FAJRINTERIORS
FAJRINTERIORS

Investment · Offices and villas

Fitout and renovation cost in Dubai.

A Fajr project is priced against its scope, not a headline rate. Office fitouts are published in two bands, each tied to what it includes, below. Villa renovation runs AED 420–1,400 per sqft of built-up area, for villa budgets from AED 1M. Every project is then quoted line by line against drawings.

Offices of 2,000–20,000 sqft · villas from AED 1M · one contract for design, approvals, build and furniture

Estimate projectHow we work, stage by stage →
Design & build · Offices and villas · DubaiSince 2011
Finished boardroom with a long table, upholstered chairs and a lit ceiling, Dubai
Finished boardroomDubai
50+Projects delivered since 2011
2,000–20,000Sqft per office floor
6–7 monthsOffice programme, brief to handover
Around 12 monthsVilla programme, brief to handover

Two scopes

Offices and villas, priced by scope.

What a Fajr project costs — the published bands.

Offices and villas are priced differently because the scope is different. An office fitout starts from the landlord’s Cat A floor and adds your layout; a villa renovation starts from a lived-in house and may replan it. So each is published as a band tied to what it includes, never as a naked rate.

Office fitout · 2,000–20,000 sqft

Two bands, three numbers.

An office fitout in Dubai starts at AED 350 per sqft for shell-to-occupied — partitions, ceilings, flooring, MEP alterations and joinery. Turnkey, with FF&E, IT, AV, automation and appliances included, runs AED 600–850 per sqft. Our last two executive floors landed at AED 726 and AED 840.

Shell-to-occupied
From AED 350 per sqft for partitions, ceilings, flooring, MEP alterations and joinery.
Turnkey
AED 600–850 per sqft with FF&E, IT, AV, automation and appliances added to the shell-to-occupied scope.
Programme
6–7 months: 4 weeks space planning, 2–4 weeks approvals, 16–18 weeks build, 2 weeks furnish.

Planning an office?

Estimate project Office fitout in Dubai →

Villa renovation · budgets from AED 1M

One band, three renovation types.

Villa renovation in Dubai runs AED 420–1,400 per sqft of built-up area, and villa budgets start from AED 1M. Where a villa lands in that band depends on the renovation type and the specification.

Design-only fees are set out in interior design cost in Dubai →

Upgrade
Strip and uplift the finishes.
Remodel
Replan the space and upgrade all MEP and finishes.
Extension
Add GFA to increase the built-up area.
Programme
Around 12 months: 4 weeks planning, 8 weeks design with approvals in parallel, 6–8 months build, 2 weeks handover.

Planning a villa?

Estimate project The villa renovation cost guide →

Delivered

Delivered projects, with the numbers.

Published bands are planning figures; delivered projects are the check. Our last two executive floors landed at AED 726 and AED 840 per sqft, on 6,200 and 5,000 sqft, over 24 and 28 weeks — both inside the turnkey band above. Villa 47 Fairways in Dubai Hills ran 12 months at 10,000 sqft, in line with the villa programme.

Design renderDesign render of the IMI open work floor, One Za’abeel, Dubai, 2024

File 01 · Executive floor

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IMI @ One Za’abeel

Brief
One floor where the team can work, move and unwind — sit-stand desks, task chairs that adjust to any body, a wellness room, and a full kitchen to eat and socialise.
Constraint
8 December was a hard stop. The client had given their staff a move-in date and it could not move.
Programme
4 weeks planning · 4 weeks approvals · 18 weeks build · 2 weeks furnish = 28 weeks. Handed over on 8 December 2024, as planned.
Numbers
5,000 sqft · AED 4.2M · 28 weeks · AED 840/sqft
Area
5,000 sqft
Budget
AED 4.2M
Programme
28 weeks
Rate
AED 840/sqft
Open the project →
RenderRender of the reception at Opus by Omniyat, Dubai

File 02 · Executive floor

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Opus by Omniyat

Brief
A high-end workplace built as an investment — specified to be sold on, so the money had to show in how the floor works before it showed in finishes.
Constraint
A fixed budget to value-engineer against, on a floorplate with very little natural light.
Programme
4 weeks planning · 2 weeks approvals · 16 weeks build · 2 weeks furnish = 24 weeks, contracted.
Numbers
6,200 sqft · AED 4.5M contracted · 24-week programme · AED 726/sqft
Area
6,200 sqft
Budget
AED 4.5M
Programme
24 weeks, contracted
Rate
AED 726/sqft
Open the project →
Wyll, the owner of Villa 47 Fairways, at home by the pool window, Dubai Hills

File 03 · Villa

Villa 47 Fairways, Dubai Hills

10,000 sqftAED 7M12 months

“Best decision I made was to hire Fajr Interiors.”

Wyll · Fairways, Dubai Hills

Open the project →

“Great feeling walking into this beautiful office.”

Fabian Munz · IMI · One Za’abeel

What moves the number

What moves the number — and when.

Four things move a project’s cost: scope, specification, lead times and approvals. None of them is a surprise if it is decided in the right order. Each card below is a sequence: what has to be fixed first, and what it costs when it is fixed late.

01 · Scope

What is being built.

A Cat B office on a sound Cat A floor, or a villa upgrade that keeps the plan, is a smaller scope than a replan that moves walls and services. Scope is fixed on a signed plan before specification starts, so the drawing is priced — not a wish list.

Fixed first: the plan

02 · Specification

What it is built from.

Stone, veneer, made joinery and imported fittings move the rate more than anything else. Specification follows the plan, because a material chosen for a room that later moves is paid for twice.

Fixed second: the materials

03 · Lead times

When it arrives.

Stone, veneer and made joinery carry a lead time of about eight weeks, so they are ordered against a signed plan or the programme moves. A late order holds every trade that follows it.

Ordered against: a signed plan

04 · Approvals

When work may start.

Office approvals take 2–4 weeks inside the programme; villa design and approvals take 8 weeks. Drawings that change after submission go back into review while the site waits, so they are frozen before they are submitted.

Submitted on: frozen drawings

Where the budget goes

Where a budget goes, line by line.

Most of a budget sits in a few lines. In an office, MEP and furniture carry the largest shares; in a villa, FF&E, joinery and MEP. The shapes below are illustrative allocations, not a quotation or verified averages — your specification moves weight between the lines, not the order they reach site.

Office fitout — nine lines, in the order they reach site

Indicative allocation · nine linesIllustrative allocations, not a quotation or verified averages
#LineShareWhat sits inside
01Approvals & permits4%Landlord approval, authority permits, Civil Defence submissions, utility NOCs.
02Preliminaries7%Site setup, protection, out-of-hours access, supervision, insurances.
03Demolition & strip-out3%Removing the previous tenancy back to shell or Cat A.
04Partitions & ceilings14%Glazed fronts, drywall, acoustic ceilings, raised floor adjustments.
05MEP20%HVAC modification, power, containment, sprinklers, fire alarm, BMS tie-in.
06Flooring & finishes12%Carpet tile, vinyl, stone at reception, paint, wall protection.
07Joinery & millwork13%Reception desk, pantry, lockers, storage walls, feature panelling.
08AV, IT & security9%Screens, VC rooms, structured cabling, access control, CCTV.
09Furniture (FF&E)18%Workstations, task seating, meeting and breakout furniture, plants.

Selected line

MEP · 20%

HVAC modification, power, containment, sprinklers, fire alarm, BMS tie-in.

In this illustration, MEP and furniture take nearly four of every ten dirhams. Cut either one late and you pay for it twice.

Villa renovation — nine trade lines

Illustrative allocation · nine trade linesSmallestLargest share

Where the money goes

Selected lineApprovals · 3%

NOCs, permits and authority fees — the cost of being allowed to start.

Selected linePreliminaries · 5%

Site setup, hoarding, insurances, supervision and welfare. The overhead of a run site.

Selected lineDemolition · 4%

Strip-out, protection and disposal. Cheap to do, expensive to do carelessly.

Selected lineStructural · 8%

Openings, slabs and steel. Signed by an engineer, not a designer.

Selected lineMEP · 15%

Cooling, power, water and controls. Invisible until it is wrong.

Selected lineCivil · 12%

Blockwork, screeds, plaster and waterproofing. The substrate everything else sits on.

Selected lineJoinery · 16%

Wardrobes, kitchens, panelling, doors. Made to your walls, once.

Selected lineFinishing · 15%

Stone, tile, timber, paint. Every surface you touch.

Selected lineFF&E · 22%

Furniture, curtains, lighting and styling — the layer you actually live with.

Three lines carry half the villa budget — FF&E, joinery and MEP. The most expensive mistake is spending the joinery budget on furniture first: not a taste problem, a sequence problem.

Illustrative allocations, not a quotation or verified averages.

How an estimate is built

Survey, scope, then an itemised quote.

An estimate is built in three steps, in order. We survey the space, agree the scope on a plan, then price that scope line by line against drawings. The per-sqft bands tell you which range a project sits in before anything is drawn; the itemised quotation tells you what each line carries.

  1. Measure firstStep 01

    Survey

    A measured survey of the space and its services: what the landlord handed over, or what the villa actually has behind its walls. Constraints are known before anything is priced.

  2. Agree what is builtStep 02

    Scope

    A plan you sign, and a scope written against it: what is built, altered, reinstated or kept. The scope names what is excluded as clearly as what is included.

  3. Price it line by lineStep 03

    Itemised quote

    Approvals, preliminaries, strip-out, MEP, partitions and ceilings, finishes, joinery, AV and FF&E, each on its own line — so you can see where a change in specification lands.

Our process, stage by stage →The projects behind the numbers →

Investment FAQ

Questions about cost, answered plainly.

Fitout and renovation cost in Dubai — FAQ.

01How much does an office fitout cost per sqft in Dubai?

An office fitout in Dubai starts at AED 350 per sqft for shell-to-occupied — partitions, ceilings, flooring, MEP alterations and joinery. Turnkey, with FF&E, IT, AV, automation and appliances included, runs AED 600–850 per sqft. Our last two executive floors landed at AED 726 and AED 840.

02What does a Fajr villa renovation cost?

Villa renovation in Dubai runs AED 420–1,400 per sqft of built-up area, and villa budgets start from AED 1M. The renovation type sets where a villa lands: an upgrade strips and uplifts the finishes, a remodel replans the space and upgrades all MEP and finishes, and an extension adds GFA to increase the built-up area.

03What is included in a turnkey office fitout?

Turnkey, with FF&E, IT, AV, automation and appliances included on top of partitions, ceilings, flooring, MEP alterations and joinery, runs AED 600–850 per sqft. The shell-to-occupied scope without those items starts at AED 350 per sqft. The quotation names each line separately, so you can see what each one carries.

04Why is there no single price per project?

Because the same floor can take a light refresh or a full replan. A per-sqft band tells you which range a project sits in before anything is drawn. The quotation is itemised against drawings, with each line named, so you can see what moves the total and why.

05Are the allocation percentages averages of your projects?

No. The allocation charts are illustrative allocations, not a quotation or verified averages. They show the typical shape of a design-and-build budget — which lines tend to carry the most weight, and the order they reach site. Your own split comes from the itemised quotation for your scope.

06What makes a project cost more than planned?

Decisions taken out of order. A layout changed after joinery is ordered, a material chosen after its eight-week lead time has passed, or drawings revised after submission all cost twice: once for the change and once for the wait. The sequence is what protects the number.

07How do I get an estimate?

Start with Estimate project and tell us the type of space, its size and your timing. For a firm number, we survey the space, agree a scope on a plan you sign, and issue an itemised quotation against drawings — in that order, so the number describes the project you will actually build. Payments are staged 10 / 20 / 30 / 30 / 10% across advance, approvals, the MEP milestone, the civil works milestone and handover.

Start in the right order

Get a number, in the right order.

Tell us the space, its size and your timing. We survey, agree the scope, then price it line by line.

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Trade licence 648890 · Interior contracting, G+1 approved contractor (Dubai Municipality) · Registered with Emaar, Nakheel, DDA, Trakhees, Dubai Civil Defence · DMCC, DIFC and JAFZA free zones