What counts as a tenant improvement
The term covers the fixed, built-in work that turns a space into your office, store or restaurant. Typical items:
- New or moved partitions, doors and ceilings
- Flooring, paint and finishes
- Lighting, power and data outlets
- HVAC changes and new ducts
- Plumbing, restrooms and break rooms
- Kitchen hoods, grease ducts and sinks for food service
- Accessibility upgrades the permit triggers, such as entrances and restrooms
Furniture, computers and equipment you can take with you are usually not tenant improvements. Your lease defines the term for your deal, so read its wording.
Find a B-licensed contractor
Bay Area contractors with tenant improvement permits, with bond and workers' comp from CSLB.
TI contractorsPlanning a build-out?
Describe the job once and get bids from licensed contractors. Free, about 2 minutes.
How a TI allowance usually works
The landlord agrees in the lease to fund part of the build-out. It may be paid as work is completed or given as a credit against rent, and the lease sets the amount and the rules for using it. A landlord may also deliver the space as a shell and offer nothing.
Questions to settle in the lease before you hire anyone: what the allowance can pay for (design, permits, construction, furniture), the deadline to spend it, whether you or the landlord picks the contractor, and who approves the plans. This is a summary, not legal advice. Have your broker or a real estate attorney read the lease.
The order of work: plans, permit, build
Drawings come first, then the permit review, then construction and inspections. Bay Area cities publish their own steps and times. A sample, each from the city:
San Francisco
Every tenant improvement in San Francisco needs a building permit and architectural plans. Commercial TIs and office remodels can get over-the-counter review at the Permit Center; bring 2 sets of plans.
Source: San Francisco Department of Building Inspection, checked Oct 18, 2026
San Jose
Office interiors up to 50,000 sq ft on one floor, with no change of use, no addition and no major structural work, can go through STAR: one 90-minute meeting with several departments, for 50% more in plan review fees.
Source: City of San José, Planning, Building & Code Enforcement, checked Oct 18, 2026
Oakland
Oakland lists 15 days as the processing time for a commercial tenant improvement permit with plans, counted once the application is complete.
Source: City of Oakland, Planning & Building Department, checked Oct 18, 2026
Walnut Creek
Commercial Express Review is a 90-minute virtual meeting on Tuesdays for interior-only TIs, at a 50% surcharge on plan review fees. Offices up to 20,000 sq ft and retail up to 10,000 sq ft qualify; salons and restaurant kitchen expansions don't.
Source: City of Walnut Creek, Community Development Department, checked Oct 18, 2026
San Francisco
Restaurants, bars, grocery stores and employee cafeterias are routed to Environmental Health during plan check, with a DPH plan review fee separate from DBI's. DPH does a pre-final inspection at 80% complete and a final when construction is done.
Source: San Francisco Department of Public Health, Environmental Health, checked Oct 18, 2026
Oakland
Oakland's Accessibility Checklist compares your project cost with a 2026 accessibility threshold of $209,208. At or below it, path-of-travel upgrades follow the 20% rule, and the city advises owners and tenants to get a CASp inspection.
Source: City of Oakland, Planning & Building Department, checked Oct 18, 2026
Each city's commercial page on this site lists its own permit notes, with the source and the date we checked.
Which contractor license a TI needs
A B (General Building) license. Its definition covers any structure for people or property, with no split between homes and businesses, and a TI combines several trades. A B-2 license is limited to existing homes, so a B-2 contractor can't take a TI.
Fire sprinklers need a C-16 license or a licensed C-16 sub. Electrical (C-10), HVAC (C-20) and plumbing (C-36) work goes to the B's own licensed crew or to licensed subs.
Sources: CSLB, B General Building classification (B&P Code 7057), checked Oct 18, 2026; CSLB, B-2 Residential Remodeling classification (B&P Code 7057.5), checked Oct 18, 2026
Questions
What are considered tenant improvements?
The fixed changes made inside leased commercial space for a tenant: partitions, ceilings, flooring, lighting, power, HVAC, plumbing, restrooms and, for restaurants, hoods and grease ducts. Movable furniture and equipment usually are not. Your lease defines the term for your deal.
What is a tenant improvement allowance?
Money the landlord agrees in the lease to put toward your build-out, paid as work is completed or given as a rent credit. The amount, what it can pay for and the deadline to use it are lease terms.
Does a tenant improvement need a permit?
In San Francisco, every tenant improvement needs a building permit and architectural plans (SF DBI, checked Oct 18, 2026). Other Bay Area cities set their own rules; the city pages on this site list them with sources.
Which contractor license does a tenant improvement need?
A B (General Building) license. A B-2 is limited to existing homes. Fire sprinkler work needs a C-16 license or a licensed C-16 sub (CSLB, B&P Code 7057).
Find a commercial contractor
Sources
- CSLB, B General Building classification (B&P Code 7057), checked Oct 18, 2026
- CSLB, B-2 Residential Remodeling classification (B&P Code 7057.5), checked Oct 18, 2026
This guide explains public rules in plain words. It isn't legal advice. CSLB and the code sections above are the authority, and rules change.