This is the playbook we hand to every international brand opening their first US stores. It is structured as the actual lease-to-opening checklist a brand should run — not a marketing essay about why US retail construction is hard. You already know it's hard. The question is what to do, in what order, with which counterparties.
The guide assumes you have validated US demand, have a real-estate broker engaged, and are inside 90 days of signing your first lease. If you are earlier than that, send us the brief — we'll point you to the right starting checklist.
Phase 1 — Pre-lease (week −12 to week 0)
Most of the cost overruns we see on international rollouts trace back to decisions made — or skipped — in the 12 weeks before lease signing. The checklist here is short on purpose. These are the non-negotiables.
- Confirm brand standards are documentable in US terms. Your millwork drawings, MEP intents, lighting specs and fixture drawings need to be translatable into US-spec construction documents. Schedule a 2-week review with a US-licensed retail architect before you sign anything.
- Review the work letter with a US construction adviser. Not your broker. Not your counsel. Someone who has built specialty retail in the relevant jurisdiction. The work letter is the place where landlords routinely shift base-building, MEP capacity and life-safety scope onto the tenant in ways international operators do not see coming.
- Negotiate the TI allowance against the real scope. Tyler Cauble's 2026 Nashville benchmarks: $10–30/SF for second-gen retail, $40–80/SF for first-gen. Most international tenants ask for the upper end of those ranges and accept whatever the landlord offers. The harder question is what TI covers — architect fees, permit fees, soft costs, FF&E — which is almost never in the headline number.
- Get a defensible buildout cost range per candidate site. Order-of-magnitude is fine at this stage. EB3 Construction's August 2025 national benchmark is $214.35/SF; NYC sits at $294.43/SF and Chicago at $274.51/SF. Razi Architects' LA range is $150–$450+/SF. Use these as anchors, not as final numbers.
- Map the permit timeline against your opening calendar. Per DOB Guard, NYC Alt-2 TI is 4–8 weeks. NYC Alt-1 is 8–16 weeks. LADBS standard TI per Razi Architects is 4–6 months. Your opening date works backward from the permit, not forward from the lease commencement.
Phase 2 — Preconstruction (week 0 to week 8)
Once the lease is committed, preconstruction starts immediately and runs in parallel with design completion. Four to eight weeks is the normal window. Compressing it further is possible but rarely worth what you give up.
The preconstruction package
At the end of phase 2 you should have a single deliverable from your GC or program manager. It includes:
- A schedule of values built from quantity take-offs, not ratios
- A trade list with three vetted subcontractor bids per major trade in each market
- A permit strategy per jurisdiction — filing type, expediter selection, AHJ pre-application status
- A schedule with critical-path milestones called out
- A risk register with cost and schedule exposure quantified
- Value engineering options surfaced before drawings are finalised
- A GMP or cost-plus contract structure proposal
If your GC cannot deliver this package, you are buying construction on hope. Walk away.
Phase 3 — Permits and approvals (parallel)
Permit timelines are jurisdictional, not negotiable. We file as early as the lease allows, work the local expediter network where it matters, and report status weekly per filing.
| Market | Typical TI permit lead time | Source |
|---|---|---|
| NYC (Alt-2) | 4–8 weeks | DOB Guard |
| NYC (Alt-1) | 8–16 weeks | DOB Guard |
| Los Angeles (standard TI) | 4–6 months | Razi Architects, LADBS |
| Miami | 8–14 weeks | Field benchmarks |
| Chicago | 6–12 weeks | Field benchmarks |
| San Francisco | 12–24 weeks | Field benchmarks |
If you are told a market can be permitted in 3 months when the published range says 4–6, do not believe it. Per Razi Architects: “If you are told it can be done in 3 months, be very skeptical.”
Phase 4 — Construction (8–16 weeks per store)
Once permits are in hand, standard specialty-retail TI in a second-generation space typically runs 8–10 weeks. First-generation space, complex MEP scope or landmarked exteriors push toward 12–16 weeks. Multi-level flagships and full ground-up retail are scoped separately.
What you should see weekly from your GC, without asking:
- Schedule progress against critical path
- Cost-to-complete against the schedule of values
- RFIs outstanding and their age
- Change orders pending and approved
- A forward-looking risk register
- Photo and 360° documentation of every site at agreed milestones
Phase 5 — Closeout and opening (the last 4 weeks)
Opening day works backward from the lease commencement date and your training and FF&E timelines. We treat the last four weeks as a distinct phase because the issues that delay openings — punch-list slippage, FF&E coordination, CO inspection failures — are managed differently from the construction phase that precedes them.
The minimum closeout package:
- Punch-list complete against your brand QA standard and the GC's own list
- Certificate of occupancy / temporary CO issued by the AHJ
- FF&E received, installed and sequenced with your vendors
- Final cleaning, signage install, security and life-safety commissioning
- As-built drawings, warranty register, O&M manuals, final lien releases
- Day-of-open superintendent presence and a first-90-day fine-tuning window
The 90-day pre-opening runbook
Counting backward from your published opening date, this is the rhythm we run for international brands. Adjust by market and store size, but the order does not change.
- T−90 days: Construction must be 65% complete. MEP rough-in done. Fixture and millwork drawings released for fabrication.
- T−60 days: Finishes started. AV and lighting ordered. Brand training program confirmed. Marketing pre-launch kicks off.
- T−30 days: Punch list active. FF&E deliveries scheduled. CO inspection booked. Day-of-open staffing locked.
- T−14 days: Punch list clearing. FF&E install starts. Final clean scheduled. Soft-open dress rehearsal.
- T−7 days: CO issued. Signage live. Brand team on site. Operational handover from construction to retail ops.
- Day 0: Open. Inscape superintendent on site for the first day. Lessons-learned captured for the next store in the wave.
What to do next
If you are inside this 90-day window for your first US store, send us the brief. We'll come back inside two business days with a one-page scoping memo against the specific program you described — markets, permit windows, cost ranges, risks, recommended next step.
If you are earlier than that, the right starting point is the Process page — read the full delivery model end to end before committing to a GC.
Sources cited
EB3 Construction, “National retail store models” benchmark (August 2025). DOB Guard, NYC Department of Buildings permit data. Razi Architects, Los Angeles market guide. Tyler Cauble, 2026 Nashville TI benchmarks. Cushman & Wakefield, 2025 US Retail Fit Out Cost Guide. Field benchmarks from Inscape Retail Projects, refreshed quarterly.