Are you looking to defit your office space?
The cost of an office defit usually depends on your property size, the requirements in the lease agreement, and maintenance issues if any.
In general, commercial spaces take 2-5 days to defit whilst office spaces take 1-2 weeks.
If you’re ending a lease and planning to defit your office space, here are some key pillars of consideration to ensure it goes smoothly:
1. Review your lease agreement.
Not sure what or how much you are required to do for your office defit? You need to review your lease agreement as it stipulates all the requirements that your landlord demands for the space turnover. In most cases, the standard requirement is to return the office space to its original condition.
“Original condition” includes everything from the colour of the walls to the carpet of your commercial space. It’s like returning the space into a blank canvas. This needs to be done successfully so the next renter or buyer can easily visualise how they can make use of the office space according to their business and branding.
2. Consult and book your defit.
The next step is to organise a site consultation to get a quote, timeline estimate and find out what’s needed for your office space defit. Ask as much as you can during the consultation from cost estimates and project timeline to all other mandatory requirements to bring your office defit project into successful completion.
Once you already have all the information available, do your due diligence to choose the right office defit partner.
3. Plan.
Your defit target completion should be based on when you need to vacate the office space. If you have to be out by the end of the month and your office defit will take a week, you usually need to take your stuff out 2 weeks before. You also need to consider making time allowances for unprecedented problems. We also recommend informing your neighbours in your commercial space to avoid issues due to possible disruptions.
4. Pack up.
Pack and remove everything that’s required of the lease agreement but do not remove anything that was already there when you moved in. Make sure anything that was part of the original office space remains when you leave. For most office spaces, you can be pretty sure the walls, doors and ceilings will remain unless significant layout changes were made during your residency. Often bathroom and kitchen fittings will stay as is too.
5. Leave it to the experts.
Once you’ve cleared out the space, let your chosen office defit team do their work. Just make sure that during the entire defit process, you are also there to supervise them and check if everything is going smoothly according to the requirements of your lease agreement. We recommend having an office defit checklist so you don’t miss out on anything. Usually, these are the items you need to take note of when defitting:
- Joinery & bulkheads
- Added walls
- Partitions
- Doors
- Windows
- Decals / Frosting
- Floor coverings
- Light fittings
- Repaint walls and ceilings
- Fixtures and fittings
- Wall repairs
- Layout
If you would like to defit your office space or looking to start a commercial construction project, get in touch to start exploring options.