Commercial Tenant Improvement Checklist for St. Louis Owners and Property Managers
Updated: 3 days ago
A successful tenant improvement starts long before crews arrive. For owners, property managers, tenants, and general contractors in the St. Louis market, the biggest schedule and budget problems usually come from incomplete scope definition, late decisions, and poor coordination between trades. A clear preconstruction checklist helps prevent those problems.
1. Define the business use and construction scope
Start with how the finished space will operate. Office, medical, retail, restaurant, franchise, warehouse, and professional-service spaces all create different requirements for partitions, ceilings, power, plumbing, finishes, accessibility, and inspections. Identify what stays, what is removed, what is relocated, and what must be new before pricing begins.
2. Separate demolition from new construction
Selective demolition should be clearly documented. Architectural demolition, ceilings, flooring, partitions, millwork, and doors should be distinguished from mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, low-voltage, data, security, and fire-alarm work. Clear exclusions reduce change-order disputes and help every bidder price the same scope.
3. Confirm drawings, permits, and landlord requirements
Verify whether the project has permit-ready drawings, landlord criteria, building standards, approved working hours, elevator or loading-dock rules, and insurance requirements. In occupied buildings, access restrictions and noise limits can affect production and should be included in the schedule and price.
4. Coordinate MEP before walls close
Framing and drywall move quickly once layout begins, but rework becomes expensive when electrical, plumbing, HVAC, fire protection, and low-voltage requirements are unresolved. Above-ceiling and in-wall coordination should happen before board installation whenever possible.
5. Lock the finish schedule early
Flooring, paint systems, wallcoverings, tile, doors, hardware, millwork, ACT, specialty ceilings, and owner-furnished items can all have lead times. Final selections should be tied to procurement dates so material availability does not control the project near the end.
6. Build the schedule around inspections and long-lead items
A realistic TI schedule includes demolition, rough framing, MEP rough-in, inspections, drywall, ceilings, finishes, flooring, millwork, doors and hardware, final MEP work, punch list, and final inspections. Procurement and jurisdictional reviews should be shown as real schedule activities, not assumptions.
7. Compare bids by scope, not only by total
The lowest number is not always the lowest project cost. Compare what each proposal includes, allowances, exclusions, working-hour assumptions, supervision, disposal, protection, permits, temporary conditions, and closeout requirements. A complete scope comparison is one of the best ways to reduce surprises after award.
Working with Salem Developments
Salem Developments serves the Greater St. Louis market as a commercial general contractor and interior construction partner for tenant improvements, build-outs, renovation, selective demolition, framing, drywall, ceilings, painting, carpentry, and related multi-trade scopes. Owners, property managers, franchise teams, and general contractors can send plans, specifications, project location, and bid date to salemdevelopments@gmail.com for review.
Planning a commercial tenant improvement? Explore Salem Developments’ commercial general contractor services in St. Louis for office build-outs, retail build-outs, commercial interior construction, and multi-trade renovations.
Related Salem Commercial Services
For tenant improvements and build-outs, review our commercial general contractor services in St. Louis, commercial construction services, and commercial demolition services.
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