Ask the Expert: The Future of Workplace Design with Stephen Dennis
In the latest episode of the Ask the Expert series, STOBG’s Global Services Account Executive, Stephen Dennis, breaks down the biggest cost trends shaping commercial interiors in 2025—from finish levels and permitting pain points to post-pandemic design priorities. Join Stephen as he dives into practical insights on workplace densification, sound design, and how companies are planning for the next decade of office space.
HOST
Stephen Dennis
Account ExecutiveSTOBG Global Services
View Bio
Ask The Expert:
The Future of Workplace Design with Stephen Dennis
Hello and welcome to Ask the Expert, a new series on the Building Conversations podcast, where STO Building Group experts answer questions from our listeners. I’m your host, Stephen Dennis, Account Executive of Global Services at STOBG and author of our commercial interiors cost report. Today we’re exploring the biggest cost trends shaping commercial interior construction in 2025.
Question one. What are the biggest cost trends shaping commercial interiors construction in 2025, and how do they compare to previous years? Well, cost-wise, we’ve had a few chaotic years after the pandemic due to impacts on labor and supply chain, which resulted in a lot of short-term decision making. But that variability started to ease up in 2023, and 2024 was a return to a more stable, predictable environment, which I think was really grounding and calming for a lot of industries. We’re starting to see signs that for 2025, everyone is fresh and they’re looking to make long-term decisions, again, spaces that’ll be used for 10, 15 years and increasingly occupied by Gen Z and Alpha. And as they’re designing workspaces that are based around, you know, the three Cs, community, culture and collaboration rather than head down spaces.
The second question. How do you break down how the different levels of interior finishes high end, medium and standard affect overall project costs and timelines? Well, we recognize that built spaces are reflections of a client’s culture, so we try to emphasize what we’re hearing from clients and how they look at their own spaces. Our standard spaces are a bit more startup-y a tenant who doesn’t need a ton of amenities or doesn’t have a lot of capital to spend on finishes, and so maybe they’re looking at a spec suite from a developer or a landlord. Our medium and spaces represent the actual median values that we see for bespoke designed spaces. So while they can still be thrifty, they’re allowing for fancier finishes like solid surface countertops, tile back splashes, demountable partitions, more custom case work, and a greater density of those amenity and conference areas. Finally, our high-end spaces are for clients who are expecting more of a showcase space, you’ll see more large format tile, maybe multiple pantries and amenities. Now, operable partitions, maybe even a suite of conference rooms. Obviously cost coordination and pre-planning will scale accordingly.
So the third question is, how do the regional variations in permitting processes and regulatory requirements influence construction budgets and schedules? The one thing that authoring this report has done more than anything else is really opened my eyes to the complexity and nuance in regional permitting. I feel like sometimes we’re not even speaking the same language. So if you’re a professional in one market, you really shouldn’t make assumptions about other cities. I have conversations daily with experts from all around the country in our group, and I learn a new phrase or a new requirement every single time. The regulatory requirements that we’re most likely seeing that vary from city to city are things like seismic code or asbestos certifications when it comes to environmental and energy efficiency related codes.
We’re starting to see new ones pop up every year, and they’re really important for not only design, but for the occupiers as well. A lot of the callbacks and warranty items that we’re getting are simply because users don’t know how their space is designed to operate.
So the fourth question is, what emerging trends in workplace design are influencing cost considerations and how are businesses adapting to those changes? Absolutely. Technology and noise, the tech is shifting now so quickly. No one has desk phones. A lot of organizations are ditching wired communications entirely, and our twenty-four seven teams call environment is starting to dictate how we design our spaces. Offices used to be loud and boisterous, and now they’re more like libraries. People are collaborating more than ever, but they’re doing it with headphones, so they need to do so quietly. So we’re starting to see a lot of investment into sound absorbing finishes like drapery ceiling systems and wall finishes that can have a huge impact on cost without making a large architectural statement.
In question five, how has the return to office environment impacted corporate interior renovations and how are companies prioritizing their spaces? Well, the pandemic really did change how and where people work, and with all the short-term decision making or lack of decision making over the past few years, it’s created a big gulf between the spaces people have right now and the spaces people need. I think the biggest shift has been densification of office space and the increasing focus on amenities and conferencing space. So what that means is you’re trading low-cost density spaces for high-cost density spaces, and that can really be a challenge to real estate teams or CapEx planners who assumed in their projections that smaller would just equal cheaper. What I’m seeing are more clients partnering with STOBG and specifically with Global Services a year or two in advance during their CapEx and planning stages to design spaces that will work for 10, 15, 20 years in the future and also communicate that messaging internally. That’s all for today. I know there’s been a lot of questions coming in about the tariffs and how they will impact what we do. Although I didn’t address them today. David Hamilton, the Senior Vice President with Construction Procurement Solutions, will be answering all of those questions in an upcoming episode. So stay tuned and thanks for listening.