In a vanilla shell (also called a white box or warm shell), the landlord usually delivers a clean, code-compliant empty space with a working electrical panel, basic lighting and a few receptacles, and the tenant pays to wire everything specific to its business. In a turnkey build-out, the landlord builds the space to the tenant's approved plan, electrical included, and hands over a finished suite. A cold or dark shell sits at the other end, often with little more than a service stub or conduit to the space.
The important word in all of those descriptions is "usually". None of these terms is defined in the building code, and they mean different things to different landlords. The lease and its work letter decide what is actually delivered. This guide explains the common meanings on the electrical side, what the tenant's electrician still has to add, and the questions that turn a vague description into something you can price.
The delivery conditions, from least to most finished
Cold shell or dark shell
Walls, roof and slab, often with an unfinished floor and no ceiling, lighting, restrooms or HVAC distribution inside the space. Electrically, you may get a conduit or feeder stubbed into the suite, a meter position, or nothing beyond the building's main service. Common in new retail and industrial construction, and in raw space in new office buildings.
Warm shell, vanilla shell or white box
A space ready for the tenant's finishes: typically drywall on perimeter walls taped and primed, a ceiling grid, basic lighting, restrooms, HVAC for general use, and an electrical panel with some distribution. The exact list varies. One landlord's vanilla shell includes a lit ceiling and receptacles on the perimeter; another's has a panel and nothing else.
Second-generation space
Space built out by a previous tenant and returned more or less as it was. It can save money if the layout suits you, or cost money if the electrical system is dated, overloaded or partly unpermitted.
Turnkey
The landlord builds the space to your approved plans and delivers it complete. The cost is usually recovered through rent or offset against the allowance, and the tenant has less control over who does the work and how.
A written benchmark: the federal shell definition
For one published version of where the shell ends, the U.S. General Services Administration's Pricing Desk Guide defines the building shell for its leases in detail. For general-use buildings it includes complete and functional base-building mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, a ceiling grid with lighting installed for an open office plan, lighting controls, and power distribution panels and breakers in an electrical closet with capacity at 120/208 volts, three-phase, four-wire, providing 4 watts per usable square foot excluding lighting and HVAC. It treats wiring, outlets and conduit within the tenant's space, fire alarm devices in the space, and supplemental power above the base capacity as tenant improvements. GSA states that local market practice varies, and private landlords are not bound by it, but it is a useful yardstick when a lease just says "vanilla shell".
What each condition usually means electrically
| Item | Cold/dark shell | Vanilla shell / white box | Turnkey |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service capacity to the suite | Stub or feeder only, sometimes none | Panel sized to a building standard | Sized to your approved plan |
| Tenant panel | Often not included | Usually included | Included |
| General lighting | None | Basic layout, often not matched to your plan | Your lighting plan |
| Receptacles and circuits | None | Few, on perimeter walls | Your layout |
| Emergency and exit lighting | None | For the open space as delivered | For your layout |
| Equipment circuits | None | None | As listed in your plans |
| HVAC electrical | Varies | Often included for general use | Included |
Treat that table as typical, not promised. The only reliable version is the one written in your work letter.
What the tenant's electrician still has to add
Even in a good vanilla shell, almost everything that makes the space yours is tenant work:
- Circuits for your layout: receptacles, floor boxes and furniture feeds where your desks, counters and displays actually go.
- Dedicated circuits for equipment, from kitchen lines and compressors to imaging equipment, server racks and salon stations. See tenant equipment power.
- Lighting and controls designed around your plan, replacing or relocating the builder-grade layout, and meeting the energy code for new work.
- Emergency and exit lighting re-laid out for new walls and egress paths.
- Sign power for storefront and blade signs, often with a timer or photocell.
- Data pathways and cabling for the network, phones, cameras and access points.
- More capacity, where the building-standard panel is not enough for your load.
For offices this is covered in more detail on our office build-out electrical page, and for stores on the retail electrical page.
Second-generation space: check before you celebrate
A space with a previous build-out looks like a head start, and sometimes is. Before counting on reusing the electrical system, have it checked for:
- Panel condition, labeling and spare capacity.
- Circuits abandoned in place and wiring that no longer serves anything.
- Evidence of unpermitted work, which becomes your problem the moment you apply for a permit that touches it.
- Emergency and exit units with failed batteries.
- Equipment connections sized for a different business, such as a restaurant's heavy circuits in a space becoming an office, or the reverse.
Demolishing a previous tenant's electrical work properly, back to the panel, is a real line item. Leaving it in place and building around it is usually more expensive later.
Questions to ask before the lease is signed
- What is the rated size of the panel serving the suite, and what service feeds it?
- Can the building provide more capacity if we need it, and at whose cost?
- Is the suite individually metered by the utility? If not, how is power billed?
- What lighting, receptacles, emergency and exit lighting are included, and to what layout?
- Is HVAC included, and is its electrical connection part of the landlord's work?
- Will the landlord's work be permitted and finally inspected before handover?
- Which contractors may we use, and what are the rules for after-hours work and shutdowns?
- In second-generation space, will the landlord remove abandoned wiring and correct known deficiencies first?
The answers feed straight into the budget. Our guide to the tenant improvement allowance and the electrical scope shows how to weigh them against the landlord's contribution.
South Florida points that change the answer
- Utility coordination. A new meter or a larger service involves the utility. Most of the region is served by FPL, but some cities run their own electric utility (Homestead is one), and their process and schedule differ.
- Which building department. Each of Miami-Dade's 35 municipalities has a building official with jurisdiction over permits, according to the county's building department. In Broward and Palm Beach, confirm with the city as well as the county which department covers the address. The landlord's work and your work may even be on separate permits.
- Ground-floor space in flood zones. Panels and equipment at grade in low-lying areas deserve a question about flood elevation before they are relocated or added.
- Hurricane season. Shutdowns for tie-ins in an occupied building are easier to schedule outside the peak months.
Get the space checked before you commit
KRW Electric (EC13012832) handles the electrical side of commercial remodels and tenant build-outs across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, from vanilla shell to second-generation space. Send us the address and the landlord's description of the delivery condition, or call (305) 359-7312, and we will tell you what is there, what is missing and what it will take to make it yours.
Reviewed by Kyle White, KRW Electric Company LLC — licensed electrical contractor EC13012832.
