Renovo and NWS Architects: DLC’s open-fast solution for store buildouts
Every day that a new store remains unopened represents lost revenue, making efficiency in construction and design critical.
Recognizing this, Elmsford, NY-based DLC has taken an innovative approach to streamlining the buildout process through a collaborative effort between its affiliated companies: Renovo Construction (a general contracting firm) and NWS Architects (an architecture and engineering firm). By working as a single, integrated team, they aim to eliminate the delays and inefficiencies that plague traditional design-bid-build models.
“We focus on getting stores open — or reopened as the case may be — as quickly as possible,” said DLC’s CEO Adam Ifshin. “We want those registers ringing.”
Permits, entitlements, equipment, and labor availability must all coalesce for a buildout to be completed on schedule. That rarely happens, but NWS’s managing principal Ken Nadolski said he’s seen streamlining of projects he’s worked on with Renovo under the DLC umbrella.
“We can be on a project where sourcing HVAC units specifies one manufacturer. It gets designed and permitted out, and then the contractor tells us the approved HVAC unit will take 14 weeks to get and he can get another one in seven,” said Nadolski.
“With NWS and Renovo on the same team together,” Nadolski said, “we can identify the pain points that cost time early in the project. Renovo will get to us and say, ‘Hey, we can get you that HVAC unit in two weeks and cut the schedule by 25%.’”
Under normal circumstances, general contractors come into a project after all design issues have been settled and expect to start construction in a couple of weeks. If retailers want to open faster and minimize costs, integrating design and construction from the start is the key.
“That’s when all these problems show up,” said Peyton Thomas, VP of construction at Renovo Construction. “The contractor isn’t incentivized to solve problems like this ahead of time, but, working together, as Renovo and NWS are, we solve them early and put a client’s expectations and goals first.”
“We’re dedicated to establishing a viable option in the retail construction market as an entity aligned with both the tenant and the landlord to open fast,” Nadolski added.
