Commercial · Tenant improvement · North County San Diego & South Orange County
Commercial walls and ceilings
Light-gauge metal stud framing, fire-rated assemblies, shaft walls, acoustic assemblies, suspended acoustical ceilings, drywall ceilings and soffits, insulation, and finishing to the specified level. Dino Berg has held CSLB license #989989 since 2014 and works out of Carlsbad across North County San Diego and South Orange County.
This part of the site is written for the person holding our bid. It is the detail you would otherwise have to get out of us on the phone: what is in the scope, how the hard details get built, and the license and coverage facts you can check in about four minutes.
Send the bid date, the plan set and the project manual. If the partition schedule and the ceiling details are in different volumes, send both.
Scope
What we carry on a commercial job
On a commercial interior the drywall sub is really a wall and ceiling contractor. This is the scope we bid, and the shape a scope letter from us takes.
Light-gauge metal stud framing
Non-structural cold-formed steel: partitions, soffits, furring, chases and backing, laid out from the approved drawings and built to the partition schedule rather than to habit.
Layout from approved drawings and the partition schedule
Track and stud to the specified web depth, mil thickness and spacing
Deflection and drift detailing at the head of wall
Bridging and bracing to the limiting-height table the wall was designed to
Seismic bracing of partitions back to structure
In-wall backing and blocking, coordinated before board
Furring of tilt-up, CMU and existing walls
Chase walls, shaft framing, soffits, bulkheads and radius walls
A partition schedule carries more information than most bids read. Web depth, mil thickness, stud spacing, deflection criterion, rating and STC all live there, and the four of them together decide whether the wall you build is the wall that was designed. A spec that says "20 gauge" without saying 30 mil or 33 mil is ambiguous, and it generates an RFI from us during bidding rather than a change order during framing.
The limiting-height table a wall was designed to assumes a bracing condition and a deflection limit. L/360 under tile, stone or glass is a completely different wall from L/120 behind a concealed finish, using the same stud. We read the finish schedule against the partition schedule before we price.
Fire-rated assemblies
Rated partitions, corridors, occupancy separations and rated ceilings built to the listed design named on the drawings — including the parts of the listing that are above the ceiling and out of sight.
Rated partitions built to the listed design on the drawings
Board type, layer count, orientation, screw type and screw spacing per the listing
Joint treatment on concealed rated layers
Rated walls carried and finished full height to deck
Head-of-wall and bottom-of-wall joint conditions
Coordination of penetration firestopping with the trades that made the holes
Photographic log of rated conditions before they are covered
A fire-resistance rating is not a property of gypsum board. It belongs to a complete assembly that was built once in a test frame and heated in a furnace on a standard time-temperature curve to ANSI/UL 263 (ASTM E119). The listing specifies the stud, the spacing, the board, the fastener, the fastener spacing, the orientation and the joint treatment, and every one of those was a tested variable.
The most common failure is not a wrong board — it is a rated wall that was never finished above the ceiling. A rated wall is rated for its full height. If it stops at the grid, or the joints above the grid were never treated to the level the listing requires, the assembly on the drawings is not the assembly in the building.
Shaft walls
Cavity shaftwall at elevator hoistways, stair enclosures, duct shafts and mechanical risers — the rated wall that has to be built entirely from one side.
C-H, C-T or I-stud shaftwall framing with J-runners
1" shaftliner panels set from the accessible side
Finish layers to the listed design
Stacked liner at shafts taller than a single panel
Horizontal duct enclosures and rated corridor ceilings
Impact- and abuse-resistant board where the assembly calls for it
Shaftwall exists for one reason: you cannot get inside a hoistway to build a two-sided wall. Everything about the system — the liner panel, the web geometry of the stud, the tabbed runner — follows from being built from one face.
Shaft walls are also loaded. A car moving in a hoistway pressurizes and depressurizes the wall, and smoke-control systems pressurize stair shafts on purpose, so shaftwall limiting heights are published against design air pressure, not just against height. A shaftwall bid without the design pressure and the deflection criterion is a guess, and we ask for both.
Acoustic assemblies
Sound-rated partitions built the way the tested assembly was built, with the coordination items that actually decide whether the room is quiet.
Sound-rated partitions to the tested assembly named in the spec
Cavity insulation, full depth, friction fit, no compression
Continuous acoustical sealant at floor track, head track and perimeter, both faces
Sealed penetrations and offset outlet coordination
Chase walls, staggered-stud and decoupled assemblies where specified
Resilient channel installed as resilient channel, not as hat channel
Full-height partitions to deck where the design calls for privacy
STC is a laboratory number for a wall. What the occupant experiences is the field performance of the whole room — the ceiling, the plenum, the doors, the ductwork, and every hole anyone put in anything. A high-STC wall in a room with a shared plenum, an undercut door and back-to-back outlets does not deliver its rating, and no drywall contractor can make it.
What we can do is build the tested assembly as tested, seal what is supposed to be sealed, and raise the coordination items early — because the three things that most often wreck an acoustic wall are decided by other trades.
Suspended acoustical ceilings
Lay-in grid and panel, laid out from the reflected ceiling plan and braced to the seismic requirements that apply everywhere in coastal Southern California.
Heavy-duty grid, 15/16" and 9/16" exposed tee
Square lay-in, tegular and reveal-edge panels
12-gauge hanger wire at 4 ft o.c. along the main runners
Lateral force bracing assemblies with compression struts
2" wall molding, attachment at two adjacent walls, clearance at the other two
Seismic separation joints on large continuous ceilings
Oversized trim rings at sprinkler penetrations
Independent support and safety wires at fixtures and terminals
Symmetrical border-tile layout reconciled against the RCP
All of coastal San Diego and Orange County sits in a seismic design category where heavy-duty grid is the requirement, not an upgrade. Light-duty grid has essentially no place in a commercial ceiling in this market.
The highest-value hour in a ceiling scope is spent before anything is hung: reconciling the reflected ceiling plan against the mechanical, electrical and fire-protection drawings, and setting the grid so border tiles are equal on opposite walls and as large as the room allows. A 22" tile on one side and a 3" sliver on the other is a layout decision, not a tile problem.
Drywall ceilings and soffits
Suspended gypsum board ceilings, drop soffits, bulkheads, clouds, coves and light pockets — the architectural moves that read as a single straight line across a room, or do not.
Suspended drywall grid and conventional CRC and hat-channel ceilings
Drop soffits and bulkheads hung from structure, independent of the ACT grid
Clouds and floating ceilings with exposed edge returns
Coves, light pockets and linear slots
Radius soffits and curved ceiling planes
Access panels coordinated with the MEP layout
Positive bracing at every ceiling plane change
A soffit is hung from the structure above — not from the ACT grid and not from the ductwork it conceals. A sixty-foot retail soffit reads as one line under linear lighting, and laser layout, tight bridging and consistent stud gauge are what make it read straight.
A concealed linear LED grazing a drywall face will show every fastener, every joint and every trowel mark. That is Level 5 territory, and it belongs in the bid and in the preconstruction conversation, not on the punch list.
Insulation
Cavity insulation in the walls we frame — mineral wool sound attenuation blanket and unfaced fiberglass batt, installed to the assembly rather than stuffed to the ceiling line.
Mineral wool sound attenuation fire blanket (SAFB) in metal stud cavities
Unfaced fiberglass batt where the assembly calls for it
Insulation carried full height in partitions that run to deck
Cut around boxes and blocking, then filled behind
Friction fit, full cavity, no compression, no gaps
Insulation type and placement per the listed rated design
Insulation in a rated assembly is not a free choice. The listed design either requires it, permits it, or is silent — and silence is not permission. Mineral wool substitutes for glass fiber only where the tested assembly says so.
The failure we see most is insulation stopped at the ceiling line in a partition that continues to the deck. The top three feet of that wall is then uninsulated, unsealed and wide open to the plenum, which is exactly the path the assembly was built to close.
Finishing to spec level
Taping, coating and finishing to the GA-214 level the specification names, including the honest conversation about which level the lighting in that room actually needs.
Levels 0 through 5 per GA-214
Level 1 joint treatment on concealed rated layers above ceilings
Level 4 under flat paint, light texture and wallcovering
Level 5 skim under gloss, enamel, wall-wash and linear lighting
Corner bead, trim, reveals, control joints and expansion joints
Texture where specified, matched to the approved sample
Dust control, vacuum sanding and daily cleanup of our own debris
The most common finish dispute in commercial TI is a Level 4 wall specified under a wall-wash or a linear LED fixture. It will telegraph. It always telegraphs. Level 5 or a full skim is the fix, and it is an add.
Raising that in preconstruction costs a phone call. Discovering it at punch costs a re-coat, a re-paint and a week of everyone’s schedule. We would rather have the awkward conversation in June.
In detail
Three pages of the actual detail
If you want to know whether we read details or just price square footage, these are the pages to read. They are long on purpose.
Every one of these has a constraint that decides how the job actually runs. Knowing which one you are on before the bid is most of the job.
Tenant improvements
The volume backbone of commercial interiors here. Occupied buildings, noise and elevator windows, as-builts that do not match what demo finds, existing rated corridor and demising walls that have to be maintained, and a schedule tied to a lease commencement date that nobody is moving.
Medical and dental
TI at a higher technical bar. Lead-lined walls at imaging rooms where shielding continuity is a physicist’s drawing, not a field call. Backing for x-ray heads, monitor arms, casework, IV tracks and curtain tracks. Scrubbable ceilings. Acoustic privacy that is a compliance requirement rather than a preference.
Restaurants
Short, intense and finish-driven. Washable substrates and coved sealed transitions in the back of house, rated grease duct enclosures, absorptive ceilings and baffles in a dining room that would otherwise be unbearable, and an opening date that was set before the permit came back.
Retail
Landlord and tenant criteria manuals are contract documents. Rated demising walls slab to deck, long straight soffits and fascias that read under linear lighting, and slatwall, standard and fixture backing located from the fixture plan before board goes up. Mall work is night work with barricade and delivery rules.
Schools
California public K-12 and community college work is under the Division of the State Architect. Nothing is field-discretionary, an Inspector of Record is on site, and the ceiling inspection counts wire turns. DSA requirements exceed the model code, and closeout is a verified report filed with the state.
Churches and assembly
Assembly occupancy drives egress, rated corridors and interior finish classification. Acoustically, a worship space is an instrument — the ceiling, the absorption and the diffusion are designed by an acoustician and have to be built exactly as detailed. Usually high, usually complex, usually phased around a congregation that keeps meeting.
Warehouse and industrial
The office box inside the shell, furring on the interior face of tilt-up panels, and rated separations between warehouse and office. Tall single-height demising walls in a 30-foot clear building are a limiting-height and bracing problem, not a routine partition.
Multifamily and podium
Shaft walls at every elevator and stair, area separation walls with the aluminum breakaway clip detail that must never be value-engineered, rated corridor and unit demising walls in enormous repetitive quantities, and the acoustic detailing that decides whether a building generates tenant complaints.
Hotels
Multifamily’s demanding cousin. Guest room acoustics are the product, brand standards are contract documents, and the repetition is extreme — hundreds of identical rooms where the first room sets the quality of the last one.
Working with GCs
What you actually get from us
A website does not win commercial work. Bid lists and performance do. So rather than adjectives, here is what we think the job is.
Schedule reliability
Drywall sits on the critical path of almost every commercial interior. Framing gates rough-in, rough-in gates board, board gates tape, tape gates paint, and paint gates flooring, casework and finishes. A sub who slips two weeks slips the whole job two weeks and the GC eats it. What we owe you is an accurate commitment given early, and then met — including the call the day we can see a problem coming rather than the Friday we run out of room.
Manning the job
The question every GC asks and most subs answer badly. It means three things: can you put the required number of people on it next week, can you hold that number for the duration instead of pulling the crew to another job, and can you surge when the schedule compresses — which it always does. We would rather turn down a job than take it and starve it.
RFIs raised early
The useful RFI happens during bidding and mobilization, not at installation. Which deflection criterion applies to this partition type. Whether "20 gauge" means 30 mil or 33 mil. Why the head-of-wall detail shows the stud screwed to the deflection track. Who is providing the casework, TV and grab-bar backing. Where the seismic separation joint goes in a ceiling over 2,500 square feet. Each of those, asked in preconstruction, is a change order and a delay that never happened.
Punch list responsiveness
The punch list is the last thing standing between the GC and getting paid, and drywall carries a lot of it because drywall is what every other trade damages. What gets remembered is whether you showed up within days, whether it was fixed once or re-punched twice, and whether you argued about whose damage it was before fixing it. It costs a few crew-days and it is remembered for years.
Backing, coordinated before board
Backing is the small-dollar, high-callback item that separates a commercial framer from a residential one, and it is the most common scope gap on a TI. We build a backing plan in preconstruction — a marked-up plan and elevations showing every location, height and type — and circulate it to the GC and the affected trades before framing starts, so nobody finds out at cabinet-hang time.
A record of what is behind the board
Rated head-of-wall conditions and the penetrations in our scope get photographed and logged before they are covered. The special inspector gets a record, the closeout package has something in it, and nobody opens a finished ceiling in month eleven to prove a joint that was built correctly in month four.
Housekeeping is part of the scope, not a favor. Drywall is the dirtiest trade on a commercial interior — board scrap, stud cutoffs, screws and sanding dust that migrates into everyone else’s work. Daily cleanup of our own debris, scrap out as we go, vacuum sanding and dust containment where the job requires it, and finished work protected.
Prequalification
The facts you can check
Everything in this table is on the public CSLB record and takes about four minutes to verify. What is not here — revenue, headcount, bonding capacity, experience modification — belongs on a signed prequalification form with a date on it, not on a web page. Send yours and we will fill it out.
The full plan set, the project manual, the partition schedule and details, the bid date, and the job walk if there is one. If the ceiling and partition details are in separate volumes, send both. We would rather ask three questions during bidding than write three change orders during framing.
Do you write a scope letter?
Yes, and it says what is in and what is out in plain language — so your estimator is not guessing whether firestopping, casework backing, hoisting or final clean sit in our number. A bid without a scope letter is a number, not a proposal.
The partition schedule says 20 gauge. Is that a problem?
It is ambiguous. There are two 20 gauges in this trade: 30 mil, which is the drywall stud, and 33 mil, which is the structural one, and they sit on opposite sides of the non-structural line. They are not interchangeable and they do not price the same. We raise it as an RFI during bidding and bid the answer, not our preference.
Do you handle structural cold-formed steel framing?
We frame and finish the non-structural wall and ceiling scope. Where the drawings cross into structural cold-formed steel — a wall carrying a header, an exterior backup wall taking wind, a partition picking up equipment — that is a delegated design: the engineer of record writes the performance spec, a specialty CFS engineer designs and seals the members and connections, and it goes in as a deferred submittal. If your job has it, tell us at bid time, because that submittal has to be moving long before anyone mobilizes.
Can you man the job?
Ask us the week you need the answer, and we will give you a real one. The useful commitment is the one that is accurate and given early. A sub who says "I need three more days" on Monday is a partner; a sub who says nothing and shows up short on Friday is the reason your job slipped.
How fast do you come back for punch?
Days, not weeks. Drywall generates punch items because drywall is what every other trade damages, and arguing about whose damage it was before fixing it is the most expensive way to save money. We fix it, then we sort out the backcharge.
Are you set up for public works?
Ask us before you list us. DIR registration is an annual fiscal-year filing and certified payroll is filed electronically at least monthly, so we confirm current standing in writing with the bid rather than asserting it on a web page that might be a year old. On the wage side, the correct answer is always the applicable DIR determination for the craft and the county, keyed to the bid advertisement date.
What are your insurance limits, and can you add us as additional insured?
Send your requirements with the invitation — limits, additional insured, waiver of subrogation, primary and non-contributory wording — and we will confirm in writing what we carry against them before you list us. Insurance limits published on a website go stale; a certificate issued to your project does not.
Can you bond the subcontract?
A subcontract performance or payment bond is a separate instrument from the contractor’s bond CSLB requires, which is shown above. If your subcontract calls for one, put it in the bid documents so it gets priced rather than assumed.
What about safety documentation and prequalification?
Send the form. Safety statistics and experience-modification figures belong on a signed prequalification packet with a date on it, not on a marketing page where they age quietly. We fill it out, we do not estimate it.
Do you photograph rated conditions before they are covered?
Yes. Rated head-of-wall conditions and the penetrations in our scope get photographed and logged before board goes on, so the special inspector has a record and nobody is opening ceilings at closeout to prove something that was built right the first time.
Do you do residential work too?
Yes — repairs, remodels, texture matching and ceilings across North County. It is a different part of the business with a different crew rhythm, and it has its own side of this site.
Send us your plans
Email the set, the project manual and the bid date. If you want us added to a bid list or a vendor portal, say so and we will get the paperwork back to you the same week. If we cannot man it, we will tell you that instead of bidding it and hoping.
