Should I tell you my budget?

It’s a crossroads that many clients find themselves at. You’ve found yourself a contractor but you’re not sure whether to tell them your total budget. From our experience of office fit-outs, disclosing your full budget to your chosen supplier can only help your project in the long run.  

While setting a budget in general is one way of financially measuring success for any project, it is very important to set one for an office fit-out. A budget doesn’t have to be set in stone from the offset, having a ball-park figure will help you achieve the best advice on allocating your time and money.

A budget acts like a guide and aids the project when it comes to establishing a solid brief. Generally, in the first meeting you have with any office fit-out companies, it is most likely that they will ask for your budget as this is important information for them to determine whether your goals are realistic.

Start with using a cost calculator. These useful tools help calculate office fit-out costs in seconds. By selecting your specifications and tailoring these to your desired finish our interactive tools can provide you will an estimate almost immediately.

Fine-tuning your budget

At Officeinsight, one of our core values is being open and honest, and this value is often reflected during the budget stage with our clients. It is not uncommon for us to see that some clients believe that if they tell us their budget, the budget will probably be too high and that their fit-out contractor will simply adjust the profit margins to soak up the budget – this doesn’t happen, and if your budget is too high, we will be open and tell you. Similarly, if your budget is too low, we will also make you aware.

The first stage of our 3 stage process – define – helps in setting the right budget and creating a design brief that encapsulates your vision whilst coming up with solutions to your problems. Working closely together, we first identify the issues through a Define workshop. This allows for us to interact with your staff and helps to immerse ourselves in your business so that the culture can be fully grasped.

Once your needs have been identified, we can then discuss how your budget will be used to solve these problems and create a brief.

The advantages of disclosing your budget

Here are some advantages of why disclosing your budget will benefit you and your project in the long run:

• Helps maintain a focus on a target

We would advise that you gather quotes or get in contact with at least three different fit out companies, so that you keep your options open and see which design and company feels best for you. Having the budget in mind as a target could help you make that important decision. However, it is important to remember that to secure the best return on investment for the long-term, it could be worth spending more than what you initially budgeted.

• Acts as a guide for the brief and determining whether your goals are realistic

Establishing a brief and a budget almost work together simultaneously, because whilst you will already have a general idea of your budget – it will most likely need re-adjusting to fit more coherently with the brief. Therefore, when making decisions on the different aspects of the brief such as different furniture options, flooring and wall materials, it can help decide which specification you can go for. Discussing with a team of experts is advisable, as they will be able to give assistance in finding what will work best in your new office space.

• Obtain expert tips and knowledge

Being aware of the project budget allows your contractor to tailor their advice and suggestions to provide professional feedback and suggestions. They have expert knowledge to determine which tasks are achievable within your budget and which to put on the back burner.

• Helps you better allocate your time and money

Almost certainly, it would be very easy to overspend on an office fit-out as it would be easy to get carried away by what different designs look like, the different brands included and how they function, however, there are also many cheaper alternatives that work just as effectively and can be cleverly integrated into your design by experienced designers. Being aware of the budget helps to keep the project on track by making the smartest decisions and prioritising where time and money is best spent.

• Make sure you have allowed for contingencies

According to Collins dictionary, a contingency is ‘something that might possibly happen in the future, usually causing problems or making further arrangements necessary’. Particularly for refurbishments, we recommend allowing a 10% for contingencies to make sure that you are prepared for any unforeseen events that could occur. Whilst the process of the office fit-out is as prepared for as possible, there is always a risk of something happening which couldn’t be prepared for – allowing 10% of your budget for these misfortunes means that you are in the best position financially for any unforeseen circumstances that could arise.

To conclude, telling your trusted contractor your budget is a great start for initiating the office fit-out process and will then allow any office fit-out contractor to start building a brief and the vision for your dream office space whilst staying on track financially.

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