COMMERCIAL BUILD-OUT ELECTRICAL
Commercial build-out electrical contractor for first-generation space
SHELL AND CORE
Building the electrical system from the shell up
First-generation space is a blank page with rules. The landlord has provided a service capacity, a location for the suite’s meter or panel and a set of building standards for fixtures, controls and ceiling work. Everything inside the demising walls is ours to design, price and install.
That freedom is useful, but it also means every decision is new. Where the panel sits, how the distribution is laid out, how lighting zones map to the floor plan and how low-voltage pathways reach each room all need to be settled early, because they shape the ceiling and the schedule.
We start by reading the landlord’s tenant criteria alongside the tenant’s layout and equipment list. The two documents frequently disagree about capacity, and it is far cheaper to resolve that in writing before gear is ordered than on site.
What we need to start
- The landlord’s tenant criteria or building standards
- The allocated service capacity for the suite
- The tenant’s floor plan and furniture layout
- An equipment list with electrical requirements
- Target occupancy date
- Who is providing the design, if anyone yet
SCOPE OF WORK
What a shell build-out includes
Service and metering
Setting the suite’s meter or connecting to the house distribution at the point the landlord provides, sized to the allocation in the lease.
Distribution
Main panel, sub-panels and transformers placed where they serve the floor plan well, with feeders sized for the load and a margin for growth.
Power throughout
Receptacles, floor boxes, furniture feeds and dedicated equipment circuits laid out to the plan rather than a generic grid.
Lighting and controls
The full lighting package, with emergency egress lighting and exit signs, and the controls the energy code requires, commissioned before turnover.
Low-voltage infrastructure
Backboxes, conduit stubs and pathways for data, security, access control and AV, ready for the tenant’s cabling vendor or installed by us.
Mechanical power
Feeds and disconnects for rooftop units, split systems, exhaust fans and water heaters, coordinated with the mechanical contractor’s equipment schedule.
HOW THE JOB RUNS
The shell build-out sequence
01
Confirm capacity and point of service
02
Design and release the gear
03
Underground and in-slab work
04
Rough-in overhead and in the walls
05
Set gear and energize
06
Trim, test and turn over
COMMON QUESTIONS
Shell build-out electrical questions
It is space delivered with no interior finishes, no lighting and no distribution — usually just a service stub or meter position at the demising wall. Everything electrical inside the suite is part of the build-out.
We find that out before design is final. The options are usually to negotiate additional capacity with the landlord, pay for a service upgrade, or reduce the connected load. Each has a cost and a schedule we can put numbers on.
We can. On many build-outs we work design-build, producing permit drawings stamped by a licensed engineer where the jurisdiction requires it. On others we price and build from the architect’s engineer’s drawings.
We can install the full low-voltage package, or provide the pathways and backboxes for the tenant’s IT vendor. We coordinate either way so nothing is roughed in twice.
Temporary power for the trades is set up at the start and removed once the permanent system is inspected and energized. It is priced as its own line item.