Commercial Fit Out Preparation – How Brief Should Your Brief Be
When preparing for your commercial fit out venture, it’s vitally important that you have a plan in place that will envision the end result you want. How this is achieved may vary as the project develops, but your design and fit out brief should be firm as can be. That way you can make cost comparisons and final decisions knowing your brief has been met.
That said, you are well entitled to update your brief as the project develops. However, the basic facts should remain as they cover your general business requirements, and will allow you to future proof as well.
So, where do you start with your commercial fit out brief?
We always recommend starting with numbers. That means:
- How many staff you have
- How many staff you actually need
- How many you may want to grow or contract to
This is a good time to look at your operating costs as well. Each individual, no matter what they are doing, requires approximately 10sqm within an office space. When you think about it, getting your numbers right at this early stage could in fact save you $$ on unwanted real estate.
Next up you need to look across your business and list the different departments/streams/teams that exist. Even if it’s “Sally at reception”, that’s still a person and space that needs to be accommodated. It’s also a good idea to understand how departments/teams interact with each other. Should certain people be situated closer to some and further from others? And are there special items that need to be located next to or far from anyone, such as equipment and furniture.
Then you need to work out how many dedicated spaces you require within your commercial fit out. This includes:
- Offices
- Meeting rooms
- Quiet rooms
- Breakout
- Reception or entry space
Do you need a dedicated comms room for your required technology? Has a wellness room been mentioned?
And then there’s the dreaded storage requirement
While some deny storage exists and believe their staff can do without it, it pays to be realistic. Further into your design and fitout process, factoring in storage will be costly if you haven’t planned it into your space already. We always offer to conduct a pain free, quick storage audit for our clients. This ensures we ascertain the actual storage capacity required, as opposed to just hoping our client will fit into their new space.
A really important part of your brief should also cover the look and feel of your working environment. Do you have corporate branding that needs to be followed? Are you opting for a more relaxed, open plan office feel? Or is there a preference for dedicated rooms and a more structured layout. First impressions really do count, and you need to consider what your business projects to clients, customers and even staff. We have a blog which talks about this specifically so check it out when you get a moment.
Stick with the professionals
There are lots of things to consider when tackling a commercial interior design and fit out which can be daunting. And that’s where a professional comes in handy as they can guide you through the process and make sure everything is covered. Always ask them to visit your current working space if you have one. This will ensure anything you may not have considered in your brief should be picked up when viewing the space. Preparing a commercial fit out brief does take time, however this time spent will save you time and money further down the track.
And, as commercial fit out specialists, Bellfort are ready to work with you and achieve the best outcome for your business interior. It comes down to teamwork and we will create the best design and fit out together.
If you want to read more about our processes or other related information, check out the articles we have on our Resource Page.
79 St Georges Terrace, Perth WA 6000, Australia
