Office Terminology — A–Z Glossary

This is the whole vocabulary of an office opening in one place. You don’t need to memorize any of it. When a word stops you, find it here, take the one-line version, and follow the link if you want the fuller story.

Throughout the rest of the site we spell every acronym out the first time it shows up on a page — “certificate of insurance (COI),” not a bare “COI” — so you should rarely be caught out. This is the master list to come back to.

Access date — The first day you’re allowed into the space to start your own work: deliveries, installs, cabling. Usually earlier than the opening date, and the date your move-in clock really runs on.

Additional insured — Specific wording on a vendor’s certificate of insurance (COI) that extends their coverage to the building’s owner and manager. Buildings almost always require it before anyone works on site.

Audio/visual (AV) — The screens, speakers, microphones, cameras, and cabling that make a conference room actually work on a call. See IT, Network, AV & Conference Rooms.

Certificate of insurance (COI) — A one-page document proving a vendor carries insurance, in the exact wording your building requires. No valid COI, no entry — it’s the most common reason a vendor gets turned away at the door.

Critical path — The chain of tasks that decides your opening date: if any one of them slips, the date slips. Freight-elevator booking and long-lead orders usually sit on it. See the 30-Day Plan.

Day porter — A cleaner who works during business hours to keep shared spaces tidy and stocked — separate from the nightly janitorial crew.

Freight elevator — The elevator reserved for moves and large deliveries. You usually have to book it in advance, and it’s often the bottleneck that sets your move date.

Furniture, fixtures & equipment (FF&E) — Desks, chairs, meeting-room tables, storage — the movable things that fill an office. Usually your biggest single spend and your longest lead time, so it gets ordered first.

General contractor (GC) — The company running construction or build-out work in your space. See Construction, Light TI & Punch.

Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) — The building’s climate system. Standard hours and the rules for after-hours air come from the property manager. See Property Manager & Building Rules.

Hypercare — The intense support stretch right after opening, when you staff up on site and fix issues within hours instead of days. See Opening Week Hypercare.

Landlord — Who owns the building and holds the lease. Day to day you’ll deal with the property manager, not the landlord. See Property manager vs. landlord.

Loading dock — Where trucks pull in to load and unload. Often shared with other tenants and scheduled in advance; check the truck-size and height limits before move day.

Long-lead item — Anything with a long gap between ordering and delivery — most often furniture. Order it early or it won’t arrive by opening.

Minimum Viable Opening (MVO) — The floor you never drop below: safe, accessible, clean, powered, connected, furnished enough, meetable, stocked, and clear. Your test for “are we actually ready?”

Opening date — The day people actually start working in the new space. Everything in the plan is built backward from it.

Property manager (PM) — The company or person who runs the building day to day: rules, approvals, access, the freight elevator, after-hours work. Your single most important building contact.

Punch list — The running list of construction items still to fix before you accept a space — a sticking door, a missing outlet cover, paint touch-ups.

Run of show — A minute-by-minute plan for a big day, move day or opening day, naming who does what and when. See the Move Day Run of Show.

Site walk — A walk-through of the space, checklist in hand, to see what’s really ready versus what a vendor says is ready. See the Site Walk Checklist.

Tenant improvement (TI) / work letter — TI is the build-out work done to fit the space to you; the work letter is the document that spells out who pays for, and does, what.