A tenant improvement, also called a tenant finish out, covers the changes a tenant makes to a leased space so it fits the business and its style. Architects face a distinct set of challenges on this work, because the shell already exists and the schedule is rarely generous. Below, we walk through the process, from lease negotiation to the final site visit — and what a landlord and a tenant each need to know before they sign.
What a Tenant Improvement Actually Covers
Owners apply this work to shell buildings, malls, offices, retail suites, and restaurants, among many other property types. The scope varies widely. It may include new walls, gas lines, rooftop units, relocated equipment, and every finish a customer will ever touch. Each space carries its own requirements, so no two finish-outs look alike.
What separates a tenant improvement from ground-up work is that most of the important decisions were made by someone else, years ago. The slab is where it is. The electrical service is the size it is. The sanitary line runs where it runs. Good finish-out design is largely the work of finding out what you actually inherited, then arranging the new program around it — and knowing early which of those inherited conditions will have to change.
Tenant Improvement, Finish-Out, or Tenant Infill?
These terms get used interchangeably, and in practice they describe the same work.
Tenant improvement (or TI) is the national term, and it’s the one that shows up in leases and work letters.
Finish-out is the common usage in Texas, and it usually implies a first-generation space being completed for its first occupant.
Tenant infill is heard occasionally from contractors and turns up in project names and registrations. It refers to building out a previously unoccupied suite within an existing shell. Worth knowing that in Texas planning and zoning, “infill” more often means infill development — building on vacant land inside an already-developed area. DFW cities don’t use it as a permit type: Dallas and Plano say “finish-out,” Fort Worth says “remodel.”
The distinctions matter less than what’s actually in the space when you get it. A “finish-out” of a raw shell and a “tenant improvement” of a former restaurant are radically different projects with the same name. That’s why we start by documenting existing conditions rather than by taking anyone’s word for what’s there.
Who Pays for Tenant Improvement Work?
Sometimes the tenant absorbs the cost outright. More often, the parties negotiate it in the lease. During negotiation, the landlord commits a lump sum or an allowance per square foot, and the tenant then spends that money customizing the space. New paint, carpet, and partitions do more than serve one occupant, however. They raise the value of the property for future tenants, and they can lift the surrounding block as well.
The part that surprises people is what the allowance has to absorb before it reaches anything a customer will see. Sprinkler head relocation, an electrical service upgrade, grease waste and interceptor work, a new rooftop unit, ADA path-of-travel corrections, and under-slab plumbing routinely consume a large share of a budget that was mentally assigned to finishes. None of that is visible when you tour the space.
The single biggest variable is the delivery condition — what the landlord hands over. If your lease describes it in a word rather than a list, the allowance is being negotiated against an undefined obligation. We’ve written a full breakdown of that problem in Shell Delivery Standard: What DFW Landlords Should Actually Deliver.
If You’re the Landlord
Most tenant improvement content is written for tenants. Owners have a different set of questions, and they come up earlier.
Before you sign an LOI with a use you haven’t hosted before, the questions worth answering are whether your shell can carry it at all — grease and gas capacity for a food tenant, electrical headroom for fitness or medical, parking and use approval, and whether the space was ever permitted for what the tenant intends. Some of these are solvable with money. Some are solvable only with time, on a utility’s or a city’s schedule. And a use that requires a Specific Use Permit can be denied outright.
We work with shopping center owners, pad site owners, and office and mixed-use landlords on delivery standards, spec suite programs, and pre-lease feasibility. More on that on our developers and retailers page.
Do You Need an Architect or a Contractor First?
Both, eventually. The order matters more than people expect.
A contractor prices what’s drawn. Until the scope is defined, a number is an estimate of an assumption — which is why early budget numbers on finish-out projects have a way of moving. An architect’s first job on a tenant improvement is to establish what’s actually there and what the code, the use, and the landlord’s delivery condition will require. That’s the information a contractor needs to give you a number you can rely on.
It also happens to be the information you need in order to decide whether to sign the lease at all. Bringing design in before the lease is executed, rather than after, is the difference between negotiating from knowledge and discovering problems you’ve already agreed to own. Our post on test fits covers how that works in practice.
We are architects, not contractors. On most projects we help our clients select and coordinate with a general contractor, and we stay involved through construction to confirm the work matches the documents.
Planning the Layout to Minimize Downtime
Time is money, so the move into a new space should feel smooth rather than disruptive. Functionality and creativity together drive the size and arrangement of the plan. We plan early for one reason above all: to cut downtime and keep the business running. A good layout lets one space flow into the next naturally, without dead ends or awkward detours. Color, texture, and material choices then carry the aesthetic the client wants.
From Concept Plans to Construction Documents
Once we record the preliminary decisions, the drawings get far more detailed. These plans locate equipment, HVAC, lighting, and wall types. Every one of those elements has to coordinate with the others, and each must clear code review and accessibility requirements. All of it lands in the construction documents, which become the contract for the build.
Permitting, Accessibility, and Asbestos Review
Next, we gather bids from contractors and submit the drawings for a city permit. Typically several verifications follow.
In Texas, a project with an estimated construction cost of at least $50,000 must also be registered with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation and submitted for accessibility review by a Registered Accessibility Specialist. Most commercial finish-outs clear that threshold. Below it you skip the registration and review, but not the standard — the space still has to comply with TAS.
Submitting those plans is the architect’s responsibility, and it runs on its own schedule alongside the city’s review. It also doesn’t end at plan review: the owner is responsible for having the completed facility inspected no later than one year after construction is finished.
Before any renovation or demolition in a commercial or public building, Texas rules separately require the owner to have an asbestos survey performed — regardless of the building’s age. What scales with the scope of demolition is not the survey but the notification and abatement work that follows if asbestos is found. Most cities want evidence of the survey at permit intake. Finally, the plans have to comply with current building and energy codes, and some municipalities want multiple sets plus written specifications.
Permit review is the part of a finish-out schedule most likely to slip, and it slips for reasons that are largely preventable. We covered the most common ones in DFW Commercial Permit Review: 5 Delays to Avoid.
A Realistic Project Sequence
Every project is different, but the order rarely changes:
- Feasibility and lease due diligence — existing conditions, code and use review, and whether the space can do what you need
- Programming and test fit — what has to fit, and whether it does
- Design and engineering — architecture coordinated with mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and structural where required
- Permitting and pricing — city submittal, accessibility review, and contractor bids
- Construction administration — site visits, submittals, RFIs, and reviewer comments folded back in
- Closeout and opening — final inspections, the TAS inspection, certificate of occupancy, and punch list
The critical path is usually driven by permitting, long-lead equipment, and any work that touches utilities or the slab — not by finishes. Utility work in particular runs on the utility’s calendar, not yours. An opening date is usually determined long before the contractor mobilizes.
What Your Tenant Improvement Architect Does On Site
After review and approval, we fold reviewer comments and adjustments back into the design, and construction begins. We then communicate the finalized design to everyone involved. The contractor brings on subcontractors, and the team builds from the approved plans. Throughout, the architect visits the site to observe the work and confirm that it matches the documents. We do this every week for restaurant and hospitality clients.
Sustainability in a Tenant Improvement Project
An existing building gives us a glimpse of its past while it takes on a new practical purpose. Environmental gains, energy savings, and the social value of recycling materials make sustainable design a necessary part of the process rather than an upgrade. Similarly, a well-considered project can reenergize a district by meeting the changing needs of the people who use it. Our adaptive reuse work follows the same logic at building scale.
The Spaces We Finish Out
We handle tenant improvements across the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex and in select markets beyond it, for:
- Restaurants and bars — kitchen workflow, grease and gas, hoods and make-up air, patios, and occupancy
- Retail and storefronts — merchandising flow, storefront design, and multi-location prototypes (what makes a storefront work)
- Hospitality — guest experience and front-of-house design
- Fitness and studio spaces — acoustics, vibration, ventilation, and flooring
- Medical and clinical suites — separation, plumbing, and equipment power
- Office and spec suites — repeatable layouts for landlords competing on speed
Common Questions
Is a tenant improvement the same as a finish-out?
Yes. “Finish-out” is the more common term in Texas; “tenant improvement” is what your lease will call it.
What is tenant infill?
Building out a previously unoccupied suite inside an existing shell — the same work a lease would call a tenant improvement. Note that “infill” on its own usually means something else in Texas zoning: development on vacant land inside an already-built area.
Does a tenant improvement need a permit?
Almost always. A genuinely cosmetic scope — paint, floor and wall coverings, casework, movable fixtures — is exempt from a building permit in most DFW cities. But the moment you touch walls, egress, mechanical, electrical, or plumbing, a permit is required, and a change in occupancy classification triggers a broader review. Even a cosmetic-only tenant still needs a certificate of occupancy before opening.
Who pays for a tenant improvement?
It’s negotiated. Landlords typically offer an allowance, often expressed per square foot, and the tenant covers the rest. What the allowance has to absorb depends heavily on the condition the space is delivered in.
Does Texas require an architect for a tenant improvement?
Often, yes. Under the Texas Occupations Code and the Texas Board of Architectural Examiners’ guidance, an alteration to an existing commercial building requires a registered architect once construction costs exceed $50,000 and the work involves removing, relocating, or adding walls or partitions, or altering or adding an exit. Below either threshold the project is exempt from the Architects’ Act — though a city may still require sealed drawings. Most real finish-outs clear both tests.
When should I bring in an architect?
Before you sign. Once the lease is executed, you own whatever the space turns out to be.
Ready to Start Your Finish-Out?
Send us the space and what you plan to do in it. We’ll tell you what it will take to get it open — what’s already there, what has to change, and where the schedule is really going to be decided.
Contact Archiphy at 972-333-0592 to schedule a consultation, or get in touch here.