Where do I get site plans and floor plans for commercial rehab?

[Adam Craig]

I am a 10 year veteran single family investor but made the switch to commercial in 2018 and I am not on my 5th building. 

Now that I am getting into bigger projects, I need to sharpen my approach. I have been using mostly small time handymen and contractors for rehabs and we never really needed site plans, architect, drawings ect...

But now we are rehabbing a 3 story 23K sq/ft building and I want to show the city and prospective tenants we are professionals.

Who do I go to for site plans, floor plans - would it be a construction company or an architect ?  Are site plans needed on every commercial job? My guys know what to do because they have been with me for so long so I never understood the importance unless you are changing the space layout which we are not at the moment

[Russ Kitzberger]

Hi Adam, 

Since you are in Ohio, the licensed professionals permitted to sign off on plans are State Licensed Architects and Professional Engineers (PE). Some cities will go further and prequalify certain contractors or professions for certain work. IE, requiring registration to work in the city limits.

You can hire a firm and the firm will have draftspeople that do the majority of the work to save money for the client and the PE or Architect will review and sign the drawings.

Site plans will depend on the municipality, the GC or design (Architecture or Engineering) firm will research and provide the required level of drawings. If you have questions on the code, you can hire an attorney to advise or contact the municipality and see if they are willing to provide an answer based on the level of renovation.  Yes, you may have to put forward plans for every job in some cities.