1. NEVER place any facilities on the B10 level. If you do, they will block the tunnel of the Metro station you must build before your tower gets 5 stars. Even if you buldoze the facility, the small piece of floor will block the tunnel. You can't just put the Metro on B9, either, because you aren't allowed to have anything below it. (The elevator gears don't count.)
2. NEVER build condos at the beginning of the game. The condo tenants do NOT pay you a monthly rent- you get the money all at once. If you build condos at the beginning of the game, you will eventually go bankrupt, and have no way of getting more money. I know- it's happened to me. Your best bet is to start with offices.
OFFICE TIPS:
1. Offices are a great money maker. They should make up the majority of your tower.
(They are also good for raising population)
2. Try to build your offices in blocks between lobbies/skylobbies. For example, floors 2 through 14 are all offices- no condos, fast food, or anything else. Floors 16-29 are all hotels. 31-44 are all condos, etc. etc. etc. This makes it easier to place your express elevators and makes your tenants happier.
CONDO TIPS:
1. I don't like condos much. They don't make as much money as offices, and they don't bring in as many people.
2. If you want to ignore #1 and build condos anyway, then do three things: a) Build them on the higher floors, say no lower than floor 60. By building them high, you save room for hotels, shops, etc. on the lower floors. Plus, by filling up the lower floors first, you greatly reduce your risk of going bankrupt. (See Starting Tip #2)
b) Build condos in blocks between skylobbies. (See Office Tip #2)
c) Don't build as many condos as offices, especially if you want money and population. My Tower level skyscraper is almost entirely offices.
HOTEL TIPS:
1. Build your hotels in blocks. (See Office Tip #2)
2. There are 6 maids per Housekeeping room. However, only one maid will clean a single floor. For example, if you have one floor of hotels and one Housekeeping station, only 1 maid will clean the rooms. The others just sit on their lazy cans and do nothing. Also, one maid can clean exactly 19 hotel rooms. In short, lay your hotels out in this manner:
Put 1 Housekeeping on each end of every hotel floor and connect the floors with a service elevator. Even if your hotels span the entire length of the screen, this will work and your rooms will never get roaches.
COMMERCIAL TIPS (SHOPS, FAST FOOD, ETC.):
1. Use the 3-Story Lobby and Fancy Stairs/Escalators cheats located in my CHEATS section. Then build restaurants on the first floor above the lobby.
2. Build shops and fast food below ground near the metro station.
3.Connect the basement floors with escalators.
4. Do not build movie theaters. They are a total waste of money and time because you have to keep spending $300,000 to change the movie, and this gets annoying after a while. Build 16 party halls above ground instead. They make money every night and bring in hotel guests.