Interior design & space planning
Test fits, block plans, finish schedules, 3D visualisations and permit-ready drawings coordinated with your architect of record.
Chicago, Illinois · Established 2011
Commercial interiors that earn their square footage.
We design, build and furnish workplaces across Chicago and the greater Midwest — from a 2,400 sq ft law office on Monroe to a 46,000 sq ft headquarters relocation. One team, one contract, one point of accountability.
Licensed Illinois GC
$5M general liability
10 days to fixed proposal
214
commercial projects delivered since 2011
Who we are
A small studio that behaves like a large contractor.
Lion & Jo Commercial Interiors was founded in 2011 by Elizabeth Miller after fifteen years running fit-out programmes for national furniture dealers. The frustration was always the same: designers blamed builders, builders blamed vendors, and the client paid for the argument.
So we do all three. Design, construction and furniture procurement sit under one roof at 55 East Monroe Street. When a millwork detail is wrong, there is exactly one phone number to call — and Elizabeth answers it.
- Single contract covering design, build and FF&E
- Transparent open-book pricing on every line item
- In-house project managers — never subcontracted oversight
- Post-occupancy walkthrough at 30 and 90 days, included
What we do
Five services, delivered together or on their own.
Most clients engage us for the full package. Some already have an architect and just need the build, or a landlord shell and just need furniture. Both are fine.
Fit-out & construction
Demolition, framing, MEP coordination, millwork, flooring, glazing and painting — self-performed or with our long-standing trade partners.
Furniture & FF&E procurement
Specification, competitive bidding across twelve manufacturer lines, warehousing, delivery and installation with a full punch list.
Workplace refresh
Phased, after-hours upgrades for occupied floors. New finishes, lighting and furniture without shutting the business down.
Lease & site advisory
Condition surveys, landlord work-letter reviews and realistic build-out budgets before you sign a ten-year lease.
Move management
Sequencing, IT coordination, asset tagging, decommissioning and certified recycling of everything you leave behind.
Selected work
Three recent projects.
Every project below was delivered under a single Lion & Jo contract. Budgets are the final settled figure, not the estimate.
Legal
Hamilton & Bates, Attorneys at Law
A full-floor reception and partner suite on West Madison. Fluted walnut, honed limestone and a lot of quiet acoustics.
Technology
Corteza — Midwest engineering hub
Loft conversion in Fulton Market for 140 engineers. Exposed structure, heavy acoustic treatment, seven meeting typologies.
Healthcare
Parkview Health & Wellness
Six-room clinic in Evanston built to IDPH standards, with a waiting room that deliberately does not feel clinical.
By the numbers
Fifteen years, one office, no franchises.
214Projects completed
1.9MSquare feet delivered
94%Repeat or referred clients
0OSHA recordables since 2019
How we price
Open book, line by line, from the first meeting.
Our proposals show the trade cost, our fee and the contingency as three separate numbers. You see what the electrician quoted. You see what we add. Nothing is buried in a lump sum labelled “general conditions”.
Site visit — no charge
90 minutes on site, measuring and asking awkward questions about how your teams actually work.
Budget range within 5 business days
A one-page order-of-magnitude range so you can sanity-check the lease before anyone spends money on drawings.
Fixed proposal within 10 business days
Scope, schedule, allowances and exclusions in writing. Valid 45 days. No pressure tactics, no expiring discounts.
Monthly cost report during construction
Committed, spent and forecast, reconciled against the original contract on the first Monday of every month.
Client feedback
What people say when the dust settles.
“They handed the floor back four days early and under the contract sum. In twenty-two years of managing offices I had never seen either happen, let alone both.”
“Elizabeth told us our first layout was wrong and cost her own scope to fix it. That is the moment we stopped getting other bids.”
“We stayed open through the whole refit. Their crews worked 7pm to 4am for six weeks and our patients never saw a tool.”
Common questions
Answers before you ask.
What size projects do you take on?
Typically between 2,000 and 50,000 square feet, with construction budgets from roughly $120,000 to $3.5 million. Below that range we are usually the wrong economics for you, and we will say so.
Do you work outside Chicago?
Yes. Roughly a third of our work is in the wider Midwest — Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Madison, St. Louis and the Illinois collar counties. Travel costs are shown as a separate line, never marked up.
How long does a typical office fit-out take?
For a 10,000 sq ft standard office: about 4 weeks of design, 5 to 7 weeks for permit and procurement, and 10 to 14 weeks on site. Chicago permit timing is the single biggest variable and we track it weekly.
Can you work with our existing architect?
Frequently. We are happy to act purely as the contractor and FF&E partner, or to provide design assist during their documentation phase.
Next step
Tell us about the space and we’ll tell you what it takes.
Send drawings, a lease plan, or just the square footage. Elizabeth reviews every enquiry personally and replies within one business day with an honest read on budget and programme.