Mastering fit-out timelines: the Kytom method, contractualised milestones, 12-week schedule. Avoid site delays and secure your delivery.
"We are worried about overruns"
A 4-week delay on 1000 sqm easily generates 80,000 to 120,000 euros in additional costs: double rent, extended security guarding, overtime for technical teams. The average extra cost linked to an uncontrolled slippage reaches 18%. The finance department then discovers an overrun never provisioned in the initial budget.
According to <a href="https://www.actineo.fr/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Actineo</a>, 62% of employees find a relocation stressful when the date slips. HR teams absorb the complaints, absenteeism rises by 4 to 7 points over the quarter concerned. Management loses internal credibility, particularly if communications had announced a firm date to the 250 employees concerned.
A delay pushes back the declaration to the safety register and weakens ERP compliance. The safety commission visit can be postponed by 6 to 8 weeks. Clients received at events lose confidence in the execution capacity displayed by senior management.
Kytom manages each project through a detailed week-by-week schedule, validated as early as the preliminary design phase and shared on a collaborative tool accessible to the works supervisor, the executive and the real estate department. Our 11 agencies pool a database of more than 1200 projects delivered since 2006, which precisely calibrates supplier timelines (Vitra and Herman Miller furniture, partitions, flooring). A single project manager holds a weekly 30-minute routine, with risk tracking via a traffic-light system. Critical milestones (filing of the prior declaration, furniture order at 8 weeks, partition delivery) are contractualised. In the event of a contingency, a plan B is triggered within 48 hours, with documented cost-time trade-offs for the finance department.
Audit of the scope, landlord constraints and firm dates on the business side. Deliverable: a 4-page framing note with dated constraints, identified regulatory milestones (safety commission, prior declaration) and an inventory of existing furniture. The real estate department validates the scope before detailed costing.
Development of a 12-week reverse schedule, incorporating actual supplier timelines (8 weeks for furniture, 4 weeks for glazed partitions). Deliverable: validated Gantt schedule, signed RACI matrix, consolidated budget with a contingency provision of 5 to 8%. The executive arbitrates any postponements before launch.
Technical DCE drawings finalised within 3 weeks, furniture orders placed as soon as detailed design is validated to secure Vitra or Herman Miller timelines. Deliverable: tender documents, time-stamped purchase orders, consolidated supplier schedule. Each critical order is subject to weekly named tracking.
Daily site coordination, pre-handover operations within 5 days, clearing of reservations within 15 days. Deliverable: handover report, as-built documentation, up-to-date safety register. The works supervisor receives a costed closing report within 10 days.
"We had announced the date to the 180 employees three months in advance. Kytom kept to the schedule within 4 days, which saved our internal credibility with the management committee."
Allow 12 to 14 weeks between detailed design validation and delivery, excluding building permit. The furniture timeline (8 weeks) remains the critical path. Kytom orders as soon as detailed design is signed off to secure the delivery date announced to senior management.
A provision of 5 to 8% of the works budget is recommended, calibrated according to the complexity of the occupied or vacant site. On 850 sqm, this represents between 35,000 and 60,000 euros, to be arbitrated with the finance department from the framing stage.
Four critical milestones: detailed design validation, furniture order at 8 weeks, partition delivery, pre-handover operations. Each milestone is subject to a firm contractual date, with possible penalties. The weekly 30-minute routine secures tracking with the works supervisor.
A plan B is triggered within 48 hours: a referenced alternative supplier (Knoll, Herman Miller depending on the range), temporary rental or phased delivery. Our database of 1200 projects allows us to quickly identify the least costly solution for the real estate department.
A shared collaborative tool provides real-time access to the schedule, weekly reports and site photos. The executive or the real estate department can review progress without travelling. Critical decisions are addressed in a dedicated 20-minute video conference.
Three indicators: schedule deviation in days, consumption of the contingency provision as a percentage, rate of reservations at handover. A fourth indicator, employee satisfaction at 30 days, completes the dashboard delivered to the management committee by the works supervisor.