Planning furniture procurement against an office move date

Furniture rarely delays a project because it was installed slowly. It delays projects because it was ordered late.

4 minute read

Work backwards from the move

Set the move date, subtract installation, subtract delivery and consolidation, subtract manufacture, subtract approval. What remains is the date the order has to be placed, and it is usually earlier than anyone expects.

Approvals take longer than manufacture

Ergonomic trials, sample approvals and internal sign-off consume weeks. Give each of them a date on the programme rather than treating them as a background activity.

Consolidate before the building

Deliveries should be consolidated and checked away from the building. Damaged goods discovered in a live installation week cannot be replaced in time.

A workable sequence

  • Specification agreed and samples approved
  • Orders placed against programme milestones
  • Manufacture tracked with named delivery dates
  • Consolidation, inspection and labelling by floor
  • Floor-by-floor installation against the furniture plan
  • Snagging closed before staff arrive

Office furniture

Worked example

A project from the register.

MSB Private School entrance in Al Nahda with arched portal, decorative screens and cast architectural elements

MSB Private School

Al Nahda, Dubai, UAE

Architectural elements

Discuss an office project

Tell us about the floorplate and the date.

Tell us the building, the area, the scope you expect to hold and the date the business needs to move. We will set out how the programme would run and what has to be resolved first.

Discuss an office projectSend a brief or drawings