Tenant Improvement Contractors for a Startup Office Buildout in NYC: Who Runs the Work

Who hires the contractor, and who manages the job

• Landlord build. The owner's contractor builds the space to a plan both sides agree. You trade control for less risk.
• Tenant build. You hire the general contractor. The landlord approves the plans and the contractor, and the building's alteration rules set insurance requirements and working hours.

Hiring and managing are different jobs. A contractor builds what the drawings show. A construction manager works for the tenant: coordinating the architect, the filings, the landlord's reviews and the contractor, and answering for the date and the number.

What Nomad does for a first custom floor, in order

• During the search: a builder's read on each floor you tour, and a test fit on the finalists.
• During negotiation: design begins and the scope is priced, so the allowance you ask for is set against a real estimate.
• At signing: Department of Buildings filings go in and landlord review starts, with long-lead items ordered from the drawings.
• During construction: one team manages the contractor and sits on your side of every change order.
• At the end: furniture, cabling and AV are brought in.

Nomad has 300+ offices delivered and 2M+ square feet leased. Because brokerage and construction management sit in one firm, these steps overlap instead of waiting on each other.

Ten to sixteen weeks, and what moves the date

From a signed lease, design takes two to three weeks, permits and the ordering of long-lead items another three to four, and the construction itself six to nine.

• Decisions: design questions answered within a day hold the short end.
• Landmark review, which adds two to four weeks in SoHo and parts of Flatiron.
• Prewar surprises found at demolition, which cost one to three weeks.
• A single freight elevator shared with the whole building.
• Scope changed after the permit is filed.

Each of these can be assessed before the lease is signed. The buildout cost and timeline guide goes phase by phase.

Questions that predict how a builder will perform

Four questions tell you more than a bid does.

• What were your last three jobs of this size, and may we speak to those clients directly?
• Who will be the site superintendent, by name?
• How is a change order priced and approved?
• What share of your work comes from repeat clients?

Then set terms that keep interests aligned: a guaranteed maximum price once the design is fixed, long-lead purchases shown at cost, a retained share of the payment released only when the punch list is done, and a site walk every week with photos.

What a startup should have ready before work starts

• The headcount you expect in 18 months, and the rooms it implies: about one enclosed room per eight people, plus phone booths.
• One named person who answers design questions within 24 hours.
• The building engineer's letter on power, HVAC hours and freight access.
• A priced scope, so the allowance is argued from a real budget.
• First choices for the slow items: glass, millwork and switchgear.

The floors below are sized for a team of about 20, and any of them can be priced against this list before you sign.