When a company grows there finally comes a time to rebuild its office. How? Look for a new location? Or maybe just do a general overhaul? How much would it cost? How to find trusted advisors? How to choose the right partner? All those questions cause one thing: stress.

Delivery of the recently opened offices of JLL, Stanley Black & Decker, MMC or Sage is a proof that fit-out projects can be done smoothly if we reduce risks in several areas: budget, time and quality. The above can be assured by a simple procedure – an Open Book approach.

Open Book means total cost transparency from the very outset of the project. This allows the client to have full knowledge of the prices of all the products and services. Also, the client agrees with the contractor on a specific margin, which is then added to each invoice.

It is the most transparent investment process you can imagine. The investor not only knows what the project consists of but also takes decisions when choosing subcontractors.

Gross Maximum Price means client’s safety

Open Book is not a new practice among Polish fit-out companies. However, what makes it so revolutionary today, is the new approach which consists in combining transparency of the costs with working on the Gross Maximum Price basis. This means that the fit-out company guarantees that in case the estimated budget is exceeded, the costs will be covered by the contractor. This requires great expertise on the side of the contractor, while the client can verify the prices with support of an external advisor.

This solution gives the best result when there is just one subcontractor responsible for both design and building works. It is time-saving for the client and helps avoid frequent misunderstandings between the author of the design and the construction team.

Budget under control. Time for savings?

The Open Book approach is, in other words, a method allowing the client to check the status of their new interior at every stage. When the client’s and the subcontractor’s budgets are transparent and everything is calculated, we have a situation when cost estimates meet real values and it’s time for optimizing.

At every stage clients know perfectly well how much each of the proposed options will cost, and how it will impact the cost of the entire project. Consequently, projects are usually completed below the estimated cost.


Glossary:

  • cure – recepta
  • overhaul – remont kapitalny
  • fit-out – wyposażenie
  • proof – dowód
  • outset – początek
  • smoothly – bez zakłóceń
  • to exceed – przewyższać
  • to consist in – polegać na czymś
  • frequent – częsty
  • stage – etap
  • to impact – mieć wpływ

Exercise 1:

After reading the article decide whether the following sentences are TRUE or FALSE:

By cooperating with the subcontractor in full agreement the client is fully aware of all financial transactions made throughout the project.

Open Book does not guarantee transparency of costs at the beginning of the project.

Most projects conducted by means of the Open Book approach do not exceed the estimated costs.

Doing a general overhaul is the safest option for companies that grow in size.

According to the philosophy of Open Book all costs connected with going above the budget will be incurred by the client.

It is not advisable to have more than one subcontractor in charge of different aspects of the project.

The Open Book approach is very client-friendly because the client has access to the project whenever they need to.


Exercise 2:

Complete the following sentences with the words from the glossary