You’ve finally found your ideal property, the one that is the perfect match for your new office, retail store, or restaurant. The only thing is, your new space needs a redesign, a build-out as its commonly called. Here are the items you need to consider to get the job done right, and get your business up and running, quickly and successfully.
Your Expectations
For a successful build-out, you need a solid design, approved permits, and a clear understanding that the build-out process will take at least four to six months to complete. Depending on the project itself, the buildout could take longer, six months or more. Creating a plan for your build-out, will allow you to explore various design options, make your choices, and start discussing your plans with an experience designer/builder to get the job done right – completed according to your specifications as well as in budget and on time.
Your Contract
You want to choose an experienced, well-respected, and trustworthy design company and builder whose work you admire. They should have experience in your industry and their reviews should be exceptional. The company should have a set plan to complete your project successfully from design and architecture to permits and bidding to building. They should provide timelines for each step of the process based on their knowledge of build-outs, the size of your project and its complexity, and known government approval times.
Your Build-Out Plan
Design and Architecture
Your design and architectural planning is crucial to a successful build-out. Your builder, designer, architect, along with you and your team will meet during this part of the planning and discuss your objectives. Throughout the discussions, potential challenges will be addressed along with design options to make your space better so that you can achieve your personal goals of success with your new business venture. The result of all these meetings will be the final scope of the work, meaning documentation of the direction needed to achieve the design and functionality, as well as budget, accessibility, time, and security. You can expect this part of the project to take four to eight weeks.
Permits and Bids
In this step, your designers create their drawings including the floor plan, ceilings, wall elevations, and interior design helping you to fully visualize your space and gain your approval. During this stage, your contractor will create estimates and begin procurement with your approval. Your drawings and plans will then be submitted to the city or country officials while bidding on your project begins. The timeline on this stage of the project is four to six weeks.
The Building
Your project begins with the building while designers secure flooring, lighting, fabrics, fixtures, and furnishing that you have selected. The commercial construction team then begins your build-out. Time to completion, six to fourteen weeks depending on the scope of your project.
The key to your retail space build-out’s success is in starting the process early. The sooner you start, the faster your build-out will be complete and your business will be up and running. In order to accomplish the project successfully, you want to choose an expert, knowledgeable, and trustworthy team of design and construction professionals to help you make your dream a reality.