If you're budgeting for an office refurbishment in Exeter, the first question is almost always the same: what's the cost per square metre? The honest answer is that it depends on your starting point, your finish level, and the building itself, but there are clear ranges you can plan around.
For a straightforward Category A fit-out, where you're bringing a shell or an old office up to a clean, functional standard with suspended ceilings, basic lighting, flooring and partitioning, most Exeter jobs land somewhere between £450 and £700 per square metre.
A full Category B fit-out, where you're adding branded meeting rooms, kitchens, bespoke joinery, acoustic partitioning and better M&E, tends to run from £700 up to £1,300 per square metre in Devon. High-spec finishes, glazed partitions or extensive cabling can push that higher. These figures are a guide only; your actual quote will depend on survey findings and your chosen specification.
The headline rate per square metre hides a lot of variation, and on most of our jobs around Exeter the same handful of factors move the price up or down.
Exeter's office stock is a mix worth knowing about when you're pricing a job. Business parks such as Sowton, Matford and the Exeter Science Park tend to have more modern shells with better floor-to-ceiling heights and existing raised floors, which keeps fit-out costs nearer the lower end of the range.
Older buildings around the city centre and Southernhay, including Georgian and listed conversions, often need more careful work around existing fabric, fire compartmentation and sometimes planning or listed building consent, which adds both cost and lead time. If your building is listed or in a conservation area, factor in extra weeks for approvals before any drylining or partitioning work starts.
A reliable cost per square metre figure should come from a site survey, not a phone call. We'd always want to see the existing ceiling void, check what's hidden behind old partitions, and understand your intended layout before giving a number, because unknowns in an older building are where quotes go wrong.
Ask any contractor for a breakdown by trade (partitioning, ceilings, electrical, decoration, flooring) rather than a single blended rate. It makes it much easier to see where your budget is actually going and to adjust the specification if the total comes in higher than expected.
Generally yes, labour and site costs in Exeter and the wider Devon area tend to sit a little below Bristol or London rates, though materials cost roughly the same everywhere. The bigger cost driver is usually the building's condition rather than its postcode.
For a basic Category A refresh you'd typically be looking at £45,000 to £70,000, rising towards £70,000 to £130,000 for a fuller Category B fit-out with meeting rooms and a kitchen. The exact figure depends on the survey and your chosen finishes.
Not usually. Most quoted rates cover labour and materials for the build only, so always check separately whether VAT, design or architect fees, and any building control costs are included before comparing quotes.
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