How accurate is the office fit-out cost calculator?

It gives a preliminary budget range based on your office size, condition, layout, finish level and selected services. It is an early planning estimate, not a formal quotation — final costs are confirmed after a site assessment.

Is the calculator free to use?

Yes. The calculator is completely free and there is no obligation. You provide your project details and contact information and receive an instant estimated budget range.

What does the estimate include?

The range covers construction and fit-out works for the scope you select — finishes, internal layout, and any additional services chosen. Furniture is included only if you select it. Prices exclude VAT.

Does the estimate include VAT?

No. All figures are shown excluding VAT.

What happens after I get my estimate?

Your details are sent to the First Gate team and we respond quickly — typically the same business day — to discuss your project and arrange a site assessment for an accurate quotation.

Which areas does First Gate cover?

First Gate delivers office fit-out, refurbishment and relocation projects across Cape Town and surrounding areas.

What's the difference between a white-box fit-out and a tenant installation?

A white-box is landlord-side work: stripping back, levelling and preparing the space to a defined neutral specification before a tenant takes occupation. A tenant installation is the tenant's own fit-out into that prepared shell — partitions, finishes, branding, IT, the specifics of how their business uses the space.

Do all commercial spaces need a white-box between tenants?

No. Where a previous tenant has left the space in a usable condition and the incoming tenant's brief is similar, a lighter refurbishment can be enough. White-box is the right call when the previous fit-out doesn't work for the next tenant, when services are tired or under-specified, or when accumulated compliance gaps need to be cleared.

Does a white-box fit-out need council approval?

Often yes, but not always. Strip-out work that returns the space to a pre-approved-plan condition usually doesn't trigger a submission. Work that involves new partitioning, services modifications affecting fire or sanitary requirements, or a change of building classification typically does. We assess this at the brief stage.

Who pays for the white-box, landlord or tenant?

Almost always the landlord. The cost of the white-box is recovered in the rent or in shortened void periods between tenants. Some leases pass specific white-box costs to incoming tenants, but the default in Cape Town's commercial market is landlord-funded.

How long does a white-box fit-out take?

For a 500 m² floor, four to eight weeks of works, plus the time for any council submission to clear if one is required. The biggest single variable is the state of the approved-plan record — a clean record runs to the lower end of that range; a messy one extends it.

Can you handle the tenant's fit-out afterwards?

Yes, if the tenant chooses to engage us. We're equally happy to hand the white-box cleanly to the tenant's own contractor — the specification we deliver is written to make that handover straightforward.

How quickly do you respond to enquiries?

Within two business days. We come back with an assessment of the building's current condition, a draft white-box scope, and a fixed-price proposal. The initial assessment is free.

Service · Cape Town

White Box Fit-Out — Cape Town

Landlord-side base-building preparation: a clean, neutral, services-ready and compliant shell that lets faster, at a better rate, and hands the next tenant a sound base to build from.

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Scope

What's in a white-box scope

Specifics vary by building, but a standard Cape Town white-box prepares the shell to a defined, lettable, compliant condition.

01
Shell + base finishes
Stripped to landlord return condition, unauthorised work removed; floor levelled, walls plastered and white-painted, ceiling grid clean and complete with a daylight-friendly lighting grid.
02
Primary services distribution
HVAC main trunking and air-handling unit with branch capability for tenant distribution; electrical sub-mains to a tenant DB; data and telecoms backbone to the floor.
03
Statutory + compliance
Fire detection, sprinkler protection to the building's classification, emergency lighting and exit signage, sanitary fittings to the regulatory minimum — plus approved plans and an occupancy certificate where the work triggers a submission.

15+

Years in Cape Town

40+

Municipal submissions since 2016

Level 1

BEE Contributor

4–8

Weeks: typical 500 m² white-box

Process

How First Gate runs a white-box engagement

01
Step 01
Landlord-side condition assessment
The opening conversation is with the landlord or property manager. We assess existing partitions and finishes, services condition and capacity, the approved-plan record, the building's SANS 10400 classification, and whether the planned scope triggers a council submission.
02
Step 02
Scope-and-specification document
Written from the landlord's commercial position, not a generic template — setting out what the space will deliver to an incoming tenant, in their procurement language.
03
Step 03
Strip-out, build, compliance in parallel
We run the white-box build to specification and manage any compliance submissions alongside it, so the occupancy certificate is delivered with the space, not chased later.
04
Step 04
Lettable handover
Approved plans, occupancy certificate, and a tenant-facing technical specification the broker can use to market the space. We can run the tenant's fit-out too, or hand cleanly to their chosen contractor.

Scope

What this service is, and isn't.

When it fits

When a white-box is the right call

A vacant floor where the previous fit-out doesn't work for the next tenant, or services are tired or under-specified.
Accumulated compliance gaps that need clearing before the next tenant — or a sale or refinance — inherits them.
Property funds and REITs preparing acquired buildings for letting.
Landlords and property managers who want a defined, marketable handover spec, not a back-and-forth on what's included.

When it doesn't

The previous tenant left it usable
Where the space is in good condition and the incoming tenant's brief is similar, a lighter refurbishment is enough — see [office refurbishment](/services/office-refurbishment-cape-town).
You're the tenant, not the landlord
A white-box is landlord-side work. If you're a tenant fitting out a prepared shell, see [design and build](/services/design-and-build-cape-town) or [office construction](/services/office-construction-cape-town).

Why First Gate

Landlord-side discipline, compliance built in

We work across the major Cape Town landlords on a routine basis. The white-box scope we write is in the language a leasing agent can use; the work we deliver is what a tenant's contractor expects to inherit.

01 / Landlord-side experience

Written for letting, built to inherit

Across Growthpoint, Redefine, JHI / Excellerate and the independent market. The spec a broker can market; the base a tenant's contractor expects.

02 / Compliance integrated

Occupancy certificate delivered, not chased

Where the white-box triggers a submission, it's drawn, lodged and approved by the same team running the build. Same in-house capability as our [council submissions service](/paas).

03 / Level 1 BEE Contributor

15+ years, property-fund procurement

40+ municipal submissions since 2016. Material on landlord and property-fund procurement where preference scoring matters.

Selected Work

Recent projects in this category

First Gate's completed Cape Town work. Click any project to view the full gallery.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

: A white-box is landlord-side work: stripping back, levelling and preparing the space to a defined neutral specification before a tenant takes occupation. A tenant installation is the tenant's own fit-out into that prepared shell — partitions, finishes, branding, IT, the specifics of how their business uses the space.
: No. Where a previous tenant has left the space in a usable condition and the incoming tenant's brief is similar, a lighter refurbishment can be enough. White-box is the right call when the previous fit-out doesn't work for the next tenant, when services are tired or under-specified, or when accumulated compliance gaps need to be cleared.
: Often yes, but not always. Strip-out work that returns the space to a pre-approved-plan condition usually doesn't trigger a submission. Work that involves new partitioning, services modifications affecting fire or sanitary requirements, or a change of building classification typically does. We assess this at the brief stage.
: Almost always the landlord. The cost of the white-box is recovered in the rent or in shortened void periods between tenants. Some leases pass specific white-box costs to incoming tenants, but the default in Cape Town's commercial market is landlord-funded.
: For a 500 m² floor, four to eight weeks of works, plus the time for any council submission to clear if one is required. The biggest single variable is the state of the approved-plan record — a clean record runs to the lower end of that range; a messy one extends it.
: Yes, if the tenant chooses to engage us. We're equally happy to hand the white-box cleanly to the tenant's own contractor — the specification we deliver is written to make that handover straightforward.
: Within two business days. We come back with an assessment of the building's current condition, a draft white-box scope, and a fixed-price proposal. The initial assessment is free.

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Tell us the building, the headcount and the deadline. We come back with a fixed-scope proposal within two business days.

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White Box Fit-Out — Cape Town

What's in a white-box scope

How First Gate runs a white-box engagement

Landlord-side condition assessment

Scope-and-specification document

Strip-out, build, compliance in parallel

Lettable handover