Tenant Build-Outs & Commercial Interiors · Washington, DC & Maryland
Commercial Tenant Build-Out Contractor in Washington, DC & Maryland
You found the space. Now it has to become a place where you can open your doors. Sonny’s Renovations manages commercial build-outs from pre-lease planning through demolition, construction, trade coordination, finishes and final inspection — one accountable design-build team, one contract.
Licensed DC & MD • Insured • Veteran-Owned • Design-Build | (301) 648-3181
Before you commit
Before You Sign the Lease, Get the Pre-Lease Space Check
A commercial space can look affordable until the required construction is understood. Code upgrades, mechanical and electrical work, accessibility requirements, plumbing for your use, fire and life-safety items, and permitting can change the real cost of a location by a wide margin — and most of that isn’t visible on a tour or in the listing.
The Pre-Lease Space Check puts a builder’s eyes on the space first. It starts with a free 30-minute video consult with the owner. From there, choose a Virtual Plan Review ($199) from your plans, listing and photos, or an On-Site Pre-Lease Review ($499) where Tre’ walks the space with you. Either way you get a written summary within 3 business days, and 100% of the fee is credited toward your build-out with Sonny’s. The credit never expires.
Start the Pre-Lease Space Check
The Pre-Lease Space Check is construction and preconstruction guidance from a licensed general contractor. It is not legal, architectural or engineering advice; where a licensed design professional’s opinion is needed, we’ll say so and can help you engage one.
What the Space Check covers
- Site walkthrough with you (and your broker, if you like)
- Existing-condition review of what’s there today
- Preliminary scope of the likely build-out
- Constructability observations
- Preliminary budget range
- Obvious build-out requirements for your use
- Review of the landlord’s proposed tenant improvements
- Landlord vs. tenant responsibilities, in construction terms
- Tenant improvement allowance considerations
- Permit and design considerations for your jurisdiction
- Preliminary schedule considerations
- Questions to raise with the landlord before you sign
Scope
What Sonny’s handles on a commercial build-out
Tenant build-outs fail on coordination, not on any single trade. A space needs plans that pass review, a permit that gets issued on time, demolition that doesn’t surprise anyone, framing and finishes that match the drawings, and electrical, plumbing, HVAC and fire-protection trades that show up in the right order. Sonny’s runs all of it under one contract so you have one number to call.
- Pre-construction and budgeting
- Design coordination and permit drawings
- Permitting and inspections
- Demolition and disposal
- Framing and drywall
- Ceilings and acoustics
- Doors, frames and hardware
- Flooring
- Painting and finishes
- ADA-related improvements
- Electrical coordination
- Plumbing coordination
- HVAC coordination
- Fire and life-safety coordination where applicable
- Punch list and closeout
- Certificate of occupancy support
Spaces we build out
Professional offices and office suites, medical and healthcare offices, dental offices and clinics, retail, salons and barbershops, fitness and wellness studios, daycare and childcare, and commercial service businesses. If your use has special requirements — plumbing-heavy layouts, higher electrical loads, sound separation, accessibility, or health-department review — those are exactly the items we want to find before the lease is signed, not after.
The process
From pre-lease planning through build-out and final inspection
- Pre-Lease Space CheckWe review the space with you, virtually or on site, and outline the likely scope, budget range and schedule so you can negotiate the lease and the tenant improvement allowance with realistic numbers.
- Lease and delivery conditionOnce you sign, we confirm exactly what the landlord delivers (vanilla shell, warm shell, as-is) and what falls to the tenant. That line defines the build-out.
- Design and permit drawingsWe coordinate with your architect — or bring one in — to produce the permit set: floor plan, reflected ceiling plan, MEP drawings, accessibility details, and life-safety plan as required by your jurisdiction.
- PermittingSubmission, plan review comments, and revisions with the District’s Department of Buildings or the county permitting office in Maryland. Health, fire marshal and use-and-occupancy reviews where your use requires them.
- Demolition and rough-inSelective demolition, framing, and rough electrical, plumbing and HVAC, coordinated in sequence and inspected before anything gets closed up.
- FinishesDrywall, ceilings, doors and hardware, flooring, millwork coordination, painting, fixtures and specialties.
- Inspections, punch list and closeoutFinal inspections, punch-list completion, closeout documents, and the certificate of occupancy so you can open.
Project experience
Helping Hands Family Clinic Build-Out — Lanham, Maryland
Commercial tenant build-out · Prime general contractor · Summer 2024 · Approximately $125,000
An existing commercial space in Lanham was converted into a specialized therapy facility designed to serve autistic children. The test-fit programmed individual therapy rooms, speech and occupational therapy rooms, group therapy, a clinical office, reception and lobby, a conference room, a break room, restrooms, and storage and support areas.
Sonny’s Renovations served as prime general contractor. The verified scope included selective wall and floor demolition, interior wall modifications, framing and stud work, drywall installation and finishing, approximately 4′ × 4′ openings with one-way observation glass, electrical rough-in coordination and outlet replacement, wall inspection, interior painting, commercial flooring, bathroom tile and fixture installation, doors, window installation and window film, cabinets and counters, and final cleaning — built to project specifications covering flooring, observation glass, doors and hardware, reception glass, casework and restroom finishes.
Design and clinical-space planning were provided by the project’s design professionals; Sonny’s role was construction.
Why it matters for your build-out
A healthcare-type interior carries the requirements most tenants underestimate: observation glazing, specialized flooring, casework, restroom finishes and the electrical coordination behind them. This is the kind of scope the Pre-Lease Space Check is meant to surface before the lease is signed.
Questions business owners ask
Tenant build-outs, explained
What is a tenant build-out?
A tenant build-out is the construction that turns a leased commercial space into a finished space for a specific business: walls, ceilings, finishes, lighting, plumbing, HVAC distribution, and everything else your use needs. It’s sometimes called a tenant fit-out or commercial interior construction.
What is a tenant improvement (TI)?
“Tenant improvements” are the changes made to a leased space for the tenant. In practice the term also refers to the money: a tenant improvement allowance (TIA) is the amount a landlord contributes toward that construction, usually stated per square foot. Knowing the likely build-out cost before you negotiate the allowance is the whole point of the Pre-Lease Space Check.
What is a vanilla shell?
A “vanilla shell” (or “white box”) is a common landlord delivery condition: typically finished perimeter walls, a concrete floor, a basic ceiling or open structure, lighting, HVAC to the space, and restrooms — but no interior partitions, finishes, or fixtures for your use. Definitions vary lease to lease, which is why we read the delivery condition with you before you sign.
Who handles the plans?
Most build-outs need drawings prepared by a licensed architect, and many need engineered MEP drawings. Sonny’s coordinates the design either with your architect or with design professionals we bring to the project, so the drawings are built for the permit process and for the budget — not just for the presentation.
Who handles the permits?
We do. Sonny’s prepares and submits the permit application, tracks plan review, responds to comments, schedules inspections, and manages the closeout to a certificate of occupancy. In Washington, DC that runs through the Department of Buildings; in Maryland it’s the county permitting office (Prince George’s, Montgomery, and so on), often with separate health or fire-marshal reviews depending on your use.
How are electrical, plumbing and HVAC trades coordinated?
Under our contract. Sonny’s sequences the licensed electrical, plumbing and mechanical subcontractors with the framing, inspections and finishes so rough-ins are complete and inspected before walls close, and so no trade is waiting on another. Where fire protection or low-voltage systems are required, they’re coordinated the same way.
Can Sonny’s work with my architect?
Yes. If you already have an architect or designer, we work from their drawings and coordinate directly with them through permitting and construction. If you don’t, we can bring one in.
Can Sonny’s evaluate a space before I sign the lease?
Yes — that’s the Pre-Lease Space Check. It starts with a free 30-minute video consult, then a $199 Virtual Plan Review or $499 On-Site Review with a written summary in 3 business days. The fee is credited in full toward your build-out with Sonny’s. It is construction guidance from a licensed general contractor, not legal advice; your attorney and broker still negotiate the lease.
What happens from lease signing through occupancy?
Design and permit drawings, permit submission and review, demolition and rough-in, finishes, inspections, punch list, and the certificate of occupancy. Timelines depend on scope and on plan-review times in your jurisdiction; a simple office suite and a plumbing-heavy medical or salon build-out are very different schedules, which we’ll lay out for you during pre-construction.
Where does Sonny’s do commercial build-outs?
Washington, DC (all quadrants) and Maryland, including Prince George’s, Montgomery, Charles, Anne Arundel and Howard Counties. Sonny’s Renovations LLC is a licensed general contractor in DC and Maryland.
Considering a commercial space? Bring Sonny’s in before you sign the lease.
Free 30-minute video consult to start. Review fees are credited in full toward your build-out, and the credit never expires.
