The quote is rarely the expensive part of an office refurbishment. The expensive part is twenty people unable to work properly for a fortnight.
Most office work — partitions moved, ceilings repaired, doors rehung, walls patched and painted — can be done around a working office if it is sequenced properly. Here is how that actually works.
Dust is the real enemy
Plasterboard dust travels much further than people expect, gets into keyboards and server fans, and settles for days afterwards. Containment is not optional and it is not just a sheet of plastic over a doorway.
Work areas get sealed properly, and where the air conditioning is shared, returns in the work zone need isolating or the dust is simply distributed to everyone else on the floor.
Noise decides the hours
Quiet work — painting, hanging doors, fitting hardware — can be done during the day in a sealed zone with nobody much noticing.
Loud work — demolition, drilling, fixing into concrete, ceiling grid — cannot. That goes after hours or on a weekend. It costs a little more per hour and it saves vastly more in lost work.
Zone by zone, not floor by floor
The usual approach is to split the office into zones and finish one completely before opening the next, with staff shuffled into the finished space as it comes available. It takes slightly longer overall than clearing the whole floor, and it means nobody is ever without a desk.
Make good at the end of a lease
Make good is the clause everyone reads about a month before handover. Partitions out, walls patched, ceilings reinstated, paint returned to the original, floor coverings made good.
It is worth getting the schedule out of the lease early and working from it, because the argument at the final inspection is always about the gap between what the tenant thought was required and what the document says.
Who this suits
Property managers, strata, retail, childcare and schools, and businesses with one floor rather than a tower. See office refurbishment in Perth, or commercial building maintenance for ongoing work.
General information only. This article is general in nature. It does not take account of your property, your circumstances or current local requirements, and it is not a substitute for an inspection or professional advice. Please consider your own situation before acting on anything here, and get qualified advice where the work involves safety, structure, electrical, gas or plumbing. Kangaroo Building Works accepts no liability for any loss or damage arising from reliance on this information.
