Top Tips for Making the Most of Building Renovations

Just as any new home needs curb appeal, a business space needs to be able to make a solid first impression to draw in customers and clients. While the renovation process can be complicated, it doesn’t have to be painful. We’ve renovated hundreds of office, senior living, retail, and government buildings throughout the years, and here are our top tips for planning your renovation.

Prioritize Your Wish List

Determine what you’d like to accomplish, and create a list of these goals to review with your architect and designer. Whether your top priority is to enhance your building’s aesthetic, update infrastructure systems to improve efficiency, or install new technology, knowing what is most important to you and communicating that to your renovation team will help define your project early on and avoid spending additional time and money on work that isn’t as valuable to you.

Determine Your Budget

Now that you know what you want to focus on, talk with your architect and interior designer about what features, fixtures, finishes, and furnishings will have maximum impact on your building, customers, and employees. You can often allocate your budget to the areas that will make the most impact and save money in areas that won’t. This is where experienced interior designers can be tremendously beneficial; because they will have worked with so many other clients, they’ll have helpful tips and tricks to stretch your resources and suggest where you can save money without anyone noticing.

Make the Most of What You Have

It may be a great location, beautiful brick walls, or a wonderful view: Chances are there’s something about your existing building that you’ll want to keep and even accentuate in your renovation. A good architect will work with you to save these features while updating the rest of your building.

Prepare for the Unexpected

Especially if your building is older, you may encounter surprises. For example, during construction at one of our recent renovations, deteriorating wood studs and insulation were discovered; water had been seeping under the siding for years, and birds were even nesting where the insulation had once been. It can be a shock, but an experienced architect will be able to help you work through these kinds of issues with as little inconvenience and expense as possible.

Choosing the right architect and interior designer can help you firm up your ideas, stay competitive within your market, design an energy-efficient building that works well for your specific needs, and keep your project on track, with the least possible construction phase disruption to your customers and employees.

For more information, Reach out to one of our architects.