Office Fit Out in Dubai: Who Does the Finishing, and When

Interior fit out in Dubai: shell and core, Cat A and Cat B, and what each leaves to finish

A fit out is the work that turns an empty unit into one a business can use. Interior fit out is that job seen from inside the unit: the layout, the walls, the ceilings, the floors, the services and the furniture. Commercial fit out companies work on offices, shops and showrooms alike, and most of what follows applies to all three.

People write the word three ways. Fit out and fit-out are the usual forms, and fitout is common in firm names and listings. A fitout company in Dubai, fitout companies in Dubai and fitout contractors in Dubai are the same kind of firm as a fit out company or fit out contractors, and a search for fitout Dubai or interior fitout is a search for the same work under the other spelling. So are interior fitouts, interior fitout companies in Dubai and fitout works.

Landlords and developers use three terms to say where a unit starts, and they use them loosely, so ask for the written specification of what yours comes with.

Our finishing work comes in on Cat B. Renovation is a different job, because it improves a space that is already in use, and our home renovation page covers it for homes.

Office fit out in Dubai: who does what, and which part is ours

An office fit out is several trades working in sequence, and the firm that signs the contract is not always the firm that does each trade. This table shows the work and who usually does it. Fit out services in Dubai are sold either as one package or trade by trade, and the table works for both. Office interiors Dubai businesses commission are often two jobs run together, the design and the building, and we do neither.

Interior contractors in Dubai is a wide label, and so are interior fit out contractors and interior contracting companies in Dubai. Each can mean a main contractor that manages every trade, a design-and-build firm or a specialist that does one trade well, and all three kinds appear in the same search results, whether you want an interior fit out company Dubai-wide or one for a single floor. We are the third. When a main contractor runs the job, we take the finishing stage and agree our dates with them. When the design and the structure are settled and the work is mostly finishes, you can hire us directly and book the other trades yourself.

Order of work: where plaster, ceilings and paint fall in a fit out

The finishing follows the services and the dust. These are the points we plan around, and your contractor's programme sets the dates.

1. Services first. The electrician and the AC technician finish what runs above the ceiling before we close it. We cut the openings for their equipment and agree the order with them.
2. Plaster repair and patching. Hollow or cracked plaster is cut back and patched, and the patch has to dry before it is primed.
3. Ceilings. Gypsum ceilings and bulkheads go up next, ahead of the final painting, flooring and furniture.
4. Paint. Paint goes on once the dusty work is finished, and before the furniture arrives.
5. Floors and wall finishes. Where they fall against the paint depends on the floor and the finish, so we agree each window with your contractor, and no trade works over another's finish.
6. Snagging. The final walk-through produces a list, and we repair it before handover.

Fit out companies in Dubai: how to compare them, and why no list can name the best

Search for the best fit out companies in Dubai, the top fit out companies in Dubai, the top 10 fit out companies in Dubai or a list of fit out companies in Dubai and you get ranked lists. So do the best interior fit out companies in Dubai, the top interior fit out companies in Dubai and the top 10 interior fit-out companies in Dubai. A list tells you who exists. It cannot say which firm suits your office, because that depends on what you are fitting out, what is already designed and which trades are missing, and this page does not rank anyone. Put these questions to any of the interior fit out companies Dubai-wide that you shortlist, us included.

The best interior fit out company in Dubai for a designer-led build is not the one for an office that only needs its walls and ceilings finished. Office fit out companies come in the same three kinds as any other fit out firm. An office fit out company in Dubai may design the layout and build it, office fit out contractors in Dubai often build to someone else's drawings, and an office interior fit out company in Dubai may hand the finishing to a subcontractor. Ask each of them who will be on your site.

Fit out contractors in Dubai: the landlord, the building and the approvals

For an interior fit out, Dubai buildings set their own rules, and the landlord's permission comes before anyone else's. Read the lease, ask in writing and ask for the building's fit out rules, which cover working hours, lift bookings, deliveries and contractor permits. Many commercial buildings ask each contractor on site for a trade licence copy and proof of insurance.

Which authority approves the drawings depends on the building and on where it stands. Dubai Municipality covers most mainland buildings, Dubai Civil Defence reviews fire safety, DEWA is involved when the power supply changes, and a free zone such as DIFC or DMCC has its own authority and rules. The main contractor or the tenant's consultant usually makes those submissions, because they follow the drawings. A finishing contractor is asked for supporting papers: a licence copy, proof of insurance, a description of the work and sometimes the names of the workers. We prepare them, NOCs included where a building requires one, and if the landlord or the building says an authority approval is needed, we put the supporting papers together with you. Tell us the building and the scope and we say what we know applies.

At the other end of the lease, many tenants must hand the unit back as found, which is called reinstatement. Read that clause before you choose finishes, because a brand colour on a feature wall may have to be painted back. Our move-out painting page and the lease-end section of our commercial painting page cover it.

Shop and retail fit out in Dubai: opening dates, mall rules and brand colours

A shop fit out is a race against the opening date, because rent runs while the unit earns nothing. For a shop fit out, Dubai malls and buildings set the first rules: a mall usually has its own tenant fit out rules and reviews the design before site work begins. Ask for them early, because they set what can happen on site and when.

For retail fit out, Dubai brands usually split the work between the people who build the shopfront and the fixtures and the people who finish around them. Whether the build is run by a commercial fit out company in Dubai, a shop fit out company or the brand's own team, the walls, ceilings and floors come to us. We patch and level the walls, build the ceiling, paint, hang wallpaper for a brand wall and finish the floor in tile, marble or epoxy. Kitchens, extraction and food-safety approvals for a restaurant are other trades and other authorities.

A brand colour needs a test. Shop lighting changes how a colour reads, so we paint a patch and check it under the shop's own lights before the whole wall is done. We can work at night where the mall allows it. A chain can have several units finished to one specification in sequence, with the sites and dates agreed in advance, and the contractor running the build can give us the handover date, so that our window fits around theirs.

Fit out works in Dubai: what a visit from us looks like

Fit out work is mostly a matter of timing, and we start by finding out when the unit is ours to work in.

1. Send the details. The building, the floor, the area, the handover date and your designer's finish schedule or drawings, if there are any.
2. Site inspection, AED 100. We walk the space, measure it, check the surfaces already there and agree finishes, colours and working hours.
3. Written quote. Each trade and each repair has its own line, priced before 5% VAT. After-hours work is priced separately.
4. A window agreed with your contractor. We fix our dates around the other trades.
5. The work. Our own employed crews do it. We cover floors, mask glass partitions, door hardware and signage, and clear up before we leave each day.
6. Snagging and handover. We repair the final list. Handover starts the one-year workmanship warranty.

Office fit out cost in Dubai: what sets the price of the finishing work

How much does an office fit out cost in Dubai? We print no figure here, because the figures published online do not agree with one another. The office fit out cost Dubai pages print is usually a per-square-foot number for a whole project, with air conditioning, joinery and furniture inside it, and it says nothing about what the painting costs. The figure for finishing alone is another number, few pages say which one they mean, and some contradict themselves on the same page.

The price of our part moves with the floor area and the height of the walls and ceilings, the state of the surfaces under the finish, how much plaster needs repair, the number of bulkheads and ceiling levels, the paint system and the number of coats, the floor type, whether access equipment is needed and the number of zones or sites. Working hours matter too. After-hours work is quoted as its own line, and the order in which other trades leave the unit decides how often we have to come back.

To compare quotes, ask each firm for the same scope: the same areas, the same finishes, the same hours and the same VAT treatment, with each trade on its own line. The whole-project figure and the cost of the finishing alone are different numbers, so check which one a quote shows. We quote in writing after the AED 100 inspection.

Where we work, and how to ask for a visit

We work in Dubai only, across Business Bay, Downtown Dubai, DIFC, Dubai Marina, JLT and Al Barsha. Office fit out Dubai Marina and office fit out Downtown Dubai jobs are both in our area. Search for fit out companies in UAE, a fit out company in UAE or fitout companies in UAE and you get firms from every emirate, and the same goes for interior fit out companies in UAE and fit out contractors in UAE. We do not work outside Dubai.

A search for interior fit out companies near me, fit out companies near me or fitout companies near me lists firms by distance. In a city this size, distance matters less than whether a firm does the trade you need and can get into your building. In a tower the building sets the access, so send us its name and the floor, and we check lift booking, hours and permits before we quote. WhatsApp us on +971 55 209 9785 or use the quote form.