Santa Clara is located in the southern part of the Bay Area and in the center of Silicon Valley. This puts the city close to high-tech companies like Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, and Nvidia. Students looking to begin their higher education in the area may also recognize Santa Clara as the home of Santa Clara University, the oldest university in California. Other notable spots in this historical city include Levi’s Stadium—homebase of the National Football League’s San Francisco 49ers—and California’s Great America, a popular amusement park owned by Cedar Fair.

For business owners interested in setting up new offices or branches in Santa Clara, we have created a list of the best tenant improvement contractors in the area. These firms are known for their strong ability and extensive experience in updating old spaces to fit the needs of new tenants, while always keeping designs inspiring and fresh.

BCCI Construction

150 E Dana St. Mountain View, CA 94041

BCCI Construction is a San Francisco-based construction firm that completes projects for clients in the education, government, healthcare, hospitality, life sciences, mission-critical, multi-unit residential, and retail sectors. Across these sectors, the firm’s services offered include new construction, structural renovation, historic restoration, seismic upgrade, and tenant improvement. Its impressive array of projects have earned it awards like the Construction Employers’ Association (CEA) President’s Safety Award, the CEA Excellence in Safety Award, and the 2020 ConstructSecure Platinum Safety Award.

One of the firm’s notable projects has been its partnership with Dropbox to expand the company’s branch in Silicon Valley. This was a multi-phased project that required renovating, design-build, and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) work for two floors of the building. BCCI Construction was contracted to work on the interior office space, which required selective demolition, new partitions, and finishes. The tenant improvements included the implementation of open office areas, conference rooms, break rooms, gender-neutral bathrooms, and more. The beautiful new space features hardwood flooring, exposed ductwork, polished concrete in the common areas, and curved ceilings and wall soffits.

DPR Construction

1510 S. Winchester Blvd. San Jose, CA 95128

DPR exists to Build Great Things. Operating in Sacramento since 1990, DPR is a self-performing contractor focused on highly complex and technical projects. The firm’s core markets include advanced technology, commercial, healthcare, higher education, and life sciences. From small tenant improvements to large-scale multi-million-dollar complexes, DPR focuses on fulfilling customer needs and providing the highest possible value.

The McAfee Headquarters in Santa Clara was a relocation project completed by the firm that features 242,000 square feet of interior tenant improvement across three existing office towers. The tenant improvements included creating dry labs, server rooms, a fitness center, an executive briefing center, and a cafe with a kitchen and dining area. The briefing center, which is a highlight of the project, has high-end design elements and finishes, a reception area, several conference rooms, and a telepresence room that uses virtual reality technology. DPR Construction finished the entire project within 12 weeks, two of which were dedicated to demolition and incorporating additional changes.

South Bay Construction

1711 Dell Ave. Campbell, CA 95008

South Bay Construction specializes in completing conceptual budgeting, pre-construction, and construction work across a wide range of sectors. It has worked on many project types, such as new shell buildings, steel-frame structures, and commercial tenant improvements. The firm’s team collaborates with clients to keep them involved from project inception to completion, which allows clients to incorporate their own ideas for the project’s result. Along with this collaboration, the use of creative approaches and new technologies are other central pillars that guide the team’s work.

The Stadium Techcenter 1 is one of South Bay Construction’s commercial and parking structure projects in Santa Clara. It features a 227,500-square-foot shell building with 360 degrees of floor-to-ceiling glass and an underground parking structure. South Bay Construction also built additional amenity areas, like the cafe and fitness center, to further enhance the building.

Hillhouse Commercial Construction Company, Inc.

140 Charcot Ave. San Jose, CA 95131

Hillhouse Commercial Construction Company, Inc. is a commercial general contractor with experience in creating highly technical and award-winning spaces. It works by partnering with a team of skilled architects and by using progressive, innovative, sustainable building methods on every project it completes. This commitment to sustainability has led to the company building the first zero net energy (ZNE) commercial office building in the United States.

ServiceNow, located in Santa Clara, is a 13,000-square-foot tenant improvement project that Hillhouse Commercial Construction was contracted to complete. The scope of their work included building out private offices, an open workspace, conference rooms, and a library/break area. They also installed new walls and partitions that feature custom casework, custom wall coverings, unique lighting, ceiling fixtures, and specialized glass walls.

NOVO Construction

1460 O’Brien Dr. Menlo Park, CA 94025

The team at NOVO Construction focuses on high–quality craftsmanship and customer service, which results in beautifully constructed spaces and long-lasting relationships with clients. Innovation, teamwork, and a client-centered approach guide the firm in producing spaces that balance the client’s desires and the requirements of industry standards. Most of NOVO’s projects are for the corporate, science, and technology sectors.

Malwarebytes in Santa Clara utilized NOVO’s tenant improvement services for its 80,000-square-foot office. NOVO’s work was mostly focused on structural upgrades that were meant to support an interconnecting stair platform in the office’s shared space. The build-out resulted in a hidden speakeasy bar under the stairs and a fitness center with locker rooms and showers.

TEAMWRKX Construction, Inc.

1855 Park Ave, San Jose, CA 95126

TEAMWRKX Construction, Inc. has more than 5,000 projects in its project portfolio. These projects range in size and complexity, and are completed for a large array of sectors. For the clients of these projects, TEAMWRKX Construction, Inc. offers clients three approaches: design-build, design-bid-build, and construction management at risk. These options give clients the choice of whether to contract the firm specifically for design and construction services, to hire the in-house architect to create drawings and specifications for bidding, or to work with the in-house construction manager as a consultant and general contractor.

Lexus Stevens Creek is one company that has contracted TEAMWRKX Construction, Inc. for their tenant improvement needs. Specifically, they asked the firm to add a new remote service facility to the previously vacant warehouse, which involved upgrading the electrical service and doing structural upgrades to the building. The new remote service facility includes storage spaces, service manager offices, tech restrooms, a break room with lockers and shower facilities, 25 new service and detail bays, and a new paint booth.

SC Builders, Inc

910 Thompson Pl. Sunnyvale, CA 94085

SC Builders, Inc. specializes in completing projects in the mission critical, ground-up, life sciences, corporate, and institutional sectors. The firm focuses on building and retaining an elite team of professionals that are given the resources to address client feedback and meet all industry standards. SC Builders has offices in Silicon Valley and San Francisco, allowing it to partner with clients in the Bay Area and surrounding areas.

One project that SC Builders has been contracted for is the Moffett Gateway project, in which they were required to renovate three existing core and shell buildings. Two of the new buildings include seven levels of office and lab space, conference rooms, training rooms, and small kitchens, while the third building includes a parking garage, a fitness center, and a cafe with a dining area. The work done on all three of these Moffett Gateway buildings diverted more than half of all construction waste, generating no more than 2.4 pounds of construction waste per square foot of the large building.

Gidel & Kocal Construction Company, Inc.

574 Division St, Campbell, CA, 95008

Gidel & Kocal Construction Company, Inc. was founded by Lance Gidel and John Kocal in 1980. Though they initially began with offering only tenant improvement services, they later expanded to also provide ground-up construction, preconstruction, and life science facility conversion services. As of 2021, the company is run by Kocal’s daughters, Alyssa Pedersen and Ashley Gidel, as the CFO and President, respectively, making it a certified woman-owned business.

Gidel & Kocal Construction Company, Inc.’s projects span from Santa Rosa to Sacramento to Modesto, and are completed across the life science, healthcare, financial, retail, and commercial sectors. CA Tech Level 6 is one of its notable tenant improvement projects, as the firm did a complete interior renovation of a 20,000-square-foot high-rise structure. The project also included working on open ceilings with exposed ductwork, collaboration rooms, and a design center.

Tico Construction

1585 Terminal Ave, San Jose, CA 95112

TICO Construction has been serving clients in Silicon Valley and its surrounding areas for more than 35 years. Clients know the firm for its quality construction and competitive pricing, along with its beautiful craftsmanship. The firm works to provide complete and comprehensive construction, design, engineering material management, and procurement to each project. This allows it to meet the specific needs of clients and projects, including the scope, budget, and all industry standards.

TICO Construction has worked on structures for clients in the corporate, automotive, retail, biotechnology, financial, healthcare, industrial, medical, and pharmaceutical sectors. The services available are design-build, consultation, seismic upgrades, and American with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance. In providing these services, the firm assesses project conditions before transitioning from the design to construction phases, in order to reduce delivery schedules and minimize project costs. The firm also connects directly to real estate brokers for property development.