Commercial tenant improvements · Tucson & Pima County
Tenant improvement contractor in Tucson.
You signed the lease. Now the suite has to become a business — walls moved, mechanical and electrical run, the city satisfied, and a certificate at the end of it. That gap is what we build across.
- General Commercial · ROC #321107
- General Residential · ROC #312052
- Roofing · ROC #312053 / CR-42
- Electrical · ROC #332556
Tell us about the space
Suite size, what it was, what you want it to be. We'll come and look.
What we build out
Retail build-outs
Sales floor, fitting rooms, stockroom, storefront and signage. Franchise and national-chain work means building to somebody else's prototype and finish schedule, and we're used to that — including the parts corporate cares about that the drawings don't always show.
Restaurant and food service
Commercial kitchens, hood and suppression, grease interceptors, floor drains, walk-ins, and the finish package that gets you through health department sign-off. Food build-outs fail on inspections, not on framing, so we plan backwards from those.
Office and professional
Demising walls, private offices and open plan, conference rooms, break rooms, data and electrical rough-in, ADA restrooms and paths of travel.
Medical and dental
Operatories and exam rooms, plumbing and vacuum lines, lead shielding where imaging requires it, sterilisation areas, and the accessibility requirements that come with a clinical use.
Work we've done
Most of our tenant improvement work is retail and food service in occupied centres — franchise prototypes, corporate finish standards, health department sign-off and landlord work letters, with neighbouring tenants still trading next door.
I AM YOU 360
Tiny home community for young adults leaving foster care · Tucson
Ground-up commercial project built from bare ground for a Tucson non-profit housing young adults transitioning out of foster care: nine 450-square-foot homes plus a community gathering centre with a meeting area, a kitchen and sleeping quarters for an on-site behavioural support specialist. Site work, utilities and foundations across the whole site, permitted and inspected as a commercial build rather than as houses.
Non-profit headquarters — 24,000+ sq ft remodel
Tucson
Remodel of a working headquarters building of more than 24,000 square feet for a Tucson children and family services non-profit — offices, meeting and programme space, reception and shared areas, reworked while the organisation carried on operating in the building.
Charity thrift store
West Ina Road
Retail build-out for a non-profit thrift store: open sales floor, fitting rooms, checkout, and the donation intake, sorting and back-of-house storage that a charity retail operation needs and a normal shop does not.
National real estate brokerage — three offices
Oro Valley, Green Valley and south Tucson
Three separate office build-outs for the same brokerage across the Tucson area. Open desk floors, private offices, conference and training rooms, reception, break rooms and the data and electrical to run a floor full of agents — repeated to a consistent standard at three locations.
Independent real estate brokerage
East Tucson, Tanque Verde
Office build-out for an independent brokerage — reception, agent workspace, private offices and meeting rooms, fitted to how a smaller, non-franchise office actually runs rather than to a corporate template.
Law office
Tucson
Professional office fit-out for a legal practice: private offices built for confidential conversation, a conference room, reception and file storage, with the acoustic separation that client privacy requires.
National tactical and outdoor retail chain
Oracle Road at Roger
Retail build-out for a national chain moving into an existing Oracle Road suite — sales floor, fitting rooms, stockroom, storefront and the finishes their corporate standard required.
Chinese hot pot restaurant
First Avenue at Prince
Hot pot build-out, where the cooking happens at every table rather than on a single line. Ventilation and power carried out to the seating, gas and induction at each position, plus the back-of-house prep, plumbing and washable finishes any food tenant needs.
French pastry shop
Congress Street, downtown Tucson
Downtown food build-out on Congress. Commercial kitchen and display case work, health-department requirements, and the constraints that come with building inside an older downtown storefront.
Resale clothing franchise
North Oracle Road
Franchise retail conversion — open sales floor, fitting rooms, back-of-house intake and processing area, built to the franchisor's prototype.
Frozen dessert franchise
First Avenue
Quick-service dessert build-out: service counter, walk-in and product equipment, floor drains and the finish package a food tenant needs to pass inspection.
How a build-out runs
Walk the space
An estimator meets you at the suite. What you want, what the landlord will allow, what is already there and what has to go. Free, and it is the only way to price construction honestly.
Scope and number
You get a written scope of work and a price against it — line by line, so you can see what is included and what is not. Not a range shouted down the phone.
Drawings and permit
We produce or coordinate the permit set and take it through the City of Tucson or Pima County. Change of use, occupancy classification and ADA get resolved here, not on site.
Build
One contractor, one schedule. Roofing and electrical are ours under our own licences, so two of the trades that most often hold a job up are not somebody else's calendar.
Inspections and handover
We carry the inspections through to sign-off and hand you a space that opens. On a tenant improvement the finish line is a certificate, not a punch list.
Two trades are ours, not a subcontractor's
Crest Contracting holds its own roofing licence (ROC #312053 / CR-42) and its own electrical licence (ROC #332556), alongside general commercial and general residential. On a build-out, roofing penetrations and electrical rough-in are two of the things most likely to stall a schedule while everyone waits on somebody else's crew. Ours are on our own calendar.
Tenant improvement questions
What is a tenant improvement?
A tenant improvement, or TI, is construction work inside an existing commercial space to fit it to a new tenant or a new use — walls, finishes, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and the permits that go with them. It is the work between signing a lease and opening the doors.
Do you do tenant improvements in Tucson?
Yes. Tenant improvements are the core of Crest Contracting's commercial work across Tucson and Pima County — retail, restaurant, office, medical and dental, including change-of-use conversions. We are licensed general commercial in Arizona, ROC #321107.
Who pays for a tenant improvement, the landlord or the tenant?
It depends on the lease. Many leases include a tenant improvement allowance, where the landlord contributes a set amount per square foot and the tenant covers the rest. The work letter attached to the lease sets out who is responsible for what. We build to whichever arrangement your lease describes and price the scope so both sides can see it.
How long does a tenant improvement take in Tucson?
The build itself is usually the shorter half. Permitting and any change of use often set the real schedule, so we start that early rather than after the drawings are finished. Once we have walked your space we give you a schedule against the actual scope rather than a generic figure.
Do you handle the permits and the city?
Yes. We produce or coordinate the permit set and carry it through the City of Tucson or Pima County, including occupancy classification, change of use and ADA requirements, and we run the inspections through to sign-off.
Can you work while neighbouring tenants stay open?
Most of our tenant improvement work is in occupied centres with businesses trading on either side. Noise windows, dust and debris control, shared parking and delivery access get planned before we start, not negotiated afterwards.
What does a tenant improvement cost in Tucson?
Construction cannot be priced over the phone — the cost depends on the condition of the space, the use you are converting it to, and what your lease requires. An estimator walks the suite and you get a written scope and a number against it. The walkthrough is free.
Do you do the HVAC as part of a build-out?
Crest Contracting is a general contractor and does not hold an HVAC licence. Mechanical work is done by our sister company Crest Air LLC, and we coordinate it directly on the job, so you still deal with one contractor.
Got a suite to fit out?
Tell us the size, what it was and what it needs to become. An estimator walks it and you get a written scope and a number. The walkthrough costs nothing.