One Contract Between You and Opening Day
Commercial design-build on the San Francisco Peninsula. One team assesses the space, designs the buildout, engineers the systems, permits the project, and constructs it — so your lease clock doesn’t run while three separate firms figure it out.
Why Design-Build Matters
The Traditional Process Has Three Problems
The traditional commercial construction process has three separate phases, three separate contracts, and three separate opportunities for the project to break down.
Phase one: you hire an architect or space planner to design the buildout. They produce drawings based on your description of how the business operates. They may or may not visit the space. They may or may not check whether the electrical panel can handle the load their design requires. They send you a bill.
Phase two: you send those drawings to general contractors for bids. The bids come back higher than the architect estimated — because the architect designed a commercial kitchen without verifying whether the grease interceptor location works, or specified HVAC zones that the existing rooftop unit can’t serve, or drew a partition wall layout that requires relocating six fire sprinkler heads at $800 each. You’re now choosing between redesign (more fees, more weeks) and accepting the higher cost.
Phase three: you hire the contractor who bid closest to what you can afford. The contractor builds from plans they didn’t create, in a building they didn’t assess, on a timeline driven by your lease — and every discrepancy between the drawings and the field conditions produces a change order.
Design-build collapses these phases into one. One team assesses the space, designs the buildout, engineers the systems, permits the project, and constructs it. The people designing the layout know the existing building’s constraints because they walked the space before drawing the first line. The budget develops alongside the design, not after it. And when the lease clock is running, there are no gaps between phases — no rebidding, no redesign, no waiting for a contractor to interpret an architect’s intent.
ACI is a design-build general contractor based in Pacifica. We handle commercial design-build projects throughout the San Francisco Peninsula — offices, retail, restaurants, medical suites, and mixed-use spaces. For an overview of how design-build works across residential and commercial, see our Design-Build service page. For our commercial capabilities, see our Commercial Construction hub. This page covers why design-build is particularly well-suited to commercial work on the Peninsula.
Why It Matters More
Why Design-Build Matters More for Commercial
The Lease Clock
A homeowner renovating a kitchen can extend the timeline by a month without financial consequence beyond inconvenience. A business owner paying $5,000 a month in rent on a space they can’t occupy because the buildout isn’t finished loses $5,000 for every month of delay.
In the traditional model, the timeline is serial: design (4 to 8 weeks), bidding (2 to 4 weeks), value engineering if bids are too high (2 to 4 weeks), permitting (3 to 8 weeks), then construction (8 to 20+ weeks). Each phase must finish before the next begins. The total pre-construction timeline can exceed four months before a single wall is framed.
In design-build, the phases overlap. We assess the space and begin design immediately. While design develops, we start the permitting process for the elements that are already defined. Long-lead materials are ordered as soon as selections are confirmed, not after permitting is complete. The pre-construction timeline compresses by 30 to 50 percent — and on a lease with a rent-commencement date, that compression translates directly into revenue.
The Existing Building Conditions
Commercial spaces on the Peninsula sit inside buildings that are 30 to 60 years old. The electrical may be near capacity. The HVAC may be undersized or failing. The fire sprinkler system needs modification for any change to the ceiling or wall layout. ADA compliance gaps may exist throughout the building. Asbestos may be present in the ceiling tiles or floor.
An architect designing in isolation — without having evaluated the electrical panel, walked the ceiling plenum, checked the HVAC capacity, or tested for asbestos — is designing in a vacuum. Their drawings look correct but are based on assumptions about conditions they haven’t verified.
In design-build, the assessment comes first. We walk the space, open the ceiling, check the panel, evaluate the HVAC, and identify the constraints before the design begins. The layout accounts for the sprinkler heads that are already there. The electrical design accounts for the panel capacity that actually exists. The HVAC distribution accounts for what the rooftop unit can actually deliver. These aren’t corrections made during construction — they’re inputs to the original design.
The Multi-Agency Permitting
Commercial projects on the Peninsula — particularly restaurants, medical offices, and food service — require approvals from multiple agencies: building department, fire department, health department, and sometimes state licensing bodies. Each agency reviews different plan elements and issues corrections independently.
In the traditional model, the architect draws plans, the contractor submits them, corrections come back, the contractor asks the architect to revise, the architect revises and invoices, the contractor resubmits. Each correction cycle adds a week or more. When three agencies are issuing corrections simultaneously, the coordination becomes a project in itself.
In design-build, we design the plans, submit them, receive corrections, revise them internally, and resubmit — without the communication loop between a separate architect and a separate contractor. The correction turnaround is measured in days, not weeks. On a restaurant project requiring DBI, SFFD, and DPH approvals in San Francisco, this difference alone can save a month.
Our Process
How Commercial Design-Build Works at ACI
Inspections, Occupancy, and Opening Day
We coordinate all required inspections: building department rough-in and final, fire department sign-off, health department approval (food service), ADA verification. We obtain the certificate of occupancy or equivalent clearance. The project isn’t done when the last coat of paint dries — it’s done when you have every approval needed to open for business.
Construction — The Team That Designed It Builds It
Our crew frames the walls, installs blocking for fixtures and equipment, and handles any structural modifications. We coordinate and manage the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire sprinkler trades under our contract. The finish sequence follows a schedule built to hit your occupancy date.
When field conditions require a decision — and they always do in older Peninsula commercial buildings — the person making that decision designed the layout. There’s no phone call to an architect’s office, no waiting for revised drawings, no change order.
Before the Lease — The Pre-Lease Evaluation
The most valuable point in a commercial design-build process is before you’ve signed the lease. We walk the space with you and evaluate:
- Electrical capacity. Can the existing panel and service handle the load your use requires?
- HVAC adequacy. Does the existing system serve the layout you’re planning?
- Plumbing access. Where are the waste and supply lines?
- Fire sprinkler configuration. How many heads need to move based on your layout?
- ADA compliance. Do restrooms, entry, parking, and circulation paths meet accessibility requirements?
- Asbestos and lead. If built before 1980, testing should happen before lease signing.
Design and Budget Development — Simultaneous, Not Sequential
Once the lease is signed (or in parallel with final negotiations), we develop the design and the budget together. The floor plan reflects the building’s actual conditions. The budget develops as the design develops: every wall has a cost, every circuit has a cost, every HVAC modification has a cost. You make decisions with real numbers in front of you.
The design deliverable includes: architectural floor plan, reflected ceiling plan, electrical plan, mechanical plan, plumbing plan (where applicable), fire sprinkler modification plan, Title 24 energy compliance, and structural engineering for any structural modifications. One set of drawings produced by the team that will build from them.
Permitting — One Team Submitting and Correcting
We prepare the permit set, submit it to the building department (and fire department, health department, or other agencies as required), receive correction comments, revise in-house, and resubmit. No communication loop between separate architect and contractor.
For Peninsula cities outside San Francisco, commercial TI permits typically take 3 to 6 weeks for standard buildouts and 4 to 10 weeks for restaurant or medical projects with multi-agency review. For San Francisco, add 2 to 6 weeks.
By Project Type
Where Design-Build Creates the Most Value
Office Buildouts
The value of design-build for offices is primarily in the timeline compression and the electrical/HVAC coordination. Office buildouts are typically the most straightforward commercial TI — but the electrical demands of modern offices (high-density outlets, dedicated server circuits, video conferencing infrastructure) often exceed what older Peninsula buildings can deliver without panel upgrades. Design-build catches this during assessment, not during rough-in.
Retail Spaces
Retail tenants are the most timeline-sensitive commercial clients. Every day of construction past the planned opening is a day of lost revenue and a day closer to the seasonal window the tenant is targeting. Design-build’s timeline compression is most impactful here. We’ve seen design-build save retail clients three to six weeks versus the traditional sequential model.
Restaurants
Restaurants derive the most benefit from design-build because the complexity is highest. A restaurant buildout involves commercial kitchen design, hood and fire suppression systems, grease interceptor sizing and placement, dedicated electrical, commercial plumbing, ADA-compliant restrooms, and health department compliance — all coordinated simultaneously.
In design-build, the kitchen layout, hood placement, fire suppression routing, and grease interceptor location are all designed by the same team — or coordinated before a single line is drawn. We coordinate with the restaurant owner’s kitchen equipment supplier and the fire suppression contractor as part of the design process.
Medical and Dental Suites
Medical buildouts require precision. X-ray rooms need lead shielding specified by a radiation physicist. Dental offices need vacuum and compressed air systems routed to every operatory. Exam rooms need specific sink placement, cabinetry, and electrical. All must pass inspection by the building department and potentially by state licensing authorities.
In design-build, the medical equipment requirements inform the design from the start. The lead shielding goes in the framing plan. The vacuum and compressed air routes are drawn alongside the HVAC plan. The electrical capacity for medical equipment is calculated before the panel design is finalized.
Cost & Savings
What Design-Build Costs — and What It Saves
Architectural Fees on Non-Constructible Designs
Commercial architects charge $5,000 to $30,000+ for design and construction documents on Peninsula TI projects. When the design doesn’t account for existing building conditions, the redesign costs more. In design-build, the design is constructible from the start because the builder designed it.
Change Orders from Coordination Failures
The industry average for change orders on commercial projects is 5 to 15 percent of the contract value. On a $300,000 restaurant buildout, that’s $15,000 to $45,000 in unplanned costs. Design-build coordinates these before construction, not during.
Lost Revenue from Timeline Delays
Every week saved in pre-construction is a week your business is open and earning revenue. At $5,000 per month in rent, a one-month timeline compression saves $5,000 in carrying cost — plus the revenue you’d have earned during that month.
Permit Correction Cycles
In the traditional model, each correction cycle involves: contractor receiving corrections, forwarding to architect, architect revising and invoicing, contractor resubmitting. Each cycle takes one to three weeks. In design-build, we receive corrections and resubmit in days.
Why ACI
Why ACI for Commercial Design-Build
We Build, Not Just Manage
Our crew frames walls, handles structural modifications, and performs rough carpentry. The framing sets the template for every trade that follows — and having it in-house means tighter tolerances, fewer conflicts, and faster progression through rough-in.
Pre-Design Assessment
Electrical panel capacity, HVAC condition, plumbing access, fire sprinkler configuration, ADA compliance, asbestos — we evaluate these during the pre-lease walk so the design accounts for reality from the first drawing.
Restaurant Complexity
Kitchen layout, hood and fire suppression, grease management, health department compliance — we manage the full scope of restaurant buildout design and construction. The kitchen equipment fits where the plans say it goes.
Multi-Agency Permitting
We submit to building departments across the Peninsula and in San Francisco, coordinate fire department and health department reviews for specialized uses, and manage correction cycles without the architect-contractor communication loop that adds weeks.
Lease Clock Respect
Every decision we make — overlapping design and permitting, ordering long-lead items early, compressing pre-construction timelines, scheduling inspections tightly — is driven by understanding that your lease obligation doesn’t pause for construction.
Mixed-Use Capability
Ground-floor commercial with residential above requires understanding both commercial code classifications and residential construction standards. We do both — which means one contractor manages the entire building, not separate contractors by floor.