Toronto’s construction boom has meant that many commercial and retail tenants are finding themselves moving into a registered condominium building. But not many new tenants understand that build-outs within a condo building require an additional layer of planning. Here are some tips to ensure you don’t run into additional costs and delays.

Make friends upfront

The principle difference when operating a commercial space within a residential condo is having to deal with a condo board. Although it is required for all condo board directors to have a base understanding of construction practices, it’s not uncommon to run up against board members who aren’t well-versed in the process. It only takes one misinformed individual to cause significant delays.

Since boards are only required to meet once per month, it’s crucial to build their schedule into your plan to ensure there are no delays in key decisions requiring board approval.

Clarify your property manager’s role

Many condos that support both residential and commercial tenants have multiple property managers. Even if your scope of work only involves the commercial property manager, it’s still important to clarify where their responsibilities within the building end and the residential property manager’s role begins as sometimes there may be shared services and systems that require the involvement of both parties.

Understand schedule limitations

Schedules for ‘noisy’ construction work are often limited within condo buildings – particularly properties that mix both commercial and residential tenants. In one recent build-out, balancing the needs of daytime office workers and those of the residents meant our window for noisy work was limited to only two hours a day. If we hadn’t considered this as part of our plan, this could have become a scheduling nightmare and our tenant could have experienced a stall in the process.  

Design for the collective

Managing noise is a key consideration within any commercial space design, but it’s even more critical when your neighbours are residents. So, if your design plan is open-concept, it’s important to construct in ways to mitigate sounds that could travel and disrupt other tenants.  

Flooring is another issue that typically arises during build-outs – if drainage requires the floor to slope, you’ll need to identify what areas could be affected and whether there will be an impact on residential areas.

Get everyone to the table early

There’s nothing worse than working to a timeline only to be confronted by a neighbouring tenant – especially when it’s the construction workers bearing the brunt of an angry tenants ire. It instantly creates acrimony between parties, and it’s difficult to regain that trust.

In our experience, the earlier you can bring all parties involved within a condo build-out together, the easier it is to mitigate potential issues and ensure that all board members and property managers understand both the plan and process moving forward. During this meeting, your construction manager should ensure that the right questions are being asked – and when they need to be asked.

It might take a bit more upfront planning to meet and engage a condo board and its property management, but the headaches it relieves is worth every second.