Unless you’ve gotten lucky and found a brand new office you can build out to your exact specifications, chances are you’ll have to remodel the space before you move in. Here’s exactly what you’ll need to do.

Assess the need to remodel.
If you haven’t already, take inventory of everything the office has and decide if it meets all of your business’ needs. Are there enough offices for everyone? Is the break room oversized and taking up valuable open office space? Maybe the conference room is a tad too small, or the carpets need to be replaced.

If your assessment shows you your space might as well have been custom designed for you, congratulations! Give your realtor a high five and a hearty thanks. If, however, you find that your new office needs some work, let’s talk about what to do next.

Find an architect to create scope drawings.
Once you’ve determined there is still work to be done to make your new office space meet your business’ needs, it’s time to find someone to support you in this mission. You’ll want to look for a commercial architecture firm licensed in your area. Once you find one you like, you can work with them to pin down the scope of work, and they will create corresponding scope drawings.

Get a pricing estimate.
Next, take those scope drawings your architect created to a contractor for a price estimate. Since the scope drawings outline everything in the scope of work you discussed with your architect, the contractor should be able to give you a fairly accurate estimate of how much each part of the project will cost. They’ll let you know if they have questions about the work to be done, and if you don’t know the answers, you can send them your architect’s way.

Finalize the design and apply for a building permit.
After you get a price estimate (or three), you can officially decide to engage the contractor for your project. Before they can start work, though, you’ll need to finalize the design and have your architect create a full set of construction documents.

Why this extra design step? Maybe during pricing you learned that relocating the break room is more expensive than you thought it’d be because you have to relocate plumbing, so you decided you can live with it where it is. The final set of construction drawings will need to reflect that. The architect will make sure the scope of work is shown just how you’d like it and prepare the drawing set to be submitted for permit. You can even enlist them to submit the permit application for you!

Once you receive your building permit from your local municipality, your contractor is free to begin construction.

Need help finding a commercial architect? Look no further! Gensburg Ltd offers a la carte architectural services and would be happy to discuss your project with you. Contact us here.