The construction programme is the number everybody asks for and the least useful one. A contractor who says eight weeks on site is telling the truth and leaving out the twelve weeks before it. Here is the whole timeline, with the parts that usually get forgotten.
Stage one: brief and appointment, two to four weeks
Deciding what you need, writing it down, and choosing a firm. Companies that skip the written brief pay for it later in variations. Use this stage to fix the headcount, the number of meeting rooms, the target specification and the budget envelope. The directory is built for the shortlisting half of this stage.
Stage two: design, four to eight weeks
Space planning first, then concept, then detailed design. Small projects move through this in a month. A headquarters with a brand agency involved takes two. The single biggest delay in this stage is client decisions: every week the sign off slips, the move in slips with it.
Stage three: consents, two to eight weeks, running in parallel
Landlord’s licence to alter is the one that bites. Most leases require it for any fit out, and landlords’ solicitors work at their own pace. Start the application the moment the space plan is agreed, not when the design is finished. Building control runs alongside and rarely holds anything up. Planning permission is not normally needed for internal works, but listed buildings and conservation areas are the exception and can add months.
Stage four: procurement, two to four weeks
Ordering long lead items. Furniture is typically eight to twelve weeks from order, glazed partition systems four to six, specialist lighting longer. Good contractors place these orders during design so they arrive when the site is ready for them.
Stage five: construction
Under 3,000 square feet: four to eight weeks. 3,000 to 10,000: eight to sixteen. 10,000 to 30,000: twelve to twenty four. Above that, sixteen to thirty or more, usually phased. Occupied space adds 20 to 40% to any of these because work moves around people. The office refit companies specialise in exactly that.
Stage six: handover and move, one to two weeks
Snagging, commissioning of mechanical systems, IT cut over, furniture install and the move itself. Allow a weekend for the move and a fortnight of settling in during which the snagging list gets worked through.
Adding it up
A 3,000 square foot fit out is realistically three to four months from appointing a firm to sitting at a desk. A 10,000 square foot project is five to seven months. A 30,000 square foot headquarters is nine to twelve. If your lease on the old space ends sooner than that, you have three choices: a Cat A+ floor, a short overlap on both leases, or a contractor who will commit to a compressed programme in writing, with the premium that implies.
The office fit out companies in the directory publish the project sizes they handle; match yours and ask each shortlisted firm for the full timeline, not the construction weeks.
