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The SiteOne Challenge: Location First, Complications Second
SiteOne’s business model creates a particular kind of construction challenge. Many of their locations come from taking over existing buildings and converting them to new SiteOne locations. That means inheriting whatever those properties left behind: structures retrofitted without permits, outdated electrical panels, gravel-covered yards with no ADA-compliant parking, and properties sitting in zoning districts that weren’t designed for wholesale industrial operations.
“Some of them are sites that have existed for 50 years,” Rajiv explains. “It’s usually some sort of older, sometimes residential structure, that has been retrofitted over the years — not necessarily all within the lines — and we want to bring things up to standard.“
Location is non-negotiable for SiteOne. Their branches need to be where their customers are — in or near residential districts, accessible to landscaping contractors and homeowners alike. But a wholesale supply operation in a residential-adjacent zone brings its own regulatory complexity: overlay districts, material storage requirements, screening mandates, stormwater compliance, and accessibility upgrades that can cascade into a full site overhaul if not managed carefully from the start.
That’s exactly where Interplan’s integrated team structure — architecture, civil, MEP, and permitting under one roof — proves its value.
The Easy Button: What Integrated A/E Actually Feels Like
Rajiv has a phrase for what Interplan represents in his workflow: “the easy button.”
“Having Interplan bring that architectural as well as the civil piece, that addresses the whole issues holistically for us — it’s been a great help. It’s the easy button to say, hey, we’ve got this site that needs significant upgrades, and we want to go in trusting you all to help us out with that.“
That trust isn’t just about having one vendor to call. It’s about what happens when Interplan’s civil team is already coordinating with the architecture team on the front end — reviewing existing drawings, evaluating as-built surveys, and making informed recommendations before SiteOne has committed to a full scope of work.
“By having our civil team in-house and having our permitting team starting at the front end to say, okay, how do we get to a yes?” Rajiv says. “Because the site might be out of compliance in many areas, but maybe not having to trigger full site upgrades. How are ways where we can still meet the requirements of the city, but minimize the amount that you might have to do at the onset?”
That upfront due diligence changes the math on a project. It turns a potentially overwhelming site into a sequenced plan — what needs to happen now, what can be phased into a future remodel, and what creative solutions exist that nobody’s tried yet.
When There Is No Playbook: Finding a Path to Yes
Some of the most memorable moments in a long partnership aren’t the smooth projects — they’re the ones that didn’t have a clear answer.
Rajiv recalls a project where SiteOne’s inventory of fertilizers, chemicals, and landscape materials triggered a compliance process neither team had encountered before. Local jurisdictions needed detailed documentation of every material on site — quantities, storage configurations, proximity thresholds — and the requirements ran to hundreds of pages of Excel-based data submissions, all under a tight deadline.
“Your team got together and reviewed those documents and pulled the right data out of it to get those answers, so that we could keep the project moving forward,” Rajiv says. “These items had never come up before, and it was just great to get your team involved and to guide us through — a kind of hand-holding — and finding a middle ground, because it’s a lot of effort on all fronts to get it done.“
Then there was the fire hydrant challenge. Many SiteOne locations are in areas where infrastructure hasn’t kept pace with development. When one jurisdiction required fire flow infrastructure that simply didn’t exist on site, the default path — paying to install it — came with a cost that threatened to derail the project entirely.
“In a plan, we found workarounds,” Rajiv explains. “A water tower was a much more affordable solution, and we worked to get that moving forward.“
That orientation — not toward stopping when a roadblock appears, but toward finding another route — is what defines the partnership at its best. When a project hits a wall, the goal is always to find a path to yes. And when yes isn’t possible, the job becomes making sure the client has everything they need to make the best decision with the information available.
Good, better, best. Options on the table, decision in the client’s hands.
Pre-Engineered Metal Buildings and the Art of Moving Forward Without All the Answers
A significant portion of SiteOne’s new builds involve pre-engineered metal buildings — a building type that introduces its own coordination complexity. Metal building manufacturers don’t release final engineering drawings until a purchase order is committed. But construction documents need to be moving through permitting before that commitment is made. The timing gap can freeze a project if the A/E team isn’t willing to work ahead.
“You don’t often have those final engineer drawings from the metal building manufacturer upfront,” Rajiv explains. “They’re so busy that they’re not going to get to you until you commit to spending that money. Meanwhile, we’re trying to get construction documents together and proper bids together.“
Interplan’s solution is to make informed assumptions, keep moving, and circle back when the shop drawings arrive to verify coordination. “We’ve been able to kind of make certain assumptions, move forward with it to keep the project going, getting into permitting. And then when we finally get those drawings, going back and making sure that the assumptions were correct — both on the structural and tying in with the architectural.“
It’s a high-trust model. It requires an A/E team that knows the building type well enough to make smart assumptions, and a client who understands that this is how you maintain momentum in a complex, fast-moving program.
Managing 15-20 Projects in Motion at the Same Time
SiteOne doesn’t develop locations one at a time. At any given point, they may have 15 to 20 projects in various stages of design and construction simultaneously. Managing that kind of volume requires more than just good project management — it requires a communication infrastructure that keeps everyone aligned without overwhelming the client.
“As with any construction project, regular updates are warranted,” Rajiv says. “Anyone knows you want at least have weekly or biweekly updates from your team at large. And that can get quite complex and confusing when you have a dozen projects at different phases.”
From the beginning of the partnership, Interplan and SiteOne built a system together: weekly calls, a shared spreadsheet tracker, and consistent email communication channeled through a primary point of contact.
“Since the inception of our partnership, we’ve set up weekly calls, and then a spreadsheet tracker along with regular email communications — that’s honestly made it very easy to track where our projects are.”
What Rajiv especially values is the single point of contact model. Instead of receiving emails from ten different people on the Interplan team, he communicates with a small handful of dedicated contacts who handle the coordination on the inside.
“It’s not ten different emails from ten different people. It’s sort of funneled through your team, where I communicate with just a handful of your people, and I can easily just reply to that, and they get what they need.”
And when something falls through the cracks — as it inevitably does when 15 projects are moving simultaneously — Interplan doesn’t wait for the client to notice.
“Our job is to be that kind reminder to say, hey, this is a critical path item. Just so you know, in order for us to keep things moving, we need this — because I know you’ve got a gazillion things going on. And as a partner, I think that’s our responsibility to help take that mental load off of you.”
That’s the single point of contact working as intended: not a bottleneck, but a relay. Full access to the entire team when you want it, with one trusted voice carrying the weight of coordination so the client doesn’t have to.
Ten Years and Counting
After a decade working together across two different brands and dozens of complex sites, Rajiv puts it simply. “I’ve never been led astray. It’s always, you know, yes, we can do this — or we’re going to find a way. And I do really appreciate that.”
“Team players are the best way I can describe you and your planning team at large.” “And I do know, when I come across some projects where I already foresee certain challenges — Interplan pops up in my head immediately. Because I’m like, they’re going to see us through this.”
That’s the relationship Interplan is built to create. Not just for one complicated project, but for however many come next.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes multi-site retail rollouts more complex than a single-location build?
Each site in a multi-site program introduces its own variables — local zoning codes, infrastructure conditions, permitting authorities, and legacy building issues. When you’re running 15 to 20 projects simultaneously, those variables compound. The difference between a smooth program and a stalled one is having an A/E partner who can manage volume and complexity without losing consistency or momentum across the portfolio.
How does Interplan approach sites with outdated or non-compliant infrastructure?
Every site gets evaluated on the front end — existing drawings, as-built surveys, utility conditions, and code compliance gaps. The goal is to understand what’s there, what needs to happen immediately, and what can be phased into future work. That upfront due diligence protects the client from triggering full site upgrades unnecessarily while still meeting jurisdictional requirements.
What happens when a project hits an obstacle that has no clear precedent?
The orientation is always toward finding a path forward. That might mean working through a regulatory process no one has encountered before, engineering a creative workaround, or presenting the client with a clear set of options so they can make an informed decision. If a straightforward yes isn’t available, the next best outcome is giving the client everything they need to move forward confidently.
Why does a single point of contact matter on a multi-site program?
When you have a dozen projects in motion, fragmented communication creates real risk — missed deadlines, duplicated effort, and critical path items falling through the cracks. A single point of contact doesn’t limit access to the team; it organizes it. The client gets one trusted voice managing coordination internally, with full visibility into every project and proactive follow-up on anything that needs attention.
How does Interplan handle pre-engineered metal building projects where manufacturer drawings aren’t available upfront?
Metal building manufacturers typically won’t produce final engineering drawings until a purchase order is committed — but construction documents and permitting can’t wait that long. Interplan’s approach is to make informed, experience-based assumptions early, keep the project moving through permitting, and reconcile those assumptions against the manufacturer’s drawings once they arrive. It’s a high-trust model that requires deep familiarity with the building type, and it’s how momentum is maintained without compromising accuracy.
Want to Go Deeper on Multi-Site architecture & Engineering?
The SiteOne story is one example of what it looks like when a multi-site program is built on the right foundation — integrated disciplines, proactive communication, and a partner who finds a way forward when the path isn’t clear.
If you want to understand the full system behind that kind of work — what multi-site architecture and engineering actually is, why consistency across locations is harder than it looks, and what separates a true program partner from a project vendor — our core guide covers it all.https://www.interplanllc.com/multi-site-architecture-engineering/
