What is a fit-out? What a fit-out contractor does, from survey to handover

What is a fit-out?

A fit-out is the stage between an empty building and an open business. The landlord or developer hands over a unit at a defined standard, sometimes a bare concrete shell with capped services, sometimes a finished office floor with ceilings and lighting, and the fit-out is everything the tenant then adds so the space works for their trade. A tea shop needs a drainage run to the bar, a hand-wash basin, a counter and a menu wall. A clinic needs treatment rooms with a basin in each and a waiting area. An office needs meeting rooms, data points and a kitchenette. The building is the same; the fit-out is what makes it theirs.

The word covers the period as well as the work. In a commercial lease the fit-out period is the time the landlord gives the tenant, often rent-free, to carry out the works before trading starts, and many of the dates on a fit-out programme come from that clause rather than from the builder. The levels the office market uses, shell and core, Category A and Category B, are set out in our guide to shell and core, Cat A and Cat B fit-outs. In retail and hospitality the same idea is usually described as a shell unit or a landlord's finish.

Fit-out meaning in construction: fit-out, refurbishment and renovation

The three words overlap and are used loosely. In construction, a fit-out means fitting a space for an occupier's use, usually for the first time or after the last tenant's works have been stripped out. The practical difference is the paperwork: a fit-out nearly always starts with a lease, a landlord's fit-out guide and a licence to alter, while a renovation of your own home starts with you.

What a fit-out contractor does

A fit-out contractor takes the client's approved drawings and turns them into a finished, certified space by an agreed date. On a typical commercial job that means pricing the drawings, building the programme around the landlord's rules, managing the site, running the main trades, bringing in and coordinating the specialists, and handing over a space with every certificate building control and the landlord will ask for. Under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, the contractor in charge of a project with more than one contractor is the principal contractor, responsible for planning, managing and coordinating health and safety during the build.

What we do not do is design the space. The layout, the finishes, the counter and the lighting scheme come from the client's interior designer or architect, a structural engineer does any calculations, and we build to their drawings. Our part at design stage is to raise anything that will not work on site, such as a drain that cannot reach the bar at a fall or a ceiling void too shallow for the ductwork, before it is priced rather than after it is built.

The fit-out process, step by step

Every fit-out is different, but the order on site barely changes, because each stage has to be finished and inspected before the next one covers it up. This is the sequence on a typical shop, café or office unit.

1. Survey, measured drawings and approvals

The client's designer produces the measured survey and the design drawings, and we check the unit against them and the landlord's fit-out guide: capped services, ceiling void, drainage routes and the condition of the base build. The drawings then go to the landlord for approval under a licence to alter, and an application goes to building control. Most moves between shop, café, restaurant, office and clinic uses fall within Use Class E and need no change of use, while hot food takeaways and pubs sit outside it, as the Planning Portal's guide to use classes sets out.

2. Strip-out

If the unit has been fitted before, the previous tenant's work comes out: ceilings, partitions, floor finishes, redundant services and fixtures, back to whatever the new design starts from. Strip-out is where the surprises appear, such as a crack hidden behind a bulkhead or a drain that does not run where the drawings say, so it should be done before the programme is fixed. In a building put up before 2000, HSE guidance on asbestos surveys requires a refurbishment and demolition survey before work that disturbs the fabric.

3. First fix

First fix is everything that goes in before the walls and ceilings close: stud frames set out, cable runs, water and waste pipework, ductwork for ventilation and extraction, and containment for the fire alarm and data. On a café it is the drainage fall to the bar and the position of the grease trap; on an office it is the floor boxes and the cable route to the comms cabinet. Building control and the specialists inspect what they need to see now, because after the next stage it is behind plasterboard.

4. Partitions and ceilings

Stud partitions are boarded, fire-rated where the drawings call for it, and the suspended or plasterboard ceilings go up around the services. This is the point where the space starts to read as rooms. It is also where the fire separation set by Approved Document B has to be built exactly as drawn: the specified board, the right number of layers, and fire-stopping around every pipe and cable that passes through a fire-rated wall or ceiling.

5. Services

With the space enclosed, the services are completed: distribution boards, lighting, heating and cooling units, extract fans and canopies, water heaters, the fire alarm and emergency lighting. Our own team does the main trades. Electrical, gas and extraction work is certified by the relevant specialist, and each certificate is one the landlord, building control or your insurer will ask to see.

6. Second fix and finishes

Second fix is the visible work: sockets, switches and light fittings, sanitaryware and taps, skirtings, architraves and doors, then decoration, wall tiling and floor finishes. The main floor finish usually goes down near the end, so it is not damaged by the trades still working above it, and it is protected until handover.

7. Joinery and shop front

Counters, display units, back bars, shelving, banquettes and reception desks are usually made off site to the designer's drawings and fitted once the finishes around them are complete. On a retail or hospitality unit the shop front and signage come in at the same time, and both usually need the council's consent first: changing the appearance of a shop front generally needs planning permission, and illuminated signs usually need advertisement consent, as the Government's guide to outdoor advertisements and signs explains. Conservation areas and listed buildings are stricter on both.

8. Snagging

Snagging is the walk-round where every defect is listed and put right: a scuffed wall, a door that catches, a light on the wrong switch, a sealant joint left short. The contractor should complete its own snag before the client's walk-round, so the list the client writes is a short one.

9. Handover

At handover the client gets the keys and a file: the electrical installation certificate, the gas and extraction certificates, the fire alarm and emergency lighting commissioning certificates, the building control completion certificate, operation and maintenance manuals and, where CDM 2015 applies, the health and safety file. The landlord will want much of the same pack before signing off the works under the licence to alter.

Who else is involved in a fit-out

Two duties sit with the business rather than the builder. Once the unit is open, the person responsible for the premises must carry out and keep a fire risk assessment under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. A café or restaurant must also register as a food business with the council at least 28 days before it starts trading. Neither is the contractor's job, but both belong on the programme.

How long a fit-out takes

Published guides measure the whole job rather than each stage. One London shopfitter's published guide puts a typical shop fit-out at two to six weeks depending on size and complexity. The same firm's office guide, based on a 10,000 sq ft London floor, gives 8 to 12 weeks for Category A and 10 to 16 weeks for Category B from licence to alter to practical completion, and four to eight weeks for the landlord's review of the drawings. Those are another contractor's published ranges, not our own timings, and they are site time: the approvals come first, and councils have eight weeks to decide most minor planning applications.

What makes a fit-out run long is rarely the building work itself. It is the approvals, the lead time on made-to-order joinery and equipment, and the hours the building allows. A unit in a shopping centre, or one with flats above, may only allow noisy work outside trading hours, which is why out-of-hours and overnight working are a normal part of shop and café fit-outs in London.

Fit-out services: what is usually included

• Strip-out of a previous tenant's works and making good
• Stud partitions, plasterboard and suspended ceilings, including fire-rated construction
• First and second fix for power, lighting, water, drainage, ventilation and data, with specialist work certified
• Floor screeds and finishes, wall tiling and decoration
• Toilets, including an accessible WC where the layout needs one
• Counters, display units, shelving and other joinery to the designer's drawings
• Shop fronts and signage as part of the fit-out
• Snagging, a builder's clean and the handover file

What is left out depends on the contract. Loose furniture, IT equipment, kitchen appliances and the designer's fees are often bought separately by the client. A written fixed-price quotation should list each item as included or excluded, and show any provisional sums apart from the fixed figure, so you can see which part of the price is firm.

Fit-out construction in London: what changes

The building work is the same as anywhere; the logistics are not. Many London units have no loading bay and no parking, so deliveries are booked into slots and a parking suspension or skip licence comes from the borough before day one. Units under flats bring noise limits and agreed hours. Older high streets bring conservation areas, where the council looks hard at any new shop front, and listed buildings, where almost any internal change needs listed building consent. Shopping centres add inductions, permits to work and fixed windows for noisy work.

We have fitted out retail units for Pop Mart and for Herono on Brick Lane, a tea shop for HEYTEA in Liverpool and a coffee shop for Vibean in Manchester. Our retail fit-out and restaurant fit-out pages explain how we run those jobs, and commercial fit-out covers offices, clinics and the rest.

What to ask a fit-out contractor before you hire

The answers tell you more than the price does. A contractor that can explain how materials will reach your unit, who signs off the fire-stopping and what you will hold at handover has done the job before. One that cannot is learning on your lease.