The Commercial Buildout Checklist We Wish Every Tenant Had Before Signing a Lease

Most commercial tenants sign the lease and then discover what the buildout actually costs. Use this checklist before you commit to a space.

Get a contractor walk-through before lease signing.

Many landlords will agree to give you a contractor walk-through during lease negotiation. Use it. A 90-minute site visit by a commercial GC will tell you what the buildout will actually cost — and may give you leverage to negotiate a larger tenant improvement allowance.

Verify utility capacity, not just availability.

The space has electricity. Does it have enough? A restaurant or fitness studio may need a panel upgrade and possibly utility-side service upgrades — both of which can add 8–14 weeks to the schedule and tens of thousands to the budget. Verify amperage, gas line size, and water service before signing.

Understand the existing condition baseline.

Vanilla shell? White-box? Second-generation restaurant? Each starting condition has wildly different buildout costs. We’ll provide a clear delineation of what’s landlord-provided versus tenant-funded so the lease negotiation reflects reality.

Build the schedule backward from your opening date.

Permitting, long-lead equipment (custom millwork, branded fixtures, kitchen equipment), construction sequence, and inspection windows all need to be back-scheduled from your committed opening date. We routinely see tenants sign leases with 90-day buildout windows that the project actually needs 140 days to deliver. The lease language matters.

Confirm code requirements before design.

ADA compliance, restroom counts, occupant load calculations, fire suppression, ventilation, and grease abatement (for food service) all impose code requirements that drive design. Discovering these mid-design is expensive; discovering them mid-construction is catastrophic.

Have a project this article reminded you of? We’d be happy to talk through it. Call us at (404) 313-0173 or use the contact form.