Product, decided.
Independent product and specification consultants for Northeast commercial architecture.
Twentieth year
Twenty years of product decisions in the Northeast.
SSO is celebrating its twentieth year in business. Two offices, both divisions, and a line card built one relationship at a time, for the architects, owners, and project teams who have trusted the firm with the rooms that work hardest.
Why early matters
The most economical time to change a product decision is before it reaches a drawing.
Most product substitutions trace back to something upstream: a section written without a performance requirement, a budget set before anyone priced the finish, or a material chosen for a room it was never built for. Each of those costs little to correct in schematic design and a great deal to correct in submittals.
We work inside that early window. Bring us a floor plan and a program, and you get product reasoning, budget parameters, and specification language while the design still has room to absorb them.
How we work →Where we do the most good
What we do
Consulting that lives inside the construction documents.
Product consultation
Product selection reasoned against the room, the user, the maintenance budget, and the service life.
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Specification support
Door schedules built from your floor plans.
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Budget and estimating
Pre-construction estimating and budget parameters set early enough to protect design intent, so the scope reaching bid day resembles the scope you drew.
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Submittal and construction support
Every submittal reviewed against the specification.
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Service life
Warranty compliance, aftermarket parts, and maintenance support for years after substantial completion.
See the scope →Product consulting
Choosing the right product for the room it goes in, and carrying that choice through construction.
Specification strategy
Open, competitive sections that hold up through value engineering with the design intent intact.
Industry education
CEU classes and product education for teams who want to specify better.
Markets we serve
Buildings with hard use and long service lives.
Hospitals
Continuous use, infection control, accessibility, and privacy, in buildings that rarely close long enough for a proper repair.
Acrovyn wall protection and doors, expansion joint covers, washroom accessories and partition systems, changing stations, glass entrances, door hardware and controls.
Behavioral health
Ligature resistance, dignity, and durability, held together without letting any one of the three win outright.
Wicket doors, over-the-door sensors, institutional locking, door controls.
K-12 schools
Peak-load washrooms, classroom doors that must secure in seconds, and maintenance budgets that have to last a decade.
Classroom locking, stainless accessories, cubicles, lockers, wall protection, expansion joint covers, door controls.
Higher education
Residence halls, academic buildings, athletics, and administrative space, each with a different idea of what a washroom or an office wall should be.
Accessories and partition systems, cubicles, lockers, glass systems and demountable walls, wall protection, expansion joint covers, door hardware.
Hospitality
Guest-facing finishes that photograph well on opening day and still read as premium years into service.
Design-led cubicles, the Fino accessory line, changing stations, glass systems, expansion joint covers and entrance flooring.
Workplace and commercial interiors
Demountable glass walls, premium washrooms, and interiors that have to flex as tenants change.
Demountable glass walls, glass systems, cubicles, lockers, washroom accessories, expansion joint covers and entrance flooring.
Healthcare
Medical office buildings, outpatient clinics, surgery centers, labs, and long-term care, where the building runs on a clinic schedule and the finishes take hospital-level use on an outpatient budget.
Acrovyn wall protection and doors, expansion joint covers, washroom accessories and grab bars, partition systems, changing stations, door hardware and controls.
Multifamily and student housing
Hundreds of identical openings, shared amenity space, and a turnover cycle that tests every product on the schedule.
Door hardware and electronic locking, door controls, lockers and package rooms, washroom accessories for amenity spaces, wall protection in corridors.
Expansion joints
Every long building moves. The cover over the joint decides whether that movement stays invisible or becomes the first thing a visitor trips on.
Interior and exterior expansion joint covers for floors, walls, ceilings, and roofs, in the assemblies the building requires, from Construction Specialties.
The line card
Fourteen manufacturers, and the freedom to put forward whichever one the room needs.
Representation across Division 8 and Division 10 gives us range through washroom accessories, partition systems and cubicles, lockers, wall protection, glass systems and interior walls, hardware, and door controls. Which product we put forward depends on the room.
Washroom & Restroom
Partitions & Cubicles
Glass Systems & Interior Walls
Openings & Hardware
Specialty Products
* Construction Specialties representation covers Connecticut, Vermont, and Western Massachusetts.
Continuing education
CEU classes taught by people who write the sections.
We teach in your office or ours, covering product categories, application requirements, and the performance questions that surface during review. Sessions run from a lunch presentation to a full credit class.
Bring us in early.
The best time to reach us is while the drawings are still moving. Send a set, ask a product question, or book a walk-through of the line.