Plan the costs of your office interiors: Of course, personal preferences influence your decisions regarding office space and office design, but it is also necessary to take into account the budgetary aspect when you choose your future premises.

Each office design requires a unique purse

When you plan to acquire new premises, you will want to make some adjustments to enable it to reflect your image. You should consider allowing for these changes in your initial budget.

In other words, consider not only the costs of rent or sale (agency fees, rental guarantee, lease deposit, etc.), but also ensure that the budget contains a reserve of money for improvements.This amount will determine the types of premises you can target in your search, so that the changes you wish to make will not be beyond your budget.

Budget for your premises according to the ratios

To consider the costs of your planned changes, you must know the nature of the work to be performed. To acquire this information, project managers use ratios.

Fit-out ratios

Determined by the characteristics of the building and the project, these ratios are calculated according to certain trends.

For a space delivered without partitioning, but with carpet, paint, ceilings, new lighting and a minimum electronic network connection, budget, per SQM:

• 250 Euro (excl. VAT) for a basic fit-out
• 500 Euro (excl. VAT) for a quality (but not luxury) fit-out.

Of course, the above figures are just guidelines. The final cost ratio calculation includes:

• Partitioning
• Computer cabling
• Electricity adaptations (switches, moving lights, reinforcing cabinets, computer room accessories, etc.)
• Ventilation and air conditioning changes (such as air conditioning for computer rooms)
• Customization of the building’s access control
• Layout (reception desk, cafeteria, etc.)
• Mandatory fees for regulatory offices
• Driving fees
• Insurance

The cost ratios of the move itself

Moving from one office to another also incurs costs. The cost per workstation, including archives and computer, is 200-600 Euro (excl. VAT). It varies depending on whether or not one is moving furniture, whether it is new or old, and whether there are few or many files. And one should add the costs of coordination to those of the physical move, if you want to be able to use your new office at the end of the move! In this case, we would speak of a “complete removal”.

We budget 250 Euro (excl. VAT) per workstation if you do move only your files and your data centre; the cost could reach 600 Euro (excl. VAT) per workstation if you also add a furniture removal.

Area ratios

For this ratio, you must know the price per sqm of the area you’re considering. This cost is related to the number of employees in your business. The gross area per employee is 20sqm, including the individual workstation area and a share of common space (storage, cafeteria, meeting rooms, corridors, etc.).  Note that this is larger than the often-quoted net area per employee of about 7 to 15sqm, which includes only the workstation area.

Cabling ratios

One should plan for, on average, 3 to 4 sockets per workstation, with a budget of 120-150 Euro (excl. VAT) per socket, including electricity, tests, etc. This ratio relating to the number of sockets takes account of the current building facilities (sockets for common spaces), but also for possible developments to the cable network (splitting, extensions, etc.).

Furniture ratios

Here, you need to plan for a budget that varies between 1200 and 2500 Euro (excl. VAT) per post, including the workspace layout, individual compartment, cabinet, office chair, visitor chairs, etc. Of course, this cost may increase if you opt for high-end furniture (which may range from 8000 to 10000 Euro for a lawyer’s or a CEO’s office).

Choose before you move!

It’s plain to see that the costs associated with office fit-out play an important part in the development of your budget.

The real estate agent and the project manager can assist you with the anticipation of these costs of office design, so that you can be fully informed before you invest. Naturally, they can give you better advice if they’ve had a clear and precise briefing. So, before prospecting for your new office, think carefully about what you want.

Source: CBRE.fr

Original Article by Christophe Daudigny in collaboration with Coralie Delferier, Corporate Communications Manager. English version by Tia Azulay, Web Project Manager.

Post updated 16 June 2015