Planning a new branch is a major undertaking for banks and credit unions. Whether you are building from the ground up, renovating an existing location, or creating an in-store branch, every decision impacts costs, operations, and the experience of both staff and customers/members. Careful upfront planning can make the difference between a project that runs smoothly and one that encounters costly delays and surprises.
In our latest Bits Matter Podcast, William Foley, co-founder of The Element Group, shared practical guidance on how institutions can start their branch projects on the right foot. His advice focuses on three critical principles:
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Engage the right stakeholders early
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Anticipate hidden costs
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Start with a strategic design critique
📊 Know before you budget. Our 2025 Design & Cost Catalog provides real-world cost estimates and timelines so you can budget accurately and avoid surprises. Download here.
Why Upfront Planning Matters
According to FMI’s 2024 U.S. Construction Outlook, nonresidential construction costs have risen sharply, with labor shortages, supply chain issues, tariffs, and permitting delays increasing complexity. For financial institutions, careful upfront planning is essential to avoid surprises and keep projects on track.
Successful planning begins with full visibility. Institutions should consider:
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Site and structural conditions
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Permit and zoning requirements
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Technology integration and circulation needs
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Back-of-house and operational requirements
By reviewing these items early, organizations can prevent delays, reduce costs, and ensure the branch functions effectively for staff and members.
Identifying Hidden Costs
Even the most carefully planned projects encounter unexpected expenses. Common hidden costs include:
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Permitting and planning fees
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Connection or utility fees for new builds
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Unforeseen conditions in existing structures
Pro tip: Conduct due diligence upfront. Review existing drawings, consult municipal planning and building departments, and inspect structures to catch potential challenges early.
Engaging the Right People and Partners
Projects succeed when the right people are involved from the start.
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CEOs and executive leadership provide strategic oversight and ensure budgets align with institutional goals.
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Branch managers contribute insights on functionality and staff workflows.
Equally important is choosing a partner with proven expertise in design-build projects. Look for a partner who:
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Understands the nuances of financial institution design
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Listens to your team rather than imposing ideas
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Aligns with your operational and strategic goals
When stakeholder engagement and the right partner are in place, projects progress more smoothly and costly setbacks are minimized.
Start With a Design Critique
At Element, our projects begin with a Design Critique, which lays the foundation for success. It provides:
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Conceptual floor plans and renderings
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Budget and timeline validation
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Early alignment among stakeholders
Even if your institution already has sketches or designs from another architect, a second opinion can help refine ideas, identify efficiencies, and ensure your plans meet both functional and financial objectives.
Key Takeaways for Leaders
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Engage early: Bring leadership, branch managers, and your design-build partner together at the project’s start.
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Identify hidden costs: Anticipate permitting, utility, and structural challenges.
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Start with a Design Critique: Conceptual planning, budgeting, and timelines are crucial first steps.
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Choose the right partner: Expertise, alignment, and collaboration drive smoother project execution.
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Plan strategically: Optimize space, incorporate technology, and right-size your branch to balance cost and functionality.
Branches are more than a physical location. They are a critical touchpoint for staff, customers/members, and community trust. Leaders who emphasize early engagement, careful planning, and strategic design will position their institutions to deliver new branches that are functional, efficient, and aligned with long-term goals.
Show Notes
Design Critique
- Co-founder Nate Baldasaro shares a quick overview of the benefits and deliverables of our design critique. Watch the video.
- Request a design critique.
Common Conditions to Watch Out for
- Conditions in the existing structure
- Planning and zoning timelines and coordination
- Building department issues that will arise
- Connection fees
Small Branch Imagery
Transcript
Doug Ridley: Welcome to the Bits Matter podcast. I’m your host, Doug Ridley, and today we’re kicking off our Season 2: A Strategic Approach to Branch Design with “Episode 1: Prepping for your next branch project.” In this episode, I’m joined by William Foley, co-founder of The Element Group and an expert in design build projects for financial institutions. We talk about what sets successful projects apart, potential hidden costs, and why getting the right people involved early can make all the difference.
And if you’re planning a project in the next fiscal year, I recommend heading to our website. everybitmatters.com to request a design critique. Now let’s get started.
So William let’s jump right into planning. What helps clients succeed most when planning a new project?
William Foley: Well, getting everyone involved up front, from the CEO to the branch manager and getting everyone it’s time invested in the project. And also finding the right partner, or finding someone that listens to them and understands their needs and then executing on those expectations.
Doug Ridley: You know, when you talk about, you know, making sure the right people are in the room, I feel like that speaks a lot to our process. Having all that experience, knowing, like we got to include all of these people up front because we don’t want any surprises further down the road.
William Foley: Exactly. And the CEO understands what his needs are, and the branch manager will understand functionality, will understand space and needs of the branch.
Doug Ridley: They get that buy in right away. What are their key steps that we see clients overlook in this planning process?
William Foley: Well, there’s permitting fees. There’s unforeseen conditions in the existing structure. There’s planning and zoning. There’s building department issues that will arise. So all those things need to be identified early on in the project. And if you do your correct due diligence, you can overcome those.
Doug Ridley: And what we’ll do is we’ll add this list to the show notes so that listeners can reference these items in the future.
What are some hidden costs? Institutions should be aware of when starting to plan the project.
William Foley: Unforeseen conditions that occur in the structure, existing structure, permitting fees are always a hidden cost. Planning and zoning. There’s a lot of planning and zoning fees, connection fees when you have new builds. So all those things have to be taken into consideration when planning a project.
Doug Ridley: And we know these things can pop up. So how can clients avoid or at least minimize these situations with proper due diligence?
William Foley: Well, if you do your proper due diligence and you review existing drawings, you look at existing structural issues. You talk to the planning department, you talk to the building department and kind of do all that early phase and phase construction needs. Then you can avoid a lot of these unforeseen conditions.
Doug Ridley: And I guess, do we talk about like you’re, oh, there’s always going to be something that pops up and like, we’ve seen, CEOs actually put in contingency budgets with their board. So that way they don’t have to go back and ask for money.
William Foley: Exactly. And that’s the key is to do your proper due diligence, understand if there’s any unforeseen conditions that you have to occur for and then put a contingency on the project. So if something does come up, we don’t have to go back for board approval. We don’t have to go back for approval from the CEO. The project can keep moving on smoothly.
Doug Ridley: Nobody wants to go back, and ask for more money.
William Foley: Exactly. That’s the hardest part of it.
Doug Ridley: How should institutions think strategically when they start planning?
William Foley: Well the big difference is you know we all if you look at an industry leader design build firm we all understand you know we all have expertise. We all do great design. But the thing is how do you implement that into the space. You have to think strategically. You have to look at digital. You have to look at acquisitions. You have to look at the whole project as a whole. The local architect will do a great job and they’ll understand the building side of it, but they don’t understand the functionality of how a branch works, how to incorporate the technology, and how to understand the member and the client base.
So we look at the building, we look at what are the client needs and what needs to go into the space. And then what circulation that’s needed and back of house. So we understand the square footage. And would that we could put that into a database to actually come up with the exact square footage for the building. Designing a 2000 square foot building will cost less and be more effective than in designing a 3000 square foot branch that’s poorly designed.
Doug Ridley: And I think that we’ve seen branches get smaller as well from an intentional standpoint, from a cost saving standpoint, as technology comes in, people are using space smarter choreography, and the space is getting better as well.
William Foley: Well, the cost of land has gone up. The cost of building costs has gone up. So we want to be more efficient in our design process and look at technology, look at how we’re going to use items instead of traditional teller lines, how do we use smaller spaces for our offices and things like that.
So kind of cut down the square footage. Probably 5 or 6 years ago, branches were 4000 square feet. Now we’re looking at 2,500 and even 700 square foot branches that can allow and function the same as a larger and larger square foot branch.
Doug Ridley: And what we can do is we can add links to the show notes, where we can highlight some of these smaller branches through the case study photography we have.
William, this has been great, and I know everything we’ve talked about has led you to create what we call a Design Critique here at Element.
Why is this the first step in our process?
William Foley: Well, I see that as the foundation of the project, and it’s kind of the building blocks and how we go forward, and it gets everyone’s buy in early on. What is the concept? What’s the floor plan look like? That’s conceptually it’s not fully designed, but it’s still conceptually, we do a couple renderings to help them understand visually what the space is going to look like. And the other big thing is we look at the budget and we look at the timeline.
No project is going to go forward without board and budget approval. So we kind of mitigate that. Right out of the gate is to have a really well defined budget to help them get their approvals, to move forward with the project.
Doug Ridley: You know, sometimes, you know, clients will come to us and say, hey, we have this idea or I’m working. I’ve got sketches from another architect or something, and just something doesn’t seem right. Can I get a second opinion as well? Knowing that we do have that expertise, to bring to the project and a new set of ideas, potentially even as well.
William Foley: And that’s where we get excited to get our design team and our project manager and our strategic planners involved. Look at what they’ve done, because there’s always a little bit of equity and what they’ve done. So we take that as the baseline, and then we come up with some new ideas and new critiques and kind of go from there and again, define the budget and define the timeline.
Doug Ridley: Well, William, thank you for joining us. Any parting thoughts to institutions as they start their 2026 budget planning season?
William Foley: Well, I think the biggest thing is – work with someone that has the expertise in the design build world. If that’s what you’re looking at, have a realistic budget, a realistic timeline, and it will be successful.
Doug Ridley: And that’s a wrap on episode one. A big thanks to William Foley for joining us and sharing his perspective on strategically planning your next branch project, if you’re preparing for budget season and unsure where to begin. Keep in mind that upfront planning isn’t solely about drawings and numbers. It’s about making sure your branch can fulfill the needs of your customers, members, and staff, all while achieving your institution’s goals.
In this episode, William and I talked about Element’s Design Critique. If you’d like to learn more. Our other founder, Nate, recorded a short video talking about the deliverables and what institutions can expect if they’re interested in a critique. It’s only the beginning of August, but we’ve delivered 11 design critiques to clients who are already preparing for budget season.
We’ll leave a link to Nate’s video and a link to request a critique in the show notes.
Be sure to subscribe and stay tuned for our next episode where we’ll dive into mitigating risk. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time.
