We signed the lease in March and were serving customers in June. LNB walked the space with our drawings before we committed and told us exactly what the landlord's work letter did not cover.
Marisol Vega
Owner · Independent Cafe
How We Work
How A Build Out Works
Five stages. You'll know which one you're in at all times, and you'll know what's happening next.
- Licensed Texas General Contractor
- Bonded & Insured
- Workers’ Comp Carried
- BBB Accredited A+
- NARI Member
- On Site In All 50 States
- Escrow Services Available
The Five Stages
Every job runs in this order. What changes between a dental practice and a coffee shop is what happens inside each stage, not the stages themselves.
Walkthrough And Scope
We walk the space with you, read the lease, the landlord's work letter and the brand standards, and give you a written scope of exactly what's included, and more importantly what isn't.
What You Get
A written scope of work with the exclusions listed plainly, so the things nobody is buying are on paper before anybody has spent money.
What We Need From You
The lease or the landlord’s work letter, any drawings you have even if it is only a broker’s floor plan, and brand standards if you are a franchisee.
Budget And Bid
A line-item number, not a range. Every trade broken out. If something in the space is going to cost more than you expected, you find out here, not in month three.
What You Get
A line-item budget by trade and a schedule of values, in the format your lender or property manager will ask for it in.
What We Need From You
Decisions on anything we have had to carry as an allowance, and your target opening date so we can price against it honestly.
Permits And Drawings
We handle the drawing set, the submittal and the jurisdiction. Permitting is the single most common reason build-outs slip. We treat it as the critical path, because it is.
What You Get
A complete permit set submitted, plan review comments answered, and the submittal tracked so you know where it sits rather than hearing nothing for six weeks.
What We Need From You
Stamped architectural and engineering drawings where the jurisdiction requires them, and your signature on the permit application as the tenant.
Construction
Demo, framing, MEP rough-in, inspections, finishes, fixtures. Weekly written updates with photos. One project manager, one phone number, the whole way through.
What You Get
A weekly written report with photographs, and a monthly AIA payment application with the lien waiver package behind it.
What We Need From You
Selections made on time, and your approval on any change order before the work happens rather than after it appears on a bill.
Punch List And Handover
We walk it with you and fix the list before we ask for the final draw. You get closeout documents, warranties, as-builts and the certificate of occupancy. Then you open.
What You Get
Closeout documents, warranties, as-builts, final unconditional lien waivers and the certificate of occupancy.
What We Need From You
A walk of the finished space with us, and your punch list. We close it before we ask for the final draw, not after.
What You Hear From Us While It Runs
You are paying rent on a space that is not open yet. Knowing where it stands is not a nice-to-have.
One project manager.
One name and one phone number for the length of the job. Not a rota, and not a different person every time something goes wrong.
A written report every week.
What got done, what is next, what is late and why. In writing, so you can forward it to a landlord or a lender without translating it first.
Photographs, not adjectives.
Especially if you are out of state. Progress you can see beats progress somebody describes to you on a call.
A superintendent on site.
Not a project manager on a phone. Remote-managed construction is how a brand standard quietly turns into a suggestion.
What Changes By Service
The five stages hold. What moves is which one owns the critical path, and that is decided by what you are building.
Restaurant Build OutThe schedule is built around health department and fire marshal availability rather than around the trades.Dental Office Build OutNothing opens the floor until the equipment vendor’s rough-in drawings are approved and frozen.Medical And Med SpaOccupancy classification gets settled at the walkthrough, because it changes egress, sprinkler and construction requirements.Franchise Build OutEverything is scheduled backwards from the fixture ship date, because the truck does not wait and it does not come back.Retail Build OutThe centre landlord’s approvals run as a second track alongside the jurisdiction’s permit.Commercial RemodelingThe phasing plan is the first deliverable, because the business is still trading while we work.
What Owners Say Afterwards
The part that matters is not the bid. It is whether the space opened when they said it would.
Our lender wanted G702s and a schedule of values, not a lump sum. LNB billed the way the bank expected from the first draw, so nothing stalled in underwriting.
Dev Ramaswamy
Franchisee · Fitness Franchise
Four units in three states and every one of them looks like the prototype. That is the part I could never get from hiring a different contractor in each market.
Alicia Brenner
Director of Development · Multi-Site Retail Brand
One superintendent, one number to call, weekly progress against the schedule. We were paying rent on a dark store and they knew it.
Tomasz Kowal
Managing Partner · Retail Group
The permit run in our jurisdiction is where these projects usually die. They tracked it and told us where it sat every week instead of going quiet.
Renée Okafor
Practice Manager · Dental Practice
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Process FAQ
How long does a build out take?
That depends on permitting far more than it depends on us. Tell us your target date at the walkthrough and we will tell you honestly whether it is achievable, which is more useful than a number we cannot stand behind.
Who do I talk to during construction?
One project manager, one phone number, for the length of the job. You also get a written report every week whether or not you ask for one.
What happens if you find something behind a wall?
You get a written change order with a price and a schedule impact before the work happens, and your signature goes on it. It then appears as its own line on the payment application rather than buried inside an existing one.
Do you handle the permit yourselves?
Yes. Drawing submittal, plan review comments, issuance, every inspection and the certificate of occupancy. Permitting is the single most common reason a build-out slips, so we treat it as the critical path.
Can I make changes once construction has started?
Yes, and most people do. The cost of a change rises steeply once it is built, so the earlier it is raised the cheaper it is. Anything structural, mechanical or under the slab is the expensive kind.
What do I actually get at the end?
Closeout documents, warranties, as-builts, operation and maintenance manuals, final unconditional lien waivers from every tier, and the certificate of occupancy. Then you open.
Next step
You Signed The Lease. Let's Get It Open.
Send us the space and the brand standards. You'll get a walkthrough scheduled inside 48 hours and a real number. Not a range, not a “starting at.”
No obligation. No pressure. If we're not the right builder for your project, we'll tell you on the call.
info@lnbconstruction.net
