How to budget for an office refurbishment
Start an office refurbishment budget by separating landlord obligations, tenant fit-out and the costs of keeping the business operating.
by Jack Butler-Kettle · About 5 min readShare
Before you start
Gather the lease responsibilities, building surveys, existing layouts, occupancy needs and proposed specification. Identify the person authorised to approve the brief.
A cosmetic refresh and a full refurbishment of building services need different budgets. A floor-area rate is useful only when its scope matches the actual work.
This guide concerns construction-cost planning. Lease advice, building-services design and statutory compliance need the appropriate appointed specialists.
Step-by-step guide
1. Confirm landlord and occupier responsibilities
List the work to the base building and the work to the occupied space. Have your property adviser establish consent and lease obligations.
Fit-out labels such as Cat A or Cat B do not settle every inclusion. Record the actual ceilings, floors, lighting, cooling, partitions, furniture and technology required.
Identify reinstatement or dilapidations issues separately from the proposed improvement budget.
2. Establish what the building can support
Ask the design team to check services capacity, condition, ventilation, power and intended occupancy. Existing systems may not suit the new layout.
Record surveys, testing, access restrictions and unresolved design matters. Price replacement and reuse options on a consistent performance requirement.
Do not count an existing service as suitable simply because it is already installed.
3. Price the way the work will happen
Identify occupied areas, work windows, noisy operations, shutdowns and temporary accommodation. Agree how staff and visitors remain safely separated from the work.
Phased delivery may require repeated mobilisation, temporary services and additional protection. Compare these costs with a single possession of the space.
Keep business relocation, furniture and IT purchases visible even when they sit outside the construction contract.
4. Prepare and test the cost plan
Use a consistent breakdown of building works, services, preliminaries, professional costs and risk. RICS New Rules of Measurement provide recognised measurement and cost-planning frameworks.
Obtain dated quotations for major packages and explain the specification behind each allowance. Check what any published benchmark excludes before applying it.
An unsupported national office rate can be misleading where services or occupation constraints dominate the cost.
5. Agree the budget and next procurement step
Record options, exclusions and the effect of unresolved investigations. Assign each open decision to someone with a deadline.
Our Construction cost estimating and planning can assess an agreed office refurbishment scope. Supply the building information and operational requirements so the appointment matches the decision.
Use tender comparison when contractor prices arrive, maintaining the same scope and phasing assumptions.
Before you finish: Confirm the scope split, operational constraints, tax basis and remaining investigations before approving the budget or inviting prices.
Worked example
The facts
A fictional occupier compares a £180,000 fit-out proposal with an available construction budget of £220,000.
What happens
The proposal excludes a £25,000 services upgrade and £20,000 of phased access measures identified by the design team.
The comparable construction forecast is £225,000 before separately reported fees, tax, furniture and risk.
The occupier prices an alternative phasing plan and agrees the revised scope before awarding the contract.
What this shows
The comparison exposes operational costs that a fit-out headline alone concealed. The figures are illustrative.
Project budget and cost plan
Replace the fictional allowances with quantities, quotations and local project information. Use one project scenario at a time and confirm VAT treatment separately.
Free blank template for your own project. The completed example is shown below. No email address required.
View the completed example
Completed fictional example
Westhaven refurbishment · 14 October 2026 · Version 1.0
Extension budget
Scroll across if needed to read the whole record. A dash means no value has been entered.
| Element | Quantity | Unit | Rate (£) | Allowance (£) | Basis / exclusion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Groundworks | 1 | allowance | £18,000.00 | £18,000.00 | Normal foundations assumed; ground risk separate |
| Structure and envelope | 40 | m² | £1,500.00 | £60,000.00 | Fictional 40 m² extension; no benchmark claim |
| Services and finishes | 40 | m² | £800.00 | £32,000.00 | Agreed domestic specification |
| Fees and approvals | 1 | allowance | £12,000.00 | £12,000.00 | Design and approvals estimate |
| Risk allowance | 1 | allowance | £12,000.00 | £12,000.00 | Client allowance; release by decision |
Other project scenarios
Scroll across if needed to read the whole record. A dash means no value has been entered.
| Scenario | Construction (£) | Fees (£) | Risk (£) | Budget before VAT (£) | Scope assumption |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Renovation | £120,000.00 | £15,000.00 | £18,000.00 | £153,000.00 | Existing house; no major structural replacement |
| Office fit-out | £220,000.00 | £25,000.00 | £22,000.00 | £267,000.00 | Internal fit-out; lease and landlord works excluded |
These are invented teaching allowances, not current market rates or project quotations. Add the correct project-specific tax, land, finance and client costs before setting a funding requirement.