Turnkey office fit-out, end to end
Beyond 5 coordinated trades and 7 regulatory procedures, the single contract is cheaper than conventional project management by 12 to 18 % on 850 sq m. The threshold is not the floor area, it is the complexity of the interface. Kytom manages tertiary office fit-outs under a single contract, from lease signature to handover. One project manager coordinates 8 to 12 trades, handles 7 to 12 regulatory procedures and guarantees compliance (Labour Code R4213, NF S 31-080, ERP, PMR). A significant share of projects takes place on occupied sites, with no interruption of activity. Average observed lead time: 12 weeks for 850 sq m.
A tertiary fit-out project typically mobilises 8 to 12 service providers: space programmer, architect, MEP engineering firm, structural engineering firm, acoustic engineer, inspection office, SPS coordinator, technical trades, furniture, signage, mover, IT. Kytom brings these trades together under a single project manager, since 2006. The client signs one contract, deals with one person, makes decisions on one consolidated budget. Technical interfaces (HVAC, BMS, high- and low-voltage systems, sprinkler systems) are handled in-house, never passed back to the client. This integration locks in the milestones: the schedule slippages of 3 to 6 weeks generated by fragmented coordination are neutralised from the design phase onwards.
End-to-end support across 3 steps
-
Real Estate Change Management: Steering People and Space
65% of new office floors remain underused six months after delivery. This figure comes from our own portfolio: 37 projects audited between 2020 and 2024, deserted open spaces…
-
Administrative procedures: 17 days of delay cost up to EUR 25,000
17 days of administrative delay cost you EUR 8,000 to 25,000 in lost rent on an 850 sqm office floor in the Paris region. It is never the construction site that pushes back your…
-
Integrated BET design office: 5 technical packages for your offices
A BET fragmented across five separate providers generates costly site reworks: late coordination between acoustics, HVAC, lighting, electrical and structure remains the leading…
A single lead and three monitoring bodies
The Kytom project manager holds contractual responsibility from end to end: programming, architectural design, technical engineering, execution, furniture, delivery. Project governance rests on 3 structured bodies:
- Monthly steering committee: strategic decisions, milestone validation, consolidated budget monitoring.
- Weekly site meeting: physical progress, clearing of blocking points, cross-trade coordination.
- Financial reporting: committed, spent, remaining to commit, variance vs initial budget, in a single format.
The project unit and interface risk
The client never arbitrates between competing service providers: Kytom bears the interface risk. For a floor plate of average size (median area handled based on observation of the Kytom 2022-2024 portfolio), the project unit mobilises 1 project manager, 1 site supervisor, 1 interior architect, 1 draughtsman, 1 furniture buyer. The MEP, structural and acoustic engineering firms operate under managed subcontracting, not in direct contact with the client.
The real cost of an unmanaged interface
For the CFO and the Asset Manager: the real cost of an unmanaged interface. On a project under conventional project management with 8 separate trade packages, the client absorbs 60 to 90 hours of internal coordination over 12 weeks (legal framing of contracts, technical arbitration, management of inter-company disputes). Valued at the full cost of an Office Manager or a real estate director (80 to 120 EUR/hour fully loaded), these hours represent 4,800 to 10,800 EUR of hidden cost, excluding organisational stress and excluding the additional cost of delays. The single contract transfers this risk to the Kytom project manager: the price gap displayed between the two formats (3 to 5 % in favour of separate packages on the gross quote) is recovered as soon as the first interface slippage is avoided.
When the single contract is not the right answer
When the single contract is not the right answer. Below 200 sq m with a single dominant trade (for example a paint-and-carpet refresh with no HVAC or acoustic work), the single contract adds weight to the cost structure: a tender in 2 separate packages remains faster and 8 to 12 % cheaper. Likewise, a client with a well-staffed real estate department and its own in-house engineering firms may prefer a conventional project management assignment: the single contract is only justified beyond 5 coordinated trades.
Contrarian position. The profession’s received wisdom presents the single contract (design & build) as less transparent than conventional, separated project management. Our reading, after 1200+ operations delivered since 2006, differs: transparency does not depend on the contractual format but on financial reporting. A single contract with committed, spent and remaining-to-commit figures published monthly is more legible than project management split across 8 works contracts whose bill of quantities is consolidated only by an external engineering firm paid by the hour.
