Articles
Notes from the job site
What we have learned running renovations, build-outs and furniture installs: costs, schedules, contracts and the details that decide opening day.
What an office build-out costs in Texas: where the money goes
Before we price an office build-out we open a ceiling tile. What is above it, the condition of the ductwork, the lighting circuits, the sprinkler branch lines…
Read the article →What interior space costs to build out in San Antonio's suburbs (2026)
Cross from Loop 1604 onto a two-lane highway outside the city and the building department you deal with changes entirely, along with the inspector who signs yo…
Read the article →DFW suburb build-out cost per square foot: city by city (2026)
A convenience store rebrand in a north Dallas suburb came back from the city with a fire marshal re-inspection fee that never showed up on the same layout we p…
Read the article →Senior living renovations: units, dining rooms and common areas
Half the wing was still occupied when we started, and the schedule said the other half had to be ready for residents before the state surveyor's return visit…
Read the article →Distribution center offices and break rooms: built around the shift change
At a distribution center, the shift change happens at the same door every day: drivers checking in, pickers clocking out, a break room filling up for fifteen m…
Read the article →Five things to get answered before you sign a construction contract
The contract that lands in an owner's inbox the week before mobilization is usually forty pages, and the owner usually reads the price on page one and the sign…
Read the article →Renovating through hurricane season on the Texas Gulf Coast
A hotel general manager called us two summers ago because a renovation on the property next door lost its scaffolding and a stack of exterior material in one a…
Read the article →Building a commercial build-out budget that holds
The budget that gets a tenant in trouble is almost never the construction number. It is the number that was never written down: the permit fees, the design rev…
Read the article →Five ways to tell your general contractor has the job under control
You can learn more about how a job is being run from twenty minutes on site than from a month of progress reports. The way the material is stacked, who walks o…
Read the article →Commercial build-out timelines: what sets the finish date
The calendar in our job trailer runs backward. It starts with the day the owner needs to open and works toward the first day of demolition. When an owner asks…
Read the article →Licensed and insured: what to ask for before your builder starts
We get asked for our certificate of insurance maybe once for every ten contracts we sign. The other nine owners took the phrase on the website at face value. M…
Read the article →Keeping change orders off a commercial project: an owner's playbook
The demolition crew opened a ceiling in a former restaurant and found a grease duct nobody had drawn, running the length of a space that was supposed to be a d…
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