Division 04
Additions & renovations
Expanding or rebuilding a facility that has to keep operating. The phasing plan is the project; the construction is the easy half.
Typical span 6–18 months
04The work
Almost every addition or renovation we do is to a building somebody is still working in, and that single fact reorganises the whole project.
On a new building the sequence follows the construction logic: foundations, structure, envelope, inside, finish. On an occupied renovation it follows the business logic: which part of the facility can be out of use, for how long, and in what season. A car dealership cannot close its service drive. A clinic cannot lose its exam rooms in one go. A warehouse cannot lose its dock in the quarter it ships most.
So the governing document is the phasing plan — which areas come out of service, in what order, what temporary conditions carry the business meanwhile, and what the fallback is if a phase overruns. It is agreed before work starts and it is the thing an owner should interrogate hardest.
The second reality is that an existing building is an unknown until it is opened. Record drawings are frequently wrong or absent. What is in the walls, above the ceiling and under the slab is a genuine question, and a contractor who prices an occupied renovation with no allowances in it is either very lucky or planning on change orders.
Not the drawings. Which area comes out of service, for how long, what carries the business meanwhile, and what happens if a phase overruns. It is written and agreed before work starts, and it is the document to interrogate hardest when you compare proposals — because a bidder who has not written one has priced a different project from the one you are buying.
Establish these first
- What the business does, hour by hour
- Not the floor plan — the operation. Which areas are critical, when, and what the seasonal peak is.
- What can be out of service
- For how long, and in which season. This is usually the tightest constraint on the entire project.
- Record drawings, if any
- And how much faith to put in them. On a building that has been altered twice, usually not much.
- Structure and existing systems
- Whether the existing frame, service and mechanical can carry what is being added.
- Access, deliveries and parking
- Staging on an operating site takes space the business is currently using, and that trade-off belongs in the plan rather than in a complaint.
What you receive
Permit set, phasing plan, schedule of values, closeout package
In the format your records require, agreed at proposal stage rather than discovered at closeout. The full list is on closeout and what you receive.
04.1Values
What this division costs
Planning ranges, wide on purpose. The full schedule with every division on it, and the soft costs that sit on top of any construction number, is on the budgets page.
| Div | Item | Unit | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 04.10 | Addition, light industrialMatching an existing building, tied in | SF | $175–$300 |
| 04.15 | Addition, office or clinicalFinished to occupancy, tied into existing systems | SF | $360–$570 |
| 04.20 | Renovation, occupied, lightFinishes, lighting, layout, no structural work | SF | $85–$190 |
| 04.25 | Renovation, occupied, substantialIncluding mechanical, electrical and structure | SF | $200–$420 |
| 04.30 | Facade or envelope replacementIncluding any required structural backup | SF | $60–$170 |
| 04.40 | Roof replacement, commercialTear-off, deck repair, membrane, flashing | SQ | $1,100–$2,800 |
| 04.50 | Structural tie-in to existingPer connection, engineered | EA | $9,000–$52,000 |
| 04.60 | Temporary conditions and protectionPartitions, temporary power, dust and noise control | LS | $18,000–$120,000 |
| 04.70 | Out-of-hours premiumWhere the business cannot be disturbed in the day | PCT | 15%–35% |
| 04.90 | Undisclosed existing conditionsPriced when opened, carried as an allowance until then | LS | site visit |
Units are SF square foot of gross building area unless stated, LF linear foot, CY cubic yard, SY square yard, SQ roofing square (100 SF), EA each, LS lump sum, PCT a percentage of construction cost. Division references are for this document only and are not CSI MasterFormat numbers.
Figures are USD planning ranges for commercial construction in the Pikes Peak region. They exclude land, design fees where separately engaged, permit and tap fees, furnishings, equipment and any applicable tax, and they assume normal site conditions, normal soils and a buildable season. They are published so an owner can size a project before there is a drawing to price. They are planning ranges, not a bid. Reviewed October 2026. A price for your project comes from a proposal against a defined scope. See the disclaimer.
04.2Questions
Questions about this division
Specific to this kind of work. The general ones — contracts, pay applications, retainage, change orders, insurance, bonding — are on the FAQ page.
Can we stay open through the work?
Usually, and it costs money and time, and both are in the estimate rather than discovered later. The premium for working around an operating business is real — temporary partitions, staged work that must be made safe daily, materials carried rather than staged, and frequently out-of-hours work. Where a short full closure is possible, it is often dramatically cheaper, and we will price both so you can decide with numbers rather than by instinct.
What if the record drawings are wrong?
They often are, and our rule is that work stops on that element, you are told in writing the same day with photographs and options, and nothing is worked around until there is a decision. What we will not do is improvise and present it afterwards. Where we can open things up before the contract is signed, we do — it is the cheapest investigation money on the project.
How do you handle noise and dust around staff and customers?
Sealed temporary partitions rather than plastic sheeting, negative air where demolition warrants it, protected routes, and a daily clean of the occupied side rather than a weekly one. Noisy operations are scheduled and announced in advance so the business can plan around them. None of this is exotic; it is just budgeted for properly instead of being treated as an afterthought.
Will the addition look like the existing building?
As closely as the materials allow, and there is an honest limit worth stating: a thirty-year-old masonry or metal panel is frequently no longer made, and the nearest current match will not be identical. The usual answers are to find the closest match and accept it, to introduce a deliberate joint so the two read as distinct, or to re-skin a larger area so everything matches. That is a design decision with a cost attached and it belongs early.
00The rest
The other four divisions
Design-Build
The architect and the superintendent work for the same company. A detail that will not build gets caught at the drawing board by the person who would have had to install it.
- You receive
- Permit set, schedule of values, closeout package, as-builts, O&M manuals
Ground-up commercial and institutional buildings in the Pikes Peak region — aviation, retail, automotive and industrial — with the site work and utilities self-performed.
- You receive
- Full drawing set, schedule of values, commissioning record, closeout package
Fitting out a shell or an existing space against a lease date that has already been signed. The work letter usually matters more than anything in the drawings.
- You receive
- Permit set, landlord sign-offs, certificate of occupancy, closeout package
Earthwork, grading, utilities, paving and drainage, performed by our own crews with our own equipment and our own trucking — which is why the schedule holds.
- You receive
- Compaction and materials test records, as-built survey, utility sign-offs
Describe the building you need
What it is for, roughly how big, where it would go, and when you need to be in it. On a first call we can usually give you a realistic per-square-foot range, a realistic end date, and an honest answer about whether a firm this size is the right one for it.
T-Bone Construction, Inc. · 1310 Ford St, Colorado Springs, CO 80915