Commercial renovations in Greater Vancouver, BC

A commercial renovation can either be a rewarding and profitable experience, or a costly and traumatic ordeal for any Greater Vancouver business owner. The important decisions made BEFORE the actual renovation work begins, always determine the final project cost. More than thirty years of construction design and commercial renovation project management experience has taught us, that the way a renovation project starts will usually determine the way it ends. Without good project planning, well written contracts, good project management, competent and skilled trades people and a carefully controlled, cooperative scheduling policy, your dream of a great new business location can quickly turn into a costly financial nightmare.

This site was written to provide understandable, important renovation information for business owners planning to renovate a restaurant, retail store or commercial office in the Greater Vancouver area.

A commercial renovation is always a substantial capital investment and the prices quoted for even simple commercial renovations continue to climb. We provide a unique service to help business owners save money, achieve the final project result they need and still protect themselves from making the decisions that create renovation nightmares.

The real challenge faced by anyone planning a new business location, IS NOT how to find the best location. It's not how to find the best designer or architect, best renovation contractor or develop a realistic renovation budget. It's not even how to get City building permit approved, work within the requirements of the BC Building Code (BCBC 2006) and local city bylaws, get liability insurance coverage, determine an opening date, find a good sign company, a monitored alarm system, get a business license approved (and issued), or the dozens of business start-up and potential costly bylaw upgrading requirements.

It's managing all of the project components, at the same time! Unless you have a substantial amount of business and commercial renovation project experience, you could discover just how complex and stressful the entire process can be when it's already too late, to easily and economically, solve the problems created by unskilled or unethical renovation contractors.

An on-site pre-inspection of the space can help you to determine the costly renovation challenges you might face, before you lease the wrong location. You can learn a lot about the building, it's current building code and bylaw deficiencies and the potential costs of renovating for your new business.

Preliminary design concept drawings allow you to see how your business can work (or not fit) in the space you're considering leasing.

Detailed budget development allows you to determine and get control of your costs before you make incorrect cost assumptions.

Building permit submission assistance helps you avoid time consuming and costly delays getting City approval, before you can start your renovations.

Contractor selection and negotiation assistance helps you to find the right people for your renovation project. We also help you to prepare the documents to ensure that your service providers perform legally and responsibly.

Project management helps you maintain control of your design concept, the renovation process and your total project costs.