“We just want to convert a storage closet into a small break area and move a few walls. “
“How much do you think it will cost for our remodel?”
Clients call me with questions like these who are considering the remodel or relocation of their Gilbert business. After the prospective landlord offers a tenant improvement allowance, I’ll get a call asking me to confirm if the offered will be sufficient to cover any costs incurred during the commercial remodel, hoping they will not have to come out of pocket to pay for the construction and design work.
Yes the question is simple, but the answer is never easy and usually followed by a series of disclaimers, taking away all value to the answer.
When lease negotiations start to move quickly, the prospective tenant can understandably become very frustrated when they are asked to execute a contract before fully evaluating their financial commitments. And when the cost of the tenant improvement cannot be established upfront, it makes the decision more difficult to accept any lease offer.
Many Gilbert businesses these days are choosing to make a few minor revisions to their existing office space instead of building a new office building or even undertaking a tenant improvement. Whether dividing up office space to sub-lease a portion of it, or making changes that improve productivity, or attract customers, companies are searching for ways to increase revenue with minimal expense.
Despite the fact that your tenant improvement design may appear to be the same as your last one, in truth it has never been built before. Many of the workers that have been hired for your project may not have ever worked together in the past. These new workers may require training in order to address the special conditions of your unique space and be required to interpret a design they have never seen before. It is this diverse combination of workers as well as the unique conditions of your project that drives the fluctuating, unpredictability in labor cost.
Moving walls for tenant improvements is not as straightforward as most people think.
Actually, walls are not moved at all.
Many subcontractors (trades) are needed to relocate even one wall, so a General Contractor (GC) must be hired to coordinate the necessary sequence of events amongst the various trades. The GC will hire framing, drywall, HVAC, electrical, cabling, flooring, and demolition trades, and charge a management fee about 10 – 30% above and beyond the total trade’s fees. A minimum amount is charged to make it worth their effort, so small tenant improvement projects in Gilbert can cost more per square foot than large projects.
So back to the all important question, “How much will it cost?”
Generally, the Design/Build approach works like this:
Doug Rusk is the principal at DESIGNLine Architects, LLC located in Gilbert, Arizona. We specialize in residential and commercial remodeling for small and medium sized businesses with expertise in space planning and interior design consulting. We’ll provide your General Contractor a thorough preliminary design packages that will enable an early construction cost estimate to confirm your budget quickly.
We’d like to share four “design tips” with anyone who is thinking about venturing into a Tenant Improvement for their commercial office or retail space.
In many ways your business is your home. It’s where you and you staff spend most of your waking hours. As you work with your Architect consider in detail each room; who will use them and how they’ll function.
– In the same way that the kitchen and the family room want to be interconnected, you want to customize your commercial space so it better fits the interactions of your staff and the functions they perform.
– The operations manager of a popular Wine Bar and Bistro, for example, noted recently how productivity improved after the layout was reworked for their wine retail area. The new layout greatly improved the customer flow in the Bistro area for both the customers and staff.
If you run a business, you own a brand. Whether done consciously or not, you have positioned your brand in the market and have an opportunity to emphasize that brand in your Tenant Improvement.
– The appearance of your lobby room, the signage and detail around the entry, and even your bathrooms should mirror the core values and the culture of you, your staff and your business.
– If you’re planning a remodel of your Dentist office, for example, then you might want to create a casual, comfortable social atmosphere, because that’s the primary market you’re targeting.
– On the other hand you may instead want to create more of a formal, professional, no nonsense atmosphere, because it meets your clients needs and the key attributes and benefits they desire.
– So, as you work with your Architect to draw up plans, take time to define your brand. Look at what you stand-for personally and as a business, and what differentiates you from competitors. Just going through the process of defining your brand can help you make distinctive design decisions that not only improve flow and function, but may inevitably help your business grow.
There is no such thing as a “typical” tenant improvement. Each project has a different set of requirements that are determined by many varying factors. This graph illustrates some approximate construction costs based on historical data that you can use as a reference point when considering a standard office improvement. These figures are general and will most likely change based on your project’s scope and special requirements.
Again, we hope the estimated, ball park numbers to the right will help you come to terms with a realistic budget.
– If you talk to the right Architect, they will help you identify your budget and design goals, and offer a low cost conceptual design package that will be complete enough to allow a qualified General Contractor to develop a +/- 20% cost estimate for your project. Our goal is to provide a low cost option for you to confirm your budget, before moving forward.
– And when the final drawings and specifications are completed and the project is bid to the subcontractors, very accurate costs are locked in, assuming no design changes.
Doug Rusk is the principal of DESIGNLine Architects located in Gilbert, Arizona. DESIGNLine Architects specializes in office tenant improvements and residential design. We will ensure your Office Tenant Improvement will look more attractive and welcoming to your customers, while also increasing efficiency for you and your staff.