Office Renovation for Manhattan Startups, Run by the Team That Did Your Lease

What our team does on a startup's first renovation

A founder renovating a first leased floor has nobody on staff whose job this is. We take it on, in this order.

• Planning: the headcount you expect over the next 18 months turned into desks, rooms and booths on the actual floor plan.
• Design: an architect's drawings, coordinated by us and drawn to the budget you set.
• Pricing before signing: a contractor's estimate on that plan while the lease is still open.
• Construction management: Department of Buildings filings, the landlord's approvals, the contractor, and then furniture, cabling and AV.

Construction management describes the service in full.

Why we plan the renovation while the lease is being negotiated

Most of a renovation schedule is decided before any construction starts. With drawings under way during the lease negotiation, the permit can be filed at signing and the slow items, glass, doors and switchgear, can be ordered the same week. A startup that signs first and looks for an architect afterward starts the same clock weeks later, with rent often already due.

The overlap helps the deal as well. A priced plan tells us how large an allowance to ask for and how many free months the construction period needs. How fast a startup can move into a custom office works through the calendar.

Budgeting: the landlord's allowance and the cost above it

The landlord's improvement allowance pays for hard construction, against invoices, and on a small floor with a short term it will not cover everything. Depending on scope, the construction itself costs $50 to $150 a square foot by our buildout guide's figures, and in most deals furniture, cabling and moving sit outside the allowance. We set the budget from the priced plan, design to it and hold a contingency. These are ranges, not promises: the real number and the real date depend on the building and the scope.

Landlord approvals and building rules, handled for you

Every Manhattan building has alteration rules of its own: approved contractors, insurance certificates, freight elevator hours, and in landmarked buildings a further review. We submit the drawings to the landlord, schedule its review, book the freight and keep the trades inside the building's rules, so those steps sit on the calendar from the first week.

After the renovation: who runs the startup's office

Nomad runs facilities for the offices it delivers. Once you are in, facilities management covers cleaning, repairs, pantry restocking and vendors through one team that already knows the floor. The floors below fit about 15 people, the scale this page is written for.