FAJRINTERIORS
FAJRINTERIORS

Our process · Dubai

Our design and build process — done in the right order.

Our design and build process runs in four gates: plan, design and approvals, build, furnish. Each gate closes with a decision you sign before the work that depends on it starts. An office floor takes 6–7 months from brief to handover; a villa takes around 12 months. Approvals run alongside design, not after it.

Estimate projectSee the work it produced →
Design & build · Offices & villas · DubaiFour gates
A member of the Fajr Interiors team in hi-vis on an office fitout site, under a curved ceiling opening, Dubai
Gate 03 — building from the signed setOn site, Dubai
EightDecisions, brief to handover
Four gatesPlan · design · build · furnish
6–7 monthsOffice floor, brief to handover
Around 12 monthsVilla, brief to handover

Done in the right order

The Fajr Sequence Eight decisions, four gates, one team.

Eight decisions sit inside four gates, and the order is the same for an office floor and a villa. Brief, survey and plan come first; concept, technical drawings and approvals follow; the build starts only from the signed set; handover closes with snagging, testing and documents. Choose your project to see its weeks.

Two of our team reviewing a printed drawing set at a table

Gate 01 · OfficeTwo of our team reviewing a printed drawing set at a table

01 / 08

Brief

Define what the project has to achieve before anyone starts drawing.

Why it matters

Agree the priorities before time is spent designing the wrong solution.

OfficesGate 01 · Space planningVillasGate 01 · PlanningOffices4 weeksVillas4 weeks
Offices

6–7 monthsoffice floor, brief to handover, approvals inside the programme

Estimate project Office fitout in Dubai
Villas

Around 12 monthsvilla, brief to handover, approvals in parallel with design

Estimate project Villa renovation in Dubai The villa timeline, week by week

The centre photo follows the gate and the project type. Images tagged Concept visualisation are illustrations, not project records.

Gate by gate

What you decide at each gate, and what you get.

Each gate ends with a decision only you can make, and each decision unlocks the documents we hand you. You sign the brief and the plan, then the design and the number, then samples during the build, then you accept the handover. Nothing moves to the next gate until the one before it has closed.

Fajr Interiors team reviewing a drawing set, Dubai

Gate 01

Offices4 weeksVillas4 weeks

OfficesSpace planningVillasPlanning

Offices

You decide

  • The brief: headcount, rooms and how the team works
  • The test-fit layout that goes forward
  • The concept, and the quotation against the drawings

You get

  • A measured survey of the floor
  • Test-fit options and the technical drawing set
  • A quotation itemised line by line
Villas

You decide

  • What changes: upgrade, remodel or extension
  • The scope, room by room
  • Whether to go ahead with design

You get

  • A site survey of the villa’s condition
  • A scope, a sequence and a budget band
Fajr Interiors team reviewing material samples on site, Dubai

Gate 02

Offices2–4 weeksVillas8 weeks

OfficesApprovalsVillasDesign, approvals in parallel

Offices

You decide

  • The submission set, signed before it goes in
  • The works schedule around your operation

You get

  • Building management and landlord approval
  • Authority and civil defence approvals, prepared and submitted by our team
Villas

You decide

  • Layout first, then materials, then fittings
  • The drawings and the line-by-line quote

You get

  • Drawings, renders and material selections
  • Community NOC and authority submissions, lodged by our team
A member of the Fajr Interiors team in hi-vis on site, under a curved ceiling opening, Dubai

Gate 03

Offices16–18 weeksVillas6–8 months

OfficesBuildVillasBuild

Offices

You decide

  • Stone, veneer and joinery samples, before fabrication
  • Any change, in writing, before it is built

You get

  • MEP, partitions, ceilings, joinery and finishes, in order
  • Long-lead items ordered against signed drawings
Villas

You decide

  • Samples, before stone and joinery are ordered
  • Any change, in writing, before it is built

You get

  • One team on site, working from the signed set
  • Stone, veneer and joinery ordered on the eight-week lead time
OfficesFinished boardroom delivered by Fajr Interiors, Dubai
VillasVilla living room delivered by Fajr Interiors, Dubai

Gate 04

Offices2 weeksVillas2 weeks

OfficesFurnishVillasHandover

Offices

You decide

  • Acceptance of the finished floor, after the snag walk

You get

  • Furniture installed and systems commissioned
  • The information you need to run the space
Villas

You decide

  • Acceptance of the finished villa, after the walkthrough

You get

  • Furniture, styling and snagging
  • Handover, around 12 months from the brief

Approvals

Approvals run alongside design, not after it.

Approvals are the variable in any Dubai programme, so they start as early as the drawings allow. For an office, landlord, authority and civil defence approvals take 2–4 weeks inside the programme. For a villa, the community NOC and authority submissions are lodged while design is detailed, inside the same 8-week window. For a new villa or an extension, our architects draw the set those submissions need: architecture company in Dubai →

Brief to handover · drawn to scaleApprovals in brassHatched end = range

Office floor

6–7 months

Brief to handover · approvals inside the programme

  • Planning and design4 weeks

  • Approvals2–4 weeks

  • Build16–18 weeks

  • Furnish2 weeks

Who signs, in orderInside the approvals window

  1. Sign-off 01 / 03

    Building management and landlord

    The building’s rules and the landlord’s consent.

    • Building management
    • Landlord

  2. Sign-off 02 / 03

    The building’s authority

    Whichever authority governs the building.

    • DDA
    • Free-zone authority
    • Dubai Municipality

  3. Sign-off 03 / 03

    Civil Defence

    Fire and life safety sign-off.

    • Dubai Civil Defence

Villa

Around 12 months

Brief to handover · approvals in parallel with design

  • Planning4 weeks

  • Design8 weeks

  • Approvalsin parallel

  • Build6–8 months

  • Handover2 weeks

Who signs, in orderInside the approvals window

  1. Sign-off 01 / 03

    Developer or community

    Your community sets the route; Al Barari issues its own management NOC.

    • Emaar
    • Nakheel
    • Al Barari

  2. Sign-off 02 / 03

    The authority

    DDA or Trakhees by community.

    • DDA
    • Trakhees

  3. Sign-off 03 / 03

    Civil Defence

    Where fire and life safety change.

    • Dubai Civil Defence
Fajr designers at the studio table with a printed floor plan, renders and material samples, marking up the layout
What goes inDrawings, finishes and samples, prepared and submitted by our team.

Villa · which authority reviews it

Your community sets the route.

  • Emaar communitiesDubai Hills, The Springs, The Meadows, Emirates Hills

    go to
    DDA

  • Nakheel communitiesPalm Jumeirah, Jumeirah Islands · Nakheel NOC first, then Trakhees

    go to
    Trakhees

  • Al BarariAl Barari management NOC first

    go to
    DDA

And where the scope needs them

  • Fire and life safety changeIn any community

    add
    Dubai Civil Defence
Villa NOCs, explained →Office fitout in Dubai →

Order and overlap are shown, not per-authority durations — those vary by building, community and scope. We prepare and submit the packages.

On site

The sequence, filmed on our sites.

Finished photographs hide the middle of a project, and the middle is where the order matters most. These clips are from our own sites: the first conversation, services above the ceiling, canopy framing, glass partitions and joinery going up. Each step waits for the one it depends on, which is the whole method.

A Fajr Interiors founder talking about how to start a project, Dubai

Before you startGate 01 · brief

Cover of the Fajr Interiors reel The 5-step Dubai renovation system: a contemporary villa beside a pool at dusk, DubaiInstagram

Done in the right orderEP-01 · on Instagram

Open office ceiling with services and acoustic baffles during a fitout, Dubai

Services above the ceilingGate 03 · build

Ceiling canopy framing on an office fitout site, Dubai

Framing the ceiling canopyGate 03 · build

Glass partitions being installed on an office fitout site, Dubai

Glass partitions going inGate 03 · build

Site meeting beside joinery panels going up in an office fitout, Dubai

Site meeting as the joinery goes upGate 03 · build

Proof

Three programmes, gate by gate.

Real programmes show the gates at work. IMI at One Za’abeel ran 4 + 4 + 18 + 2 = 28 weeks. Opus by Omniyat is contracted on 4 + 2 + 16 + 2 = 24 weeks and is in its final weeks before handover. Villa 47 Fairways, a 10,000 sqft villa in Dubai Hills, ran 12 months, in line with our villa programme of around 12 months.

IMI at One Za’abeelOffice · 5,000 sqft

4 + 4 + 18 + 2 = 28 weeks

Opus by OmniyatOffice · 6,200 sqft

4 + 2 + 16 + 2 = 24 weeks, contracted

Villa 47 FairwaysVilla · 10,000 sqft · Dubai Hills

12 months, brief to handover

Bars drawn to one time scale. Office gates as delivered; the villa programme is published as a whole.

All our work →About Fajr Interiors →

Process FAQ

Questions about how a project runs.

Design and build process — FAQ.

The questions we hear before almost every project about the process itself: how long it takes, why the order matters, whether approvals hold up the start, what you have to decide and when, why long-lead items go early, and how an office differs from a villa.

01How long does a design and build project take in Dubai?

An office floor typically runs 6–7 months from brief to handover: 4 weeks of space planning, 2–4 weeks of approvals, 16–18 weeks of build and 2 weeks to furnish. A villa runs around 12 months: 4 weeks planning, 8 weeks design with approvals in parallel, 6–8 months build and 2 weeks handover.

02Why does the order of decisions matter?

Because every late decision undoes work built on the earlier one. A layout changed after joinery is ordered costs the joinery; a material chosen after approvals are lodged can mean a resubmission. Closing each decision before the dependent work starts is what keeps a programme on its weeks and a budget on its number.

03Do approvals delay the start of work?

Not when they are sequenced properly. We prepare and submit landlord, developer and authority packages while design is being detailed, so the wait runs alongside the drawing work. An office carries 2–4 weeks of approvals inside its programme; villa approvals sit inside the 8-week design window.

04What do I have to decide, and when?

Four things, in order: the brief and the plan at the end of planning; the design and the itemised quotation before approvals are lodged; samples of stone, veneer and joinery before they are ordered; and acceptance of the finished space at handover. Between those points, the work runs on what you have signed.

05Why are stone and joinery ordered so early?

Stone, veneer and made-to-measure joinery carry a lead time of around eight weeks. If they are ordered only when the site is ready for them, the site waits. We order them against the signed drawings, so they arrive when the walls and services are ready to receive them.

06Is the process the same for an office and a villa?

The order is the same; the weeks differ. Both run brief, survey, plan, concept, technical drawings, approvals, build and handover. An office floor runs 6–7 months. A villa, with a community NOC and deeper structural and MEP work, runs around 12 months from brief to handover, with a 6–8 month build.

07Who manages a fitout project?

One Fajr team runs the project from brief to handover under one contract: the gate plan, procurement of long-lead items, cost against the itemised quotation, inspections on site and the handover snag list. You sign off at each of the four gates.

Start in the right order

Start with the first gate.

Tell us about the space, the size and the dates. We’ll come back with a scope, a sequence and a number.

Estimate project WhatsApp us 800 3257

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