Interior budget. Why is it important to discuss it with architects in advance?

Investors looking for office interiors make the same mistake when choosing an architect. They call the studios having the only requirement: "make it nice for us here." They have an idea of colours and trends, but not of their own budget. Budget is the most important in terms of the whole process and it is also the most neglected. 

"If the architect does not know what budget to meet, they will spend two to three months building castles in the air," says Martin Kameník, owner of PREMIER interiors. The result is usually a proposal significantly beyond the investor's budget. In this case, the whole concept must be abandoned. The complicated search for savings usually does not lead to anything. Quality design considers the space as a whole. When one element changes, all the others should change.

^{Quality interior design considers the space as a whole.}

This means that the replacement of the table is followed by the replacement of the chairs, and the replacement of dividers and lighting. The only solution is to start again. "Be sure that you can't make up a six million interior design for three million. Precisely, you can, but the result is something other than what you agreed on at the beginning. The question then is if you will enjoy working in it," says Martin Kameník.

The problem of this situation is obvious - time. Companies that have new office space design usually have a deadline by which they must move out of their existing headquarters. If they spend two to three months waiting for a design that is ultimately useless, they fall behind schedule.

Where does the money go?

Work equipment for employees does not only include a chair and a table, it is necessary to add storage space for personal belongings and at least a front divider. It separates the working area from the person sitting opposite and at the same time functions as a noise barrier. The chair should provide at least minimal ergonomic features to keep the employee sitting comfortably on it for a third of the day."

"In the basic standard, the price for this set is around 20 thousand. If the employer pays attention to the ergonomics of the working environment and buys, for example, an electrically lifting table and a monitor holder, the price will increase by another 10,000. If it is the top class product where manufacturers place demands on ergonomics in combination with design, it can be 50,000 per chair, " says project manager Patrik Cirbus.

^{The office should also include storage space for employees and dividers.}

Having a three million budget, it is clear that it is necessary to find the right balance between cost and quality. It is also not worth for the architect to incorporate, for example, modern green walls into the space that cost from 15 to 25 thousand per square meter. In all cases, other solutions are offered, but the architect must be informed about the limit of the budget. If the project is based on an unlimited budget, client will face difficult times. As the work progresses, they find that they have no money and they are pushed for time. In more than one company, the green wall ended up like green wallpaper under the pressure of circumstances.

A good architect asks for the budget

The ideal solution is to set a budget before you even start looking for an architectural studio for your offices. Also make sure that the partner you contact takes the price into account at all. "If you visit an architect who will discuss with you for an hour what kind of spaces you want to have, but the question 'And how much do you have for that?' Does not come, you'd better look elsewhere," recommends Martin Kameník.

^{Acoustics solution for office can take many forms.}

"Of course, people have no experience with interior design and implementation. After all, how often in your life do you deal with moving to new office? It is therefore the architect's duty to ask you. You set a budget and the architect has to work with it. In other words, look for a partner who knows how much it costs and what you can afford. Even a cheaper solution can be beautiful, fully functional and reflect the identity of the company, but it must be taken into account from the beginning."

First meeting is important

At PREMIER interiors, we know that it is worth discussing the budget with the investor at the first meeting," says Martin Kameník. "Since we are also an implementation company, we are going backwards. If we know that let's say 20 people will work in the company, we will calculate how many chairs, tables and how big kitchen they must have. We deduct these costs from the budget and supervise our architects so that they use the rest of the amount for the interior design. If a customer comes to us with a specific idea, we will immediately tell them what price range is."