Your Business, Your Way
By Rajiv Kapadia (rkapadia@spgstudios.net)
TI Architect
Many business owners, while aware of the numerous advantages of having a custom designed space, are often hesitant to embark upon the tenant improvement process. Perceived deterrents are often cost, time and unfamiliarity with the process. The following article attempts to shed some light on these issues and thus assist the owner in objectively determining the best course of action for their business.
The process ideally begins with an initial (often no-cost) consultation with the architect who will obtain the specifics of your project from you. This will generally include information such as project size, location, target budget, timeframes, special considerations, services desired, and so forth. Based on this you will be provided with a fee proposal and contract. You can elect to hire the engineers separately but you will almost always be better served through a single contract with the architect for both the architectural and engineering work. For a typical tenant improvement, an architect will hire mechanical, plumbing and electrical engineers as sub-contractors. On occasion, you may require the services of a structural engineer, fire-protection/fire-alarm specialist, or other specialists, depending upon the complexity of your project and the rules of the governing local jurisdiction. The architect should be able to advise you regarding these. A single contract generally makes the architect your single-point contact for all architectural and engineering issues and holds the architect accountable for the performance of his or her sub-contractors. Once you have hired the architect you will need to provide him or her with the “as-built” information, which is generally copies of the existing building plans in hard or softcopy format.
You will also either provide an architectural program to the architect, or else use his or her services to help you establish one. This is a list of your requirements and can be either a brief summary of the desired spaces and their relational dependencies, or a detailed listing of these along with other factors such as required performances of certain building elements. Put another way, it can be a simple count of rooms, their functions, and their desired proximity to one another. Or it can be as detailed as a room-by-room analysis identifying specifics such as the wall against which certain equipment will need to be installed, so that the architect knows to give you the right amount of power at that location etc. It can also be intangible items such as ensuring that certain rooms have sound privacy whereas others have a view of the exterior landscaping, which might translate to increased insulation in the walls and rooms oriented to a specific direction. The architect will then create one or more customized space plans for you, based upon these criteria.
Thereafter the process follows an iterative loop whereby the architect refines the space plan based on your feedback until such time as most, if not all, of your requirements are met and the architect is fairly confident the plan is approvable and constructible, barring any unknowns. Alternatively, it may not be possible to meet all your requirements for a number of reasons, in which event you will have either revised your requirements or agreed to proceed further on an “at-risk” basis.
Once the space plan has been finalized and marked by your approval, the architect will proceed with the construction documents. This usually involves creating the technical documents that explain to the local municipality how code requirements are being met, as well as establish the construction systems and materials for the contractors so that they may construct to the specified minimum standard. All of the engineering is completed as part of this process.
Once the construction documents are complete, they are submitted to the reviewing jurisdiction (usually city), which checks for compliance with locally adopted codes and ordinances. The plan-review officials usually will generate a list of comments or questions wherein they may reject certain portions of the documents, request further clarifications, and/or impose additional requirements. The architect, along with his or her engineering team, will review the comments and respond appropriately. Any changes stemming from such comments that involve a substantial deviation from your requirements generally should be brought to your notice. These revised construction documents are then resubmitted for second review, at the end of which either a construction permit is granted or else a second set of comments is issued by the city. On some occasions a third or, rarely, fourth set of comments may be issued, but they are generally of smaller magnitudes than previous versions, especially on smaller sized tenant improvement projects. Once the city approves the construction documents and issues a construction permit a general contractor can usually begin construction on the project immediately.
As an informed owner, the design, engineering and permitting process does not need to be an intimidating process subject to guesswork, but rather an inclusive forum with a predictable outcome in sync with your tastes, pocketbook, and calendar.
Rajiv Kapadia is a registered architect with 20 years’ experience. As principal of SPG Studios, he has competed more than 120 medical, dental, and office projects. Examples of his work are available for viewing at www.spgstudios.net.
