Compare office fit-out quotes in London
London fit-out contractors quote differently, price risk differently, and manage your building's landlord relationship differently. RFXapp collects their bids and standardises them so you can compare what they actually include, not just the bottom-line number.
If you are looking for the best contractors in London, the most reliable shortlist is one built around your own requirements and tested with a structured brief - not a generic ranked list. RFXapp helps you find and collect quotes from the right suppliers, and analyse them so you can compare what they actually offer, not just the headline price.
What to consider before you go to market
Getting comparable quotes starts with a well-scoped brief. These are the things most businesses overlook until they're already in the process.
Category A vs Category B scope
Cat A is the blank canvas your landlord hands over: raised floors, ceiling grid, basic M&E to the floor plate. Cat B is everything you add: partitions, joinery, AV, kitchen, finishes. Know exactly what your landlord has provided before you brief contractors, or you will end up paying for things you already own or missing items entirely from the scope.
Acoustic performance
Open-plan offices with glazed meeting rooms and hard surfaces can become unusable without deliberate acoustic treatment. Part E of the Building Regulations sets minimum performance standards, but those minimums rarely match what a working office actually needs. If the contractor isn't providing acoustic design as part of their service, budget for a specialist consultant separately, ideally before you write the brief.
M&E capacity in older buildings
Buildings in Central London over 20 years old frequently have electrical distribution boards, HVAC systems, and riser capacities already running close to their limits. A contractor who quotes without an M&E survey is either quoting on assumptions or planning to raise variations when they discover the reality. Commission an M&E survey independently before tendering - it levels the playing field and removes the biggest source of cost overruns.
Licence to Alter
Any structural, M&E, or layout changes in a leasehold commercial space require a Licence to Alter (LTA) from your freeholder. This is not the same as planning permission, though sometimes both are needed. LTAs take between four and ten weeks to process and require the contractor's design drawings to be at a sufficient stage before the freeholder's solicitors will review them. Almost no contractor includes this timeline in their programme - it's usually your risk.
Lead times on key materials
Glazed partition systems are typically 10-14 weeks from order. Bespoke joinery is 8-12 weeks. Some specialist flooring is 6-8 weeks. A contractor who hasn't ordered long-lead items by week three of a 12-week programme will delay your move-in. When comparing quotes, ask each contractor for their procurement schedule, not just the build programme.
Dilapidations and exit obligations
Your commercial lease almost certainly contains reinstatement clauses requiring you to return the space to its original condition when you leave. The more bespoke your fit-out, the more expensive this gets. Before you specify anything permanent or structural, get your solicitor to confirm what the reinstatement obligation actually covers - it may affect which design decisions are worth making.
Hidden costs that catch London businesses out
These are the items that make two quotes look comparable on paper but £40,000 apart by the time you're on site.
Preliminary costs buried in contingency
Site establishment - hoarding, temporary power, access management, skip licences, site toilets - can add £15,000-£30,000 to a mid-size London fit-out. Some contractors itemise these transparently in preliminaries. Others absorb them into a contingency line and then charge them as variations. Ask every contractor to break out their prelims in full before you compare headline figures.
Asbestos and hazardous materials
Any pre-2000 commercial building in London requires a refurbishment and demolition asbestos survey before destructive works begin - this is a legal requirement under the Control of Asbestos Regulations, not optional. If asbestos is found, licensed remediation typically costs £5,000-£40,000 and adds four to eight weeks to your programme. Many contractors quote without commissioning this survey, meaning their timeline and budget assume clean results. Commission the survey yourself before going to market so every contractor is quoting on the same known conditions.
Variations pricing agreed at the point of need
Change orders and unforeseen works get priced at the moment of maximum inconvenience - when you're mid-project and can't switch contractors. Without a pre-agreed day-work rate and a capped variation mechanism in the contract, you are negotiating from a position of zero leverage. This is where most fit-out budgets actually blow out, not in the original quote.
Questions that separate good contractors from great ones
Asking is only half the job. Below each question is what a good answer sounds like, and what should give you pause. Questions marked * are mainly relevant for larger structural projects - for a straightforward refresh (repainting, new carpet, some furniture) you can skip those.
Good answer: They name a specific person and offer to arrange a call within the week. The PM can speak to your brief without being briefed in front of you.
Red flag: "We'll allocate a project manager once contracts are signed." That means whoever is pitching has no idea who it will be.
Good answer: A specific day-work rate (e.g. £450-550 per operative per day) and a clear explanation of what triggers a variation vs what they absorb. Some will also offer a capped variation percentage upfront - that's a good sign.
Red flag: "We'll price variations as they come up" or any reluctance to name a rate. That's a blank cheque.
Good answer: They manage it end-to-end, it's included in their fee, and they can give you a realistic timeline based on experience with that type of freeholder.
Red flag: "That's between you and your landlord" - or a vague non-answer that doesn't confirm who does what.
Good answer: They immediately reference specific items and when orders need to be placed relative to programme start. This shows they've thought about procurement, not just construction.
Red flag: A blank look, or "we'll order once we're on site." That's how a 12-week project becomes 18 weeks.
Good answer: A specific story, told candidly, that shows they caught the problem early, told the client immediately, and had a plan ready. The detail matters more than the outcome.
Red flag: "All our projects run smoothly" or a story where the problem was always someone else's fault. Nobody believes the first answer, and the second tells you something important about how disputes will go.
Good answer: 12 months minimum, a named person or small team dedicated to aftercare, and a clear process for logging and responding to defects (e.g. 48-hour response, 5-day fix).
Red flag: "The site manager handles it" with no further detail. If the site manager has moved to the next project, your snags will wait weeks for a response.
Where you have more negotiating room than you think
Fit-out contractors have more flexibility on price and terms than they lead with. These are the levers that actually work once you have competing quotes in front of you.
Portfolio rights
A well-executed fit-out in a desirable London location is genuinely valuable marketing material for a contractor. Offering them photography rights and permission to use the project in their portfolio, before you sign, is worth real money to them. Get a written reduction in return for the agreement, not a vague promise of "goodwill".
Programme flexibility
Contractors price risk into tight programmes and inconvenient start dates. If you can genuinely offer flexibility on when the project starts - even a four-week window - you become a gap-filler between their other jobs, which is worth a meaningful discount. This only works if the flexibility is real; contractors quickly learn when clients are bluffing.
FF&E procurement
Furniture, fixtures, and equipment - desks, chairs, kitchen appliances, AV screens - attract a contractor markup of 20-30% when they procure it. Asking them to exclude FF&E from their scope and procuring it yourself through trade suppliers removes a significant margin layer. The contractor builds and installs; you buy the materials. Works best when your brief is clear enough that they're comfortable pricing the install separately.
Early retention release
Standard construction contracts retain 5% of the contract sum for 12 months after practical completion as security against defects. Contractors, particularly smaller ones, treat this as a cash flow problem. Offering to release retention at six months in exchange for a price reduction, or eliminating it in exchange for a bank-backed defects warranty, is a legitimate trade. Only offer this if you're confident in the contractor's quality.
Cap and pre-agree variations
Negotiate a day-work rate and a maximum variation percentage (typically 10-15% of contract value) before signing. Any variations above that threshold require your written approval before work starts. This doesn't save money on the original price - it prevents the contract from drifting 20% over budget once you're on site and have no leverage. It's the most important commercial protection you can put in a fit-out contract.
Milestone-linked payments
Rather than time-based drawdowns, tie payment milestones to specific deliverables: practical completion of partitions, sign-off of M&E first fix, practical completion of kitchen. Contractors who need regular cash flow will prioritise hitting those milestones. It also gives you a clear basis for withholding payment if something is genuinely incomplete at a milestone, rather than relying on end-of-project disputes.
From "I need to find a fit-out contractor" to deal done
Describe what you need
Write your requirements in your own words - scope, location, timeline, any constraints. RFXapp turns it into a structured brief and prompts you for anything that will help contractors quote accurately.
Invite your contractors
Add the contractors you've already shortlisted, or let RFXapp find local options. They reply by normal email - no portal, no registration.
Compare quotes side by side
RFXapp reads every response and standardises the quotes into a side-by-side view - inclusions, exclusions, assumptions and all.
Negotiate and appoint
RFXapp drafts targeted negotiation emails based on the gaps between quotes. You review and send. Then award the contract from your dashboard.
Other things London businesses source on RFXapp
Most of our users run 5-10 separate buying projects a year. This is often how they find us, but it's rarely the last thing they use us for.