Four Stages Of An Office Fit Out
When you’re undergoing an office fit out or refurbishment, there are 4 steps you will go through to complete the process. The more integrated, efficient and thorough you are in planning for these 4 steps will be the difference between your fit out running smoothly and it being all over the place. Your office fit out experience depends on getting these 4 steps right and rigorously planned.
Design & Planning
This step is the point where you can put all of your vision and direction to paper and really start to develop an idea of what you want your office fit out to look like in the end. The more time you invest in your design and planning step, the better the rest of the steps will run, if you plan well, there’s no reason why you can’t get your office fit out done efficiently, to budget and inside the timescale you have allocated.
It’s best to sit down with your chosen office designers, who will have the experience to ask the questions that need to be answered in order for your office fit out to run smoothly. It’s important to make sure you communicate clearly the businesses identity and goals, to ensure you have a mutual understanding and can design an office that is fit for purpose.
Rules, Laws & Regulations
Finishing your plan and design should be a priority, before you consider the rules, law and regulations, this will speed up the planning permission process (if required) and allow you to adapt your plans to suit the needs of the rules and regulations, instead of building your office design around them. If you go to your building manager without a plan in place that can seriously delay your fit out, so it’s best to go into these conversations prepared.
Construction & Installation
The next step you will work on, is the construction side of the fit out process. You will need to plan and apply for all areas of the construction stage of your office fit out, thoroughly. Make sure that health and safety is a priority at this stage of your refurbishment is essential, and allowing the investment of time needed to complete the work to not only a high standard, but safely will save you having to go back over in the long run or causing delays. At this stage, you could find yourself wasting a lot of money and time due to bad planning, so it’s so important to make sure that the two previous stages are done properly.
Furnishing
The final step is the least complicated part of the fit out, and something that you can involve your employees in. Furnishing your office should be all about making the working environment a productive, motivating and inspiring place to be, to get the very best results make sure your furnishings are reflective of the needs of your employees whilst keeping the brand and business identity at the heart of the choices you make. You could incorporate company colours and logos to the furnishings to keep the design consistent throughout the office.