps to “measure twice and cut once” it protects our clients too, because now they don’t have to spend their money twice to accomplish the same thing. The world of construction is not perfect, but we always want to show our client we’re knowledgeable. We asked the right questions, we made the best effort, we worked together to come up with any solutions, so we came out with a stronger partnership at the end.
Something else I’ve learned is that these kinds of facilities use such intricate, sensitive machineries that a two-degree temperature difference can cause them to malfunction. So, it helps to have a general contractor experienced enough to dig into the literature of the machinery. Additionally, some elements are not always covered in factory-published literature; they are described in text and need to be read carefully by engineers and construction teams creating the prints.
- How have you seen the life sciences practice change over the years? What trends do you see today?
HM: There’s a definite focus in Southern California on using existing real estate to repurpose as opposed to brand new construction. It keeps costs low and speeds up the delivery to the community, whether it be a research lab, education facility or manufacturing plant. Clients are looking at what is the use we want out of an existing building and how do we best convert it.
JC: I think the industry has realized money was being spent unnecessarily. If we slow down just a bit, put the right people in the right place and we answer the appropriate questions when they come up, we could ease through the construction side without any issues. You’re seeing more of the pre-construction-heavy approach. The stakeholder’s saying, let’s see what we actually have in the space and where our roadblocks are going to be so we can address them from the start.
It’s fitting that a conversation about one of construction’s most complex sectors keeps returning to the same advice: slow down. Habiba and Javier have seen firsthand what can happen when teams rush to solutions before fully understanding the environment they are working in.
