Inspection office: Kytom manages the relationship for you

Recourse to the technical inspector is required as soon as a fit-out falls within the ERP scope of categories 1 to 4, or modifies a load-bearing structure. The NF P03-100 standard frames six families of missions:

• L: soundness of works and stability of structures
• SEI: safety of people in the event of fire
• HAND: accessibility for people with disabilities
• Th: thermal performance
• Ph: acoustic insulation (NF S 31-080:2006)
• Env: environment and environmental certifications

For an 850 sqm commercial floor reconfigured into open space, the standard mission combines L+SEI+HAND, generally representing less than 1.5% of the works budget. The maximum capacity of the floor depends on the regulatory passage units: a single emergency staircase of 1.40 to 1.50 m allows a maximum of 100 people per floor.

Kytom position: the inspection office is over-prescribed in non-ERP commercial spaces. Contrary to the widespread practice of systematically appointing a technical inspector « to be on the safe side », the intervention remains optional outside the ERP scope and outside any modification to a load-bearing structure. For a refresh (paint, carpet, furniture) on a non-ERP floor of less than 300 sqm, the L+SEI+HAND mission accounts for 4 to 8% of the works budget without any legal added value: professional practice confuses insurance cover with regulatory obligation. Consistency with environmental frameworks only falls within the inspector’s scope when the certification is explicitly targeted by the project owner.

Appointment in preliminary design phase: consultation of three COFRAC-accredited providers

Kytom consults a minimum of three COFRAC-accredited providers (Apave, Bureau Veritas, Socotec, Qualiconsult) from the preliminary design phase, in order to optimise the mission/cost ratio. The appointment must take place before submitting the ERP works authorisation, otherwise the procedure with the town hall is invalidated.

Two points of vigilance frame the contract. First, the independence of the inspector: the inspection office is legally distinct from the project manager and cannot be commissioned by the general contractor, in accordance with decree 99-443. The invoice is issued to the project owner, never to the fit-out company. Second, the scope of the optional missions: the Ph (acoustic), Th (thermal) and Env (environment) components remain the responsibility of the project owner and generate significant additional fees, the amount of which varies depending on the extent of the missions selected. Their arbitration depends in particular on the targeted environmental certification, the BREEAM framework now being deployed in more than 85 countries.

For the CFO and the asset manager: the framework-agreement effect outweighs the tender effect. Our reading differs here from the conventional buyer practice. One-off competitive bidding project by project generates limited discounts on fees; consultation framed at portfolio scale, by aggregating the volume and predictability of the missions, produces a significantly greater leverage effect. The lever is not one-off commercial pressure, it is the aggregated volume and the predictability of the flow of missions.

The Kytom method in five steps over twelve weeks of works

The protocol, structured by our quality approach, is deployed across our 11 agencies in France and Spain.

1. Appointment in preliminary design phase: consultation of COFRAC-accredited providers, contracting in the name of the project owner.
2. Technical file: full submission (plans, descriptive notices, structural calculations, Q18 Q19 CNPP smoke extraction) within 15 working days after notification.
3. Initial Inspection Report (RIC): integration of observations into the execution plans, with a prior clearing of the control points ensured before works begin.
4. Site visits: 2 to 4 hold points coordinated by our site manager (structure, finishing works, fire safety).
5. Final Inspection Report (RFC): clearing of reservations within 10 working days before the safety commission.

The site manager centralises the technical exchanges, which avoids the dispersion of contacts on the project owner’s side. The CFO and the Office Manager receive a weekly report including RIC status, hold points and the forecast for clearing reservations.

Limit of the method. This five-step protocol loses its value on works of less than 6 weeks and a surface area below 300 sqm: the cost of internal coordination exceeds the gain measured on documentary back-and-forth. For this format, Kytom switches to a streamlined scheme with three milestones (appointment, single RIC, RFC) without a dedicated intermediate visit.

For the CFO and the asset manager: centralised management and accelerated commissioning

Centralised management significantly improves the rate of favourable RFC on the first visit and reduces the time between the end of works and the commission opinion, with a direct impact on commissioning and recoverable rents. On a commercial floor in Paris, each week gained represents a substantial financial stake for the asset manager.

For the asset manager, this lead time determines the resumption of operations and billing to the occupying tenant: an unfavourable opinion delayed by 30 days on a Paris core asset represents the equivalent of the full technical inspection mission in lost rent.

Documentary traceability moreover covers the 10 years of ten-year liability provided for by article 1792 of the Civil Code, transferring the ten-year civil liability on the inspected works to the inspection office.

When these gains do not materialise. The differential assumes a project managed end to end by Kytom, with the appointment of the inspector in the preliminary design phase. On a takeover of a works project already underway (Kytom mission started after the submission of the works authorisation), the gain is significantly reduced compared with full management from the preliminary design phase.