Method
How a project actually runs
Six stages, in order. The first two happen before anyone quotes you a price — which is the part most contractors skip and the part that decides whether the budget holds.
- 01
Read the work letter
Before a layout, before a rate, before anything. The work letter decides what the landlord delivers and what you fund — and it moves budgets by more than any trade rate we could negotiate. If you have not signed yet, this is also the point at which the number is still negotiable.
You get: A written summary of what you are actually responsible for building, and where the allowance lands against it.
- 02
Walk the space
Existing conditions are where estimates go wrong. Service capacity at the panel, mechanical provision at the ceiling, the state of the demising walls, whether the washrooms are yours or shared, what a change of use will trigger. An hour on site is worth a week of assumptions.
You get: A condition note listing the items that carry real cost risk, and the ones that don't.
- 03
Price the design as it is drawn
Cost feedback runs alongside the drawings, not after them. Layout options carry their cost differences with them, so you are choosing between a plan and a price at the same time rather than discovering the price later.
You get: Layout options with costs attached, then a fixed price once scope is settled.
- 04
Permit and prepare
Permit drawings, municipal submission, consultant coordination and long-lead procurement all run in parallel. Municipal review time is the single least controllable part of a commercial project, so it starts first.
You get: A permit set in review, long-lead items ordered, and a schedule built backwards from your occupancy date.
- 05
Build it
One superintendent, one point of contact, one party responsible when the drawings and the site disagree. That conflict is ours to absorb rather than yours to arbitrate — which is the entire argument for design-build over separate contracts.
You get: Weekly progress reporting against schedule and budget, with changes priced before they proceed.
- 06
Close it out
Deficiencies closed, inspections passed, occupancy granted, warranties and manuals handed over. The project is finished when you can use the space and the paperwork supports it, not when the trades leave.
You get: Occupancy, a closed deficiency list, and the documentation your landlord and insurer will ask for.
Why it matters
One accountable party
Commercial interiors are usually split in two: a designer who finishes and leaves, and a contractor who arrives afterwards to price what was drawn.
The gap between those two engagements is where delay, change orders and disappointing finishes come from. Nobody owns the discrepancy, so it becomes yours.
Keeping both in one contract does not make a project cheaper by itself. It makes it predictable, and on a project running against a lease commencement date, predictability is usually worth more than the last few percent of price.
Questions about how we work
What is design-build, and how is it different from hiring a designer and a contractor separately?
In design-build, one firm holds both the design and the construction contract. With separate contracts, a conflict between the drawings and site conditions becomes a dispute between two parties you have hired, and you arbitrate it. Under design-build that conflict sits inside one contract, so it is absorbed rather than negotiated.
When should we bring you in?
Before the lease is signed, if possible. The work letter sets the division of work and the allowance, and both are negotiable only up to signing. A construction review at offer stage takes a few hours and regularly identifies obligations worth tens of thousands of dollars.
How are changes priced during construction?
Changes are priced and approved before the work proceeds, not reconciled at the end. The mechanism is set in the contract before construction starts, which is the point at which it can still be negotiated.
Do you work outside Metro Vancouver?
We work across Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley — Surrey, Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Langley, Coquitlam, Delta, New Westminster, North Vancouver and Abbotsford. For projects further afield, ask and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right fit.
Start a project
Tell us about the space.
Send the unit, the approximate square footage and your target opening date. A lease or work letter tells us more than a floor plan does.