Selecting the right national commercial construction general contractor is a critical decision that can significantly impact the success of your construction project. Over the past 20+ years, with 2500 completed commercial construction projects, we have learned that it takes more than a great price to win a bid. Our national retail, restaurant, hospitality, senior living, industrial, and automotive clients are very clear about what factors they look for when it comes time to award a project. Here are some of the critical considerations for choosing a national contractor: Reputation and Tra ..read more

As anyone in the commercial construction industry knows, reliable, responsive, and skilled subcontractors are the lifeblood of our business.  Your reputation and finished product as a national general contractor are only as good as the performance of your local subcontractor partners. That’s why Englewood’s leadership team has prioritized building, vetting, and nurturing a 20,000+ tier-one network of experienced and project-tested subcontractors over the last 22+ years.  We value subcontractor partners who deliver on their promises, communicate effectively, and ..read more

Over the last few years, Englewood Construction has been involved in several flagship store and brand expansion projects with our national retail, fitness, and restaurant clients.  These types of commercial construction projects are very important to the growth of their brands and offer many opportunities for our national contracting team to apply our experience and know-how to ensure a successful completion. Flagship Retail Relocation – American Girl Building or relocating national retail flagship stores nationwide is nothing new to Englewood Construction.  As a national con ..read more

This adaptive reuse trend is now extending to abandoned big-box buildings. With a number of traditional retailers closing locations or going out of business, they are leaving millions of square feet behind for redevelopment. Our first experience with this was turning an old Kmart into a mixed-use retail development. But from experiential retail, restaurants, and entertainment to fun and fitness, developers have recently gotten a lot more creative in their approach to commercial retail redevelopment. And with good reason. Structurally, big-box buildings provide a blank canvas to architects ..read more

As anyone who works in the commercial construction business knows, timing is everything. Inefficient sequencing of materials and equipment can have a significant impact on both time and money. Business as usual, is out the door as the supply chain has continued to provide challenges.  For example, Roofing HVAC used to be 12-`14 weeks out but is now 12-14 months. If we don’t plan for that and have to continually stop and start a project because of the unavailability of materials or owner-furnished equipment, it will cause delays that will lead to cost overruns, such as subcontractors as ..read more

It looks like there may be light at the end of the commercial construction tunnel. Driven by pent-up demand and the need to expand and grow, our national restaurant, service retail, and hospitality clients are building again to increase revenues. The headwinds of supply chain disruption, higher material costs, and personnel shortages are beginning to subside. Also, while material costs have come down in some instances, material and component availability in some key areas is still a challenge heading into the building season. This is especially true regarding prescribed or bra ..read more

Addressing Commercial Construction Supply Chain and Labor Issues It’s summertime, and the commercial construction season is “heating up.” The Englewood management team senses real momentum in the market: Our clients are active and back in the field addressing the backlog of projects that have been on hold. And we are making good things happen for our restaurant, hospitality, automotive, warehouse, senior living, and retail construction clients. With that said, our entire team is still hyper-focused on responding to some lingering supply-side and labor issues to ensure we can meet the pent-up ..read more

Commercial Construction is beginning to take off. Take a look at some projects we are kicking off or just finished. Olive Garden, Delafield, WI One sector of Englewood Construction’s disciplines hit the hardest during the pandemic was the restaurant and food service industry. We are so fortunate to have so many restaurants under way nationally with more on the way. Here are workers are pushing through the last of the cold on our Olive Garden Delafield, WI project. Red Lobster, Detroit, MI Englewood Construction is proud to have helped out client get this Red Lobster up and ru ..read more

Anyone in the commercial construction industry understands the pandemic’s disruptive impact on market certainty, labor, and of course, the much written about supply chain. Everyone can tell stories about projects getting canceled, put on hold, or started in fits and bits due to these ongoing challenges. While we didn’t have a crystal ball in 2020, the leadership team at Englewood Construction had seen a thing or two over the last 20 years that prepared us to answer the basic question, “What are we going to do about it?” And the response was clear: We needed to demonstrate our reliance by fo ..read more

Earlier this spring, I had the opportunity to talk with Restaurant Development + Design Magazine for an article on “How to Find the Perfect Construction Partner” that just published in the July/August issue. The final piece is a great resource that’s relevant to pretty much every commercial real estate sector – not just restaurant development – and covers important points that should be on anyone’s checklist when vetting and choosing a construction partner for a commercial real estate project. Providing a clear scope of work and investing in quality architectural drawings are key to a succe ..read more