A tenant improvement is the construction that turns a leased commercial space into your business: the interior fit-out of walls, ceilings, finishes, millwork, lighting, and the MEP behind them. Landlords and brokers call it TI, Texas leases often call it a finish-out, and it’s most of what we do on the commercial side at MASACO Construction, from franchise restaurants and cafes to salons, studios, and commercial remodeling of spaces a business already occupies, across Dallas-Fort Worth.
What a tenant improvement is, and who pays for what.
Before anyone draws a wall, 3 things decide how a TI project is split.
The work letter is the lease exhibit listing what the landlord delivers, from a storefront, demising walls, slab, rooftop HVAC, and stubbed utilities down to considerably less, plus what the landlord must approve, what insurance your contractor carries, and when noisy work is allowed.
The TI allowance is money the landlord contributes toward your build-out, usually stated per square foot and paid in draws as work is completed and documented. Costs above it are yours.
The tenant’s scope is everything else: walls, ceilings, finishes, millwork, lighting, equipment connections, signage, and the permits and certificate of occupancy that let you open. That’s what we price, build, and close out, with the landlord’s line drawn in the proposal rather than argued over at the first draw.
First-generation shell or second-generation space.
The same 2,000 square feet can be 2 very different projects depending on what’s already inside.
A first-generation shell has never been occupied. You get a slab, exterior walls, a roof deck, and stubbed utilities; everything else is new, from framing and ductwork to restrooms and any sprinkler changes your layout triggers. Fade & Style Barber Shop in Allen was a first-generation build-out of about 1,500 square feet, finished in 6 weeks for the grand opening.
A second-generation space was someone else’s business first, so you inherit their restrooms, ceiling grid, HVAC, and sometimes their grease interceptor. That can be the fastest route to opening, or it can hide undersized electrical service and misplaced plumbing. Calibration Brain & Body in Frisco converted about 4,250 square feet into a wellness and media studio in 5 weeks because we kept what worked and rebuilt only what the new use needed.
Franchise build-outs: brand standards, equipment schedules, and franchisor sign-off.
A franchise build-out answers to 3 sets of rules at once: the landlord’s, the city’s, and the franchisor’s. The franchisor supplies brand standards, usually prototype drawings that fix finishes, millwork, signage, and lighting, and an equipment schedule listing every fryer, oven, and refrigerator with the utilities each needs. We fit that prototype into a space that’s never its shape, keep the brand intact, and collect the franchisor’s approvals on the agreement’s timeline.
Pizza Twist in Irving was a franchise restaurant of roughly 2,000 square feet, built in 6 to 8 weeks inside a restaurant that stayed open the whole time, with the full kitchen installed and every utility connection made while service continued. Franchisees usually have an opening date set by the franchisor, so we schedule backward from it.
Restaurants and cafes: grease, hoods, make-up air, and water at the equipment.
In food service, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing work carries most of the budget and most of the risk. The fixed points:
- Grease. Most cities require a grease interceptor on kitchen drains. If the shell lacks one, adding it means cutting slab or trenching outside, so it goes in the schedule first.
- Hoods and make-up air. Grease-producing cooking needs a Type I hood with fire suppression, and the air it exhausts has to come back in through a make-up air unit, often via a roof penetration the landlord must approve.
- Water and drain at the equipment. Espresso machines, ice makers, dishwashers, and combi ovens each need supply, drain, and often a filter or backflow device, all located on the plan before framing.
Our closest food-service proof is Pizza Twist in Irving, a 2,000 square foot franchise restaurant with a full kitchen installation and new utility connections, built in 6 to 8 weeks while the restaurant stayed open.
Salons and wellness studios: wash stations, ventilation, and sound.
Salons look finish-driven, but plumbing sets the layout. Every wash station needs hot and cold supply, a drain at the right height, and a mixing valve, which in a slab-on-grade retail bay means saw-cutting trenches before anything else. Chemical services bring ventilation requirements, and lighting has to serve both the client in the chair and the stylist’s color work.
Cielo Beauty Bar in Celina was about 2,600 square feet, built in 8 weeks with plumbing for a bank of wash stations and custom lighting throughout. Calibration Brain & Body paired a wellness studio with a podcast studio, so acoustic panels, a recording room isolated from HVAC noise, and a custom front desk were as much of the scope as flooring.
Building inside an operating business or an occupied center.
Most TIs happen in centers where the neighbors are open, and some while your own business keeps trading. Pizza Twist never closed while we rebuilt around it: we split the space into zones, kept a working kitchen, restrooms, and a customer path at all times, and handed each zone back finished before starting the next.
Dust, noise, and smell are the 3 complaints that reach a landlord, so we seal work zones with temporary walls and plastic, run negative air where HVAC is shared, schedule demolition and concrete cutting for evenings and weekends or whatever hours the building allows, and protect corridors and storefront glass.
Permits, inspections, and the certificate of occupancy.
Any TI that moves walls, changes the use, or touches mechanical, electrical, or plumbing systems needs a building permit, and a new tenant needs a certificate of occupancy before opening. Inside Dallas, drawings go to City of Dallas Development Services. In Plano it’s City of Plano Building Inspections, in Frisco the City of Frisco, in Fort Worth City of Fort Worth Development Services, and elsewhere the city’s building department runs its own review. Restaurants add health department review, and the fire marshal reviews egress, suppression, and the materials on the walls.
Fade & Style taught us a lesson there. Its design used a PVC wall panel system behind the barber stations because it stands up to water and constant cleaning. The fire marshal required extra documentation on that system before releasing the certificate of occupancy, since interior finishes are rated for how they behave in a fire. We pulled the manufacturer’s data, submitted it, and the CO was issued in time for the grand opening. Finishes need code documentation as much as framing does, so we gather it during submittal, not the week before you open.
Accessibility designed into the layout.
Commercial spaces open to the public have to meet the federal ADA standards and the Texas Accessibility Standards, and in a TI that means dimensions: an accessible route from the entry through the space, door clearances, a restroom with the turning space and grab-bar backing the standards call for, and a lowered section of any service counter. We draw those clearances into the first layout, because moving a restroom wall on paper costs nothing and moving it after tile costs a week. That’s what the codes require, not legal advice; the reviewing authority rules on any specific condition.
What moves the schedule.
Once permits were in hand, the 6 build-outs named on this page ran 5 to 8 weeks on site, and that’s the range we plan around for a single tenant. What moves the date, in rough order of frequency:
- Permit review, which varies by city and by how complete the submittal is.
- Long-lead items: hoods, custom millwork, specialty lighting, and franchisor-specified equipment.
- Landlord approvals for anything touching the roof, storefront, or shared systems.
- Late decisions, which is why the space plan and rendered views are approved before construction starts.
Your proposal comes with a schedule, updated in your project manager’s written photo report every week. Our process page walks through each step, and our project management page covers multi-phase and multi-location work.
How we price a tenant improvement.
Your proposal is fixed-scope, organized by trade, and reconciled against the work letter. Finishes you haven’t picked carry allowances with a stated quantity and unit price; stay inside the allowance and the number holds, choose above it and you pay the documented difference. Anything outside the scope, whether you add a room or demolition uncovers a hidden condition, becomes a written change order with a price and schedule impact you approve before work continues. If you have a TI allowance, we structure invoicing to fit your landlord’s draw process. Bonding capacity and insurance certificates are available on request.
Book a consultation.
MASACO Construction is a woman- and minority-owned general contractor and a Goldman Sachs Preferred Vendor, headquartered in Plano and led by Founder and CEO Sara Bannat and COO Mahmoud Abu Saad. We build tenant improvements across Dallas-Fort Worth, from Legacy West and Watters Creek to Las Colinas, Uptown, Deep Ellum, Bishop Arts, Knox-Henderson, and Fort Worth’s West 7th and Near Southside. TI work sits within our general construction practice alongside commercial construction, and once you’re open, our facility maintenance programs keep the space in shape. Completed build-outs are on our projects page. If you’ve signed a lease or are about to, contact us and we’ll walk the space, read the work letter, and give you a real path to opening day.
What's included.
- Tenant improvement build-outs for restaurants, cafes, franchises, salons, wellness studios, offices, and retail
- First-generation shell build-outs and second-generation space conversions
- Work letter review so the landlord's scope and your scope are separated before pricing
- Space planning with rendered views approved before construction starts
- Franchise prototype adaptation, equipment schedule coordination, and franchisor design approvals
- Restaurant MEP: grease interceptors, Type I hoods, make-up air, and water and drain at every piece of equipment
- Salon and studio systems: wash-station plumbing, ventilation, acoustic treatment, and custom lighting
- Phased construction inside operating businesses and occupied centers, with after-hours scheduling
- Permits, plan review, fire marshal documentation, and the certificate of occupancy in Dallas, Plano, Frisco, Fort Worth, and the suburbs
- Punch list, close-out package, and TI allowance draw paperwork
How the project runs.
- Site walk and work letter review. We walk the space with you, lift ceiling tiles, read the panel schedule, and check where water, drain, and gas already exist. Then we read your lease's work letter so we know what the landlord delivers, what you owe, and which approvals the building requires.
- Space plan and rendered views. We lay your program, or your franchisor's prototype, onto the real space with its columns, storefront, and restroom core, check accessible routes and clearances, and render the views that matter, such as the counter or the wash-station wall. You approve them before anything is priced or built.
- Fixed-scope proposal aligned to the work letter. Your proposal lists every trade's scope, carries allowances for finishes you haven't selected, and separates the landlord's items from yours. It includes a schedule built backward from your opening date. Anything added later becomes a written change order you approve first.
- Permits, landlord approval, and franchisor sign-off. We coordinate MEP engineering, submit to City of Dallas Development Services or your city's building department, and gather the finish and equipment documentation the fire marshal and health reviewer will ask for. Landlord plan approval and any franchisor design review run at the same time.
- Build, inspections, and certificate of occupancy. One project manager runs the build, phased around your neighbors or your own operating business, and sends a written photo update every week. We pass each rough-in and final inspection, secure the certificate of occupancy, close the punch list, and hand over the close-out package.
