An Excel workbook for office fit-outs, organised by the four heads a fit-out is made of — builder's work, MEP, HVAC and furniture — plus the boundary lines that decide what a number includes. A blank format, a worked sample for a 4,000 sq ft floor, a fifteen-point specification reference and a fit-out checklist. Free, usable with any firm, and the download link asks for nothing.
The same eleven columns as the whole-home BOQ pack and the other trade sheets, with the area column used for the four scope heads.
Carpet area for the overall rate, which of the four heads the number covers, partitions measured with their height stated, and why a per-seat figure is not a rate.
Eighteen lines under builder's work, MEP, HVAC and furniture: partitions, glazing, doors, ceilings, flooring, painting, joinery, electrical distribution, raw and UPS power, lighting, fire, data, air conditioning, workstations and seating — then access control and CCTV, site preliminaries and handover documents.
A carpet-area floor planned for about 50 seats, with three cabins, two meeting rooms and a pantry, handed over as a bare shell. An illustrative floor, not a client's project; the point is the wording of each line.
What each line must name, the vague wording it replaces, and the failure that vagueness causes — from the scope heads and the landlord boundary to partitions, glazing, power, fire, data, HVAC, furniture and approvals.
Questions grouped by when to ask them: before signing, at test fit, on site, at handover, and about money. Printable, with tick boxes.
Two office fit-out quotes for the same floor are often not quoting the same project. Five things account for most of the gap, and the template has a line or a column for each.
The scope heads. An office fit-out is builder's work, MEP, HVAC and furniture. A rate that leaves out HVAC and furniture is not a lower price; it is a smaller scope. The template lists every line under its head, so a missing head shows up as an empty block rather than a lower total.
The landlord boundary. A bare shell and a warm shell are different projects at the same stated rate. The template asks where the landlord's scope ends for power, HVAC and fire, and names the electrical starting point as the landlord's tap-off.
The per-seat number. Offices are compared per square foot of carpet area. A per-seat figure falls out of that rate and the seating density, so two quotes at the same rate can give very different per-seat numbers. The published office band works through the arithmetic.
The lines nobody prices by default. Access control, CCTV, AV, IT active equipment and pantry appliances vary so much between tenants that they are either named with a make and scope, or written down as excluded. The template has a line for them that cannot be left blank without it showing.
Approvals and handover. Who submits the fit-out drawings, who pays the fees and deposit, and what happens if approval is late — then what documents arrive at handover. Both are agreed at contract stage or not at all; what a turnkey commercial fit-out covers sets out the usual split.
| Element | What the line must name | The vague version to refuse |
|---|---|---|
| Scope heads | Builder's work, MEP, HVAC, furniture — which are in, line by line | "Turnkey" |
| Shell condition | Shell at handover; where landlord scope ends for power, HVAC, fire | "Ready shell" |
| Partitions | Board and studs, acoustic infill, height to ceiling or to slab | "Gypsum partition" |
| Raw and UPS power | Points per desk, circuits separated, UPS named or excluded | "Power points" |
| HVAC | System and capacity, ducting, commissioning report, boundary with building plant | "AC as required" |
| Furniture | Workstation system and size, chair and table models, item by item | "Furniture allowance" |
The full sheet carries fifteen elements, including measurement basis, glazing and doors, ceilings, flooring, electrical distribution, lighting, fire, data, and approvals with GST.
A direct link. No form, no email, no phone number — a download is not an enquiry, and nobody will call you for taking the file.
The ceilings and electrical lines go deeper in the false ceiling and electrical BOQ, which uses the same columns.
Sort every quote into the four heads. Copy each quote's lines under builder's work, MEP, HVAC and furniture. A head with nothing under it is either excluded or folded into another line — ask which before comparing totals.
Put the boundary in writing. For each quote, write down the shell condition it assumes, where it takes over from the landlord, and what it says about access control, CCTV, AV and IT. The cheaper of two quotes is very often the one that excluded more.
Compare per square foot, then per seat. Bring every quote to carpet area and the same scope heads, compare the rate, and only then work out the per-seat figure for your own layout.
For what an office costs once it is specified, see office fit-out cost per sq ft of carpet area, with its grades, inclusions and exclusions. For the programme, how long an office fit-out takes covers where the weeks go and what makes it late. For delivered work, the 5,450 sq ft KG360 office in Chennai was executed end to end.
By the four heads that make up an office fit-out — builder's work, MEP, HVAC and furniture — plus the boundary lines that decide what the number covers: the landlord's scope, access control and CCTV, IT active equipment, site preliminaries and handover documents. Organised that way, a quote that leaves out a whole head is visible at a glance.
Per square foot of carpet area. A per-seat figure falls out of the per-sq-ft rate and the seating density, so two offices at the same rate can land on very different per-seat numbers. Compare the rate and the scope behind it, then work out the per-seat figure for your own layout.
It depends on the building and on the contractor, which is why the template gives it its own line. HVAC within your space can be inside the fit-out; the building's plant usually is not. Where the building supplies chilled water or an air-handling unit, the line should name the exact point where the fit-out takes over.
Usually the tenant's contractor prepares and submits the fit-out drawings and the landlord approves them, but the lease and the building's fit-out guide override that. Settle three things before signing: who submits, who pays the fees and deposit, and what happens to price and programme if approval is late.
So the sheet can compare two or three contractors against one fixed specification without our numbers anchoring it. The office fit-out band is published on the site per sq ft of carpet area, with its inclusions, exclusions and date attached, which a spreadsheet passed around on its own cannot carry.
No. The download link on this page is direct and asks for nothing. A download is not treated as an enquiry, and nobody will call you for taking the file.